Minutes to Midnight (18 page)

"Look," I said as I tried one more time to
pull my wrist away from her. "You used to work for the Society.
Okay I get that. But what are you doing here?"

"I got…I got another job, so to speak. It
sounded like a good one, you know? Great pay, and I got to spend
time with someone I used to…admire. But then it all just sort
of…fell apart."

I looked away from the window and saw her
profile in the shadows. "I'm sorry. I really am. But right now,
worrying about a bad choice or a bad job isn't going to get us away
from that crazy Djin."

"No. I think if we just let it burn up its
host, it'll eventually tire itself out."

"But won't the Djin just jump into another
Lamia?"

"There aren't anymore. That's the last one."
She turned to face me. More shadows. "She hates you, you know. But
she still loves you too. In fact, she won't let anyone else love
her."

I narrowed my eyes and held out my right
hand in the darkness. "Who hates and loves me?"

"She does."

"She…who?"

There was a pause as Ripp'n Jack beat some
other piece of concrete to a dusty pulp outside.

"My maker."

I ignited the spell I'd had in my head into
my right hand. A small light appeared, no bigger than a marble. It
lifted up until it was even with her face.

Her eyes caught my attention first. They
were pale colored, her pupils black dots in the center. Her skin
was smooth under the harsh light from my tiny sun. I didn't
recognize her. But I wasn't surprised either. I really didn't
remember anyone from the Society of Ishmael.

What I did recognize were the blood stains
along her thick lips. Most of her lower lip was shredded and it
looked as if she'd done the damage herself by chewing on it.
Hard.

I realized in that instant I was sitting in
a mausoleum with the Ghoul we wanted to find.

My instant reaction was to pull away. But
she held onto my wrist like a vice and grabbed at my throat with
her other hand and pinned me to the door. The light fell and went
out. "Sshh. I don't what him to find us."

I tried to respond and once again, I
couldn't. What was it with women trying to choke me?

She eased her hold on my neck but didn't let
go. "Just a little pressure, Darren, and I can render you
unconscious."

I licked my lips as I swallowed. "So…what
was your name?"

"Lucy Mullhaly."

I nodded. "And you were turned into a Ghoul
by a Revenant. I'm assuming this wasn't one of Mephistopheles's
friends?"

"No."

"Does this Revenant have a name?"

She took a deep breath and whispered,
"Charybdis."

My jaw fell. The first time I'd heard that
name was when Hob told us about her, before Mike, Sam and I
traveled to Alfheim.

There is a truly mad queen that rules this
world. She is known as Charybdis.

I'd stiffened because the name sounded like
a Revenant. "Hob, is she a Faerie?"

I don't know. But I do not believe they were
born here. Their lands are far from Alfheim and they do not wander
into the business of the Faerie.

"The Queen of the 'Pheral."

Lucy jerked a little, as if surprised.
"You…you do know of her?"

"I've heard of her. But I don't understand
why she would hate me and love me. I don't even know her. But I can
pretty much assume she's not from the Abysmal." I tried to move but
she tightened her grip. "Please…can't you let go of me? So you're a
Ghoul. You haven't tried to bite me, so I'm assuming you can't. And
it explains how you know Ripp'n Jack's got the last of the Lamias
because you made them."

She nodