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“To kill me? To suck my manitou? How the hell would I know!”
“Is your henna tattoo still on your back?”
“It’s fading.”
He looked panicked. “You need a new one.”
I didn’t answer. That much was obvious.
“I know you’re reluctant to get a permanent mark. Let me give you another henna one.”
I snorted. “Are you kidding me? I trusted you before, and you painted Okeus’s mark on my back.”
“Ellie,” he grabbed my hand again. “If you willingly choose Okeus, you’ll save yourself.”
“And I’ll condemn my soul to hell. No thank you.”
“He’ll provide you riches greater than you ever imagined.”
“So where the hell are your riches, Collin?”
He paused. “You heard Okeus. I lost my reward because I helped you.” He reached for my face. “Doesn’t that prove how much I care?”
“Are you serious? You found outafteryou helped me. You didn’t give that up for me.” I smacked his hand away and sagged against the passenger door. “Besides, I don’t think that would work anyway. The curse is based on duality. The sea and the land. Ahone and Okeus. Good and evil. You can’t have one without the other. You’ve chosen Okeus and Ahone has chosen me.”
“So why haven’t you put his mark on your skin?”
“Because I don’t know what it is. Do you?”
He closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them again, he looked me in the eyes. “I don’t know either.”
Anger surged through my veins. “You liar.”
He reached for me, but I backed away. “I swear to you, Ellie. I don’t know.”
“How could you possibly know Okeus’s but not Ahone’s?”
He scrubbed both hands over his short, dark hair. “I don’t know. It wasn’t passed down. We pledged ourselves to Okeus so that we’d be protected from his wrath when he was freed.” He grabbed my left hand before I could snatch it back. “I put Okeus’s mark on your back for the same reason.” He pulled me closer, but I resisted. “Please don’t be so stubborn. If you pledge yourself to him now, you’ll be safe.”
“You know I can’t, even if I wanted to.”
Agony covered his face. “Then you’re as good as dead.”
“And whose fault is that?”
He dropped his hold on me and looked out the windshield.
“I want the map.”
He shook his head as if trying to clear it. “What are you talking about?”
“The map we stole from Marino. You remember our field trip to Buxton? Marino’s men were at the Kill Devil Hills Pawnshop asking Oscar if he knows who I am and where they can find me.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“You have no idea how much I wish I was.”
He shook his head. “No. There’s no way. I told them you were from Greenville.”
