jinn 03 - vestige (25 page)

Who cared about Phoenix, I wanted to shout, but I didn’t. I didn’t do anything. That man across the room was the reason for all of this.

“Your anger is understandable, but I assure you misplaced.” He nodded to the urn sitting next to me. “What is in there, on the other hand, might just be enough to save his life.”

I looked from him to the urn and back to Death. “There’s barely anything.”

He nodded. “The jinni can heal himself if you can get him to a certain point.”

Olivia was sitting up again, face smudged with black, staring at the urn. “Is that Baker?”

“What’s left of him,” I said.

She looked down at Holden and back to the urn. “He won’t be happy if you do bring him back.”

I nodded, already opening the urn. “Well, he can spend the rest of eternity mad at me. I don’t care. It’s what Baker would want.”

She nodded. “I think you’re right.”

Olivia opened his mouth, I poured the specks of ash in, and she pushed his jaw back up. And then we waited.

It seemed liked forever, but suddenly he sputtered and jerked. His eyes flew open and he sucked in a breath—then collapsed back to the floor. Death was right. Holden was healing himself. Olivia and I took the bowl to Phoenix. His reaction was almost immediate as the gaping hole in his chest began to heal.

I stood up and went over to Rhys. Of course this asshole was still alive—for now. I went for my knives, but Olivia stopped me.

“Don’t. He tried to help.”

“He used Baker and now he will never come back,” I said, breaking free.

“She’s right,” the dragon’s voice came from the doorway. “Femi, that is. He did use Baker. He used all of us to make others immortal. Slowly, he’s been killing us all.”

Olivia took a deep breath and nodded. “But he tried to save Holden in the end.”

The dragon shook her head. “Rhys always has a reason for what he does and it is never for the good of others.” Death waved to her, looking entirely too happy. Leilah waved back uncomfortably. “Baker was standing in his way. He wanted to wipe the slate clean in the Abyss and start over. Many would die and those who lived would remember nothing of their previous life. Baker was against it. He never thought it was our place to decide how the world should be run. Protecting us from humans is one thing, deciding who should have control of the races is another. Baker quit over that and when he left, the council suffered. It was nearly impossible for Rhys to implement his plan without Baker, unless”—she looked down at Holden who was sitting up now, his skin a much healthier shade of pale—“he was able to make a blood sacrifice.”

“”Me,” Holden croaked.

“Yes. You are his only blood relation and you were finally strong enough that your sacrifice would cause a large enough impact to give him the strength to restart the Abyss as he wanted it to be.”

“He wanted to play God,” Olivia said.

The dragon nodded. “If you save him, he won’t stop.”

She looked down at him lying on the floor and then back at Death, who merely raised an eyebrow. Olivia stepped away from Rhys and went over to Phoenix, who had his back to the wall, watching all of us. She gently hugged him and kissed his cheek. “You stepped up when it mattered most.” She gave him a watery smile. “Thank you.”

Then she went to Corbin and hugged him. “Tell Selene goodbye for me.” He nodded.

When she came to me, I wanted to leave. I didn’t want to say goodbye to her again, but she squeezed me tight. “How’s Quintus?”

“He’s going to be okay,” I said.

She nodded. “Tell him if I don’t see him around that he shouldn’t be alone. He’s too good of a guy for that.”

Next she scooped Charlie up into her arms and pressed a kiss to her temple, then whispered something in her ear.

Finally she knelt down beside Holden and kissed him. Leaning her forehead against his, she whispered, “I love you. Take care of that girl.”

He pressed a hand against her cheek. “I love you too.”

She nodded, pulled back and went over to sit in the chair next to Death. “The decision is yours. I cannot be involved,” she said and Death winked at her, a small, pleased smile on his face.

The dragon looked around at the rest of us. “I won’t stand in your way whatever you want to do.”

Holden and I looked at each other. It was no secret that I wanted to kill him, but it was Holden’s father. Ultimately the decision should be his. “It’s all you, Chuckles.”

“Regardless of what you choose,” the dragon said to Holden. “We could still use you on the council. We need you.”

Holden picked up the knife, went over to Rhys, and kneeled beside him. He tapped the edge of the blade against the floor. “Is there a way to strip him of his powers?” he asked no one in particular.

No one responded.

He looked up at us. “Femi, can you take Charlie and Phoenix back to the warehouse?”

“Sure.”

“Leilah, I will join the council, but only to make sure nothing like you described ever happens.”

Olivia smiled in the background, wiping tears from her eyes.

Death cleared his throat. “I believe you are in possession of just the machine needed for the job you just inquired about,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “Olivia will need to come with me for now, but”—he looked around the room—“she will be able to return.” He took Olivia’s hand and in a blink, they were gone.

Holden looked confused at first and then understanding dawned. “It’s because I joined the council, isn’t it?”

The dragon shook her head. “It is because of all the decisions you made today. I’ll be in touch.” She turned toward the door and walked out.

“What machine?” I asked.

“The animaphagist,” Holden said. “It was what the guardians used to syphon powers from their people.”

“Where will his powers go?”

“I don’t know and I really don’t care,” he said. He transported Rhys back to the warehouse and Corbin helped me get Phoenix and Charlie into my car.

“It’s not straight,” I said, standing back so I could see the tree better. “A little to the left.” Holden rolled his eyes and Femi sighed, but they moved the Christmas tree into just the right position. “That’s it. Perfect.”

