Iron Inheritance (27 page)

“What do the Babylonians call them?” Ria said, still watching her every move, my phone pointed discreetly at the counter.

“Reapers.” Meg smiled to hide a subtle grimace. “They’re not like grim reapers or anything. It’s just something they call themselves.”

She glanced back at Josh as she poured the contents of the bag into a stone bowl.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion. There was something she was hiding. Something Josh wasn’t telling me about her. What if she was making something to poison Nate even more?

“And you know what it is they threw at him? Concentrated dark essence?” I continued.

She crushed the ingredients with a well-worn mortar and pestle. “It’s dark essence made corporeal.”

“I think we should just let her—” Josh stepped between us, shaking his head, his eyes pleading with me to stop.

I held his gaze without moving.

“It’s fine.” Meg set her hand on his shoulder gently.

My blood pressure surged again with jealousy and suspicion.

I took a deep breath and looked away. Why was this upsetting me so much?

“Essence like that is made from a sacrifice, but not in the ‘oh, you saved me’ sense,” she said, the line on her face practically disappearing. “They make someone who’s possessed or in a demonic cult slit their own throat. Blood taken that way has always had some pretty powerful qualities, but the Babylonians have been trying to take that and purify it for ages.”

“Are you almost done there, Meg? We kind of have to—” Josh interrupted.

She set down the pestle with a delicate thud and smiled. “Now, now, don’t be rude, Josh. Patrons obviously aren’t teaching the essentials anymore.”

“It’s our first year,” said Ria quickly, putting my phone in her back pocket.

Meg’s smile continued to reach up into her sky blue eyes. “All humans have both types of essence—light and dark—though sometimes we’re predisposed to one or the other. It’s one of the things angels use to preselect humans to become Patrons or Babylonians.” She held up both her hands like a pair of scales. “Light essence has all that good stuff the Bible talks about—hope, faith, love. Dark essence is the opposite. The two always exist together, but Babylonians have been trying to drain out the light for a while now and synthesize a concentrated dose of dark essence, or at least something not so powerful that it’d kill them just by touching it.”

A puff of disbelief escaped me. “What? Why wouldn’t they be able to touch it?” I said, continuing to watch her as she spoke to me without looking me in the eye.

“We might be predisposed to light or dark, but it’s what we do that ultimately influences what our essence looks like. Besides, without one, you can’t have the other.” She held up her invisible scales again. “You can ask God why when you see him.” She smiled, turned back to the pewter bowl, and dumped the ground contents into a plastic bag.

“You sure know a lot about it.”

She shrugged. “Everybody knows, and try as they might, Babylonians can’t survive on dark essence alone. If someone is drained of or absorbs all of one type of essence—dark or light—they die. Human bodies are too weak, and the amount of angel essence you get isn’t powerful enough to keep your body alive when your soul’s gone.” She paused. “I think it’s good though. It reminds them they can choose to turn back to God. We are not what we’re capable of, but what we choose. Isn’t that right, Spaulding?” She turned to Josh. “I still can’t believe that name. Still like basketball?”

Josh gritted his teeth good-naturedly. “It’s just a name.”

I tilted my head and stared with narrowed, unbelieving eyes. Choose to turn back—? Is that what she really thought? That these things that kidnapped my mom, killed my grandpa, hurt one of my best friends for some God-forsaken reason could just say “I’m sorry” and be forgiven? No, there were some things you just couldn’t come back from.

Meg sealed the bag and rolled it into a tight cylinder. A stitch in my side told me trust should be out of the question. I begged my subconscious for something more than that, but it didn’t come.

“I still don’t understand how you know how to make that antidote,” I said plainly.

Meg smiled pleasantly. “I watched my mom make it all the time. It’s what they used to keep people from dying during all their experiments. Even if they’ve perfected it so it only hurts Patrons and not them, I’m guessing the basic formula is still there. I’m just increasing the dose to make your friend’s have a little more kick. Just pour it into some water, mix, and tell him to drink up. If he’s survived this long from direct contact, with this he should be fine.”

“He’s a Guardian. He’s strong,” said Ria proudly, reaching out for the bag. Her dog’s brown fur almost matched her hair perfectly.

“That explains it then.” Meg smiled, still holding the bag in her hand.

Josh stretched out his hand to take the bag. “Thanks again.”

Meg didn’t move. “I’m sorry, Josh, but this is for her.” She nodded to me. “My oath to you would not be repaid with this.”

“I’ll see it as repaid.” Josh gritted his teeth.

“You know that’s not how it works. Evelyn Brooks is the one with ties to the Guardian. My price is an oath with her.”

“No she’s not. I am,” said Ria, advancing toward her. “I’m tied to him. I’ll make the oath. Anything.”

“If a human’s word had any weight, that’d be a bargain indeed.” Her eyes glowed greedily for the first time.

“Meg, I can’t believe after—”

“This is not ill will, Joshua, and do not take it as such. You know me. You know my heart, as I know yours.”

I sucked in a calming breath. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Meg raised an eyebrow at Josh, and he turned away.

My fists clenched into rocks. “How do you know my full name?”

“Your name is everywhere these days,” she said unemotionally. “I have to keep my ear out for signs that I should be moving on. One day, I heard yours, and the moment I saw you I knew.”

Josh looked as if he wanted to run right through her, but he held out his hand to Ria. “Let’s go. We have to give them the room.”

“Why?” I said, anger bubbling over. How could he just let this happen?

“We can’t be in the room. Anyone listening would be subject to the terms as well,” Josh said, not meeting my eyes.

Ria sidestepped around Josh and launched herself at Meg with a scream and her nails out to give her another scar, but Josh caught her just before. The dog whimpered in her tensed arm, and Josh dragged her out gently as Ria spewed more curse words than I thought she knew.

The door snapped shut, and Meg stood still, unperturbed, solemn. “I will take as payment an oath to come to my aid if I ever call.”

“What are you, a fairy?” I said scathingly.

“Oaths bind in our souls. They cannot be broken.” She held out her hand to shake mine.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s where the fairy joke came from.” I exhaled through my nose and stuck out my hand.

Just before our palms met, I pulled back, my eyes narrowed with a sudden idea. She was obviously still a Babylonian somehow, even if she was helping us. Maybe she knew where Kovac’s prisons were, where my mom might be.

“Care to sweeten the deal?”

She shook her head. “You do not want to do that.”

“My mom is still alive,” I said. The thought struggled into words with cottony, spit-sapping disbelief. “So is Kovac. He’s keeping her somewhere. I need to know where.”

“Evelyn.” Meg’s face contorted in a grimace of pity. “Even if I did, I—”

“Do you know where she is, or not?” I spat.

“I’m sorry.” She shook her head and held out her hand again.

I stared at it, pale white with tiny red scratches up to her wrist. Small white scars rose above her skin in a neat cross-stitch pattern. Her brilliant blue eyes stared at my hand, the scar that stretched down the center of her face more dominant now in the florescent light.

I reached out, and the moment our palms touched, her head bent back in a painful, silent scream. A sinuous strand of dark essence flashed out of her head like a solar flare and curled back around in an electrified circuit with my hand.

She opened her mouth wide with a deep, raspy voice:

“Iron strikes the mountain’s mouth to bridge the divide.

Iron wakes the all powerful darkness inside.

Iron joins the keys to creation—one in five.

Iron calls the sword of flame, and all will abide.”

I stared, horrified, with eyes wide and my hand locked to hers, unable to pull away.

At her last word, her head lolled around, and she let go as if nothing had happened, prodding the bag into my palm. “Are you all right?”

I nodded, my eyes stuck in shock with questions ricocheting between my synapses.

Then a horn honked outside, and my legs twitched into a sprint before I could look back.

The morning sun’s bright light blinded me as I ran to the Jeep. The door was open and waiting. The moment I was in, the tires kicked up a cloud of dust and gravel. I handed Ria the bag and faced forward.

You saw what you saw. Don’t second guess it.

I closed my eyes and watched the black strand of solar darkness erupt out of her head, curve, and reach back down. My palm sucked to hers with electric sweat, and I couldn’t pull away. Her words echoed in my mind so loud they could have been my own.

Iron strikes…Iron wakes…Iron joins…Iron calls…

What the frak did that mean?