Holden tightened the bolts on the tree stand to secure it, then stood next to me. “You have no idea how much I miss the light thing,” he said, scanning the mess of boxes and tree debris on the floor.

“I don’t. The decorating is half the fun.” I kissed his cheek. That wasn’t completely true. I did miss being able to clean up a mess with just a thought and redecorate at a whim, but when it came to Christmas I liked to touch each ornament as I hung it up by hand. Each one was a memory and each new ornament we added over the years would be a new memory with my new family.

Quintus came in carrying a tray of cookies and eggnog for everyone. “It’s a little crooked,” he said looking at the tree, making everyone groan.

“I think it’s perfect,” Maggie said, emerging from the garage with another box of ornaments and Charlie. “Like your new house, Charlie?”

Charlie licked her lips and looked at me as she slowly formed her words and I tried not to mouth them along with her. “Do you want to see my room?”

“Of course I do,” Maggie said.

Charlie grinned and led Maggie upstairs to my old bedroom, which was Charlie’s new one. I bit my lips, swelling with pride. We had been working so hard on her speech.

Holden slung an arm over my shoulder. His nose pressed against my cheek for a moment before his lips brushed against it. “You doing okay?”

I nodded. “Overwhelmed, but in the best way.” I let the tear slide down my face instead of wiping it away. “My mom would have loved this. All of it. Charlie, having everyone here, the decorations…”

He nodded, probably humoring me, but I didn’t care.

“Baker would have liked it too,” I said.

Femi flopped down on the couch, taking a large bite of sugar cookie. “Boring. What’s next?”

“The lights, then ornaments, then the tree topper and ribbon.”

“I’ll get the rest of the boxes,” Holden said and Quintus went with him.

I opened the box Maggie brought in and Femi came over to peer inside. “What is this monstrosity?” she asked, snatching up an ornament I made when I was Charlie’s age with popsicle sticks.

“A reindeer,” I said indignantly, taking it away from her. “It’s a work of art. An Olivia original.” I hung it in a place of honor on the tree.

“So how do you like being a reaper?” Femi asked, casually hanging a couple more ornaments.

That seemed to be the question on everyone’s mind, but I still hadn’t come up with a good answer for it. It was an experience like nothing else. One that was hard to put into words. “I like it more than I thought. I was a terrible guardian from the start. I never could follow the rules. This is different. I talk to people, hear about their lives, and walk them to the next. It’s peaceful in way. It’s the moment between.”

She hung a few ornament shooting me glances then nodded in the direction of the tree. “You look happy.”

“I am. So where’s Corbin?”

“I passed him a lead on Thomas.”

I paused, picking out my next ornament. “Really. You’ve been pretty adamant about not sharing information with him.”

She shrugged. “I doubt anything comes from it. But the thing is when we needed Corbin, even though he had no interest in our survival and said repeatedly he wasn’t going to, he stepped up. Thomas who swore he would help, cut and run in Arizona. I feel like I owed him something for that. Any debt to Thomas has been more than cleared.”

I nodded. It still had to be hard, but Femi would tell me more when she was ready to talk.

“Have you guys had any trouble?” she asked.

I laughed. “Who in their right mind would come after Death?” I glanced back toward the garage. “Especially when hell follows with her.”

A slow feline grin spread over Femi’s face. “Totally valid point. You scared the pants off of Baba Yaga. How does Chuckles like the council?”

“It’s an adjustment. Holden likes to think he works alone.”

“Ah,” she said. “And how is he dealing with suburbia?”

“It’s endlessly an entertaining thing to watch.” There was a knock at the front door. “In fact, that’s probably a neighbor bringing more cookies or pies or casseroles or welcome baskets. Ever since Holden went out to hang up Christmas lights, there’s been one woman after another coming to our door.” I laughed again.

“Can they see you?”

I nodded. “If I let them, but I don’t look like myself though.”

“Wait until he mows the lawn shirtless—there’ll be a riot.”

“I can’t imagine Holden mowing the lawn.”

Femi shrugged. “I can’t imagine him putting up Christmas lights, but apparently he did it.”

“Touché,” I said over my shoulder as I opened the front door with a smile. No one was there. I glanced down to see a car seat on the porch stuffed full of blankets. Femi came over and glanced around too. We looked at each other then back to the seat. “You don’t think that’s…” I couldn’t finish the thought. It couldn’t be. How was that even possible?

Her mouth fell open and she peered at it again. “It couldn’t be, could it? It’s been three months. The ashes were gone.”

I picked up the carrier and brought it inside the house. I pulled back the blankets; a faceless little creature squirmed beneath. I touched its unformed hand and it transformed as I watched into a chubby, wiggling human baby with gray eyes and a thin layer of brown hair with a reddish tint.

Femi dropped down onto one of the dining room chairs.

“Maybe Rhys didn’t use the ashes. We couldn’t find anyone he used them on.”

Femi just stared at the child unblinking.

I picked him up and held him close to my chest. He warmly cooed and babbled at me, bringing fresh, happy tears to my eyes. It was really him. It felt like him. I had no doubt about that, but who brought him here? Why now?

Holden and Quintus came back from the garage, laughing about something.

“Um, Holden, I’ve got a little surprise for you,” I called out and winked at Femi, who could only shake her head.

Holden stopped several feet back when he saw the baby. “What’s that?”