“So? Are you going to tell us what she made you promise?” Ria leaned forward, her fingernails digging into her palms as she clutched the bag.

I looked over at Josh. His face didn’t reveal a single scratch of emotion, his eyes on the road like it would let him see the future. Had he known something like that would happen?

“She said I had to come to her if she calls.”

“That doesn’t seem so bad.” Ria’s shoulders dropped with sudden relaxation.

“You really need to read more.” I chanced a sidelong look at Josh to see if he’d say anything.

His expression didn’t change.

“Not when I have you.” Ria reached out and pinched my cheek playfully. She clutched the bag of herbs to her chest.

Josh unclenched his jaw and finally spoke. “It’s a blessing and curse. A loan that might never have to be repaid, or might require a lot of interest. I should’ve known.”

So he hadn’t known. I set my hand on his forearm. “Stop beating yourself up. It’s not your fault.” His muscles tensed immediately, and I pulled away like he’d burned me.

“What happens if Eve doesn’t come? Just decides to not do it?” said Ria.

“She dies.” Josh swallowed hard and pushed the gas pedal to the floor so the engine overpowered Ria’s exclamation.

“What a little—” She screamed so loud the dog jumped back. “Once Nate’s better, I’m going back there and—”

“If she wanted me dead, she had her chance.” I shook my head. “Besides, something else happened when we shook on it.”

Josh turned to me finally, his eyes deep blue pools of guilt. They searched me over for some scrape, some imperceptible bruise he’d missed when I first got in. “What happened?”

His caring gaze warmed my chest and relaxed my mind enough for me to think clearly for the first time. “I think she had a vision. When our hands touched, dark essence shot out of her head, and she went into a trance.”

“What’d she say?” Ria clutched the brown and white beagle closer. It whimpered softly.

I sighed, trying to remember the exact words. “
Iron strikes the mountain’s mouth to bridge the divide. Iron wakes the all powerful darkness inside. Iron joins the keys to creation—one in five. Iron calls the sword of flame, and all will abide.
”

Ria furrowed her brow, and Josh gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

“So, what does that mean?” said Ria.

I shook my head. It could be anything, and my tired mind definitely wasn’t going to solve it now. “What’s important is getting that miracle cure to Nate,” I said.

Ria reached out and stroked my hair, bringing her head close to mine. “Thank you for doing all this for him.”

“Of course.” I leaned my head into hers and closed my eyes to keep from tearing up. Images of Nate lying cold and dead because we didn’t get there in time, or worse, because whatever was in that bag poisoned him, kept flashing across my mind.

“I’m sorry, Evey,” she whispered.

“Me, too,” I said even softer.

The beagle popped its head up over the seat next to us and huffed, waiting for his fair share of the affection.

Josh zoomed through the gates ahead of us with the bag of herbs in hand. When Ria and I followed, the courtyard was full of people, but they parted immediately and fell silent when they saw us.

Nurse Wright, Miranda, and Freddy were still around Nate’s bed in the infirmary. Sharp rays of sunlight cut through the windows and sapped all the color from his skin. Drops of sweat peeled off his forehead quicker than Miranda could dab them with the soaked cloth.

Josh had just finished pouring the liquid down Nate’s throat.

Ria prayed out loud: “Dear God, please let this work. Please let this work.”

I sucked a breath in through my nose. Whatever God was doing right now, he wasn’t watching us. Taking Mom, murdering Grandpa, almost killing Nate? What kind of a God did that?

We stepped up to Nate’s bedside. The dark veins that had nearly reached his heart slowly receded to the center of his arm and then completely disappeared, evaporating like steam before he opened his eyes.

He blinked several times, looking from left to right until he saw Ria and grabbed her hand. “Just when I thought I’d get to see Heaven again.” He smiled.

Ria knelt down next to him and kissed his hand, pressing her lips into his skin and closing her eyes. The beagle jumped up onto the bed and snuggled between them. Nate’s eyes widened in surprise, but then he leaned back on the pillow—the effort to figure out another oddity apparently too much for him.

I wiped my eyes and laughed.

Wright huffed as she inspected his arm. “Looks like da Babylonians do one ting right.” She massaged her hands. “Rest twenty-four hours. Get outta dat bed before, and I’ll sic Morales on ya.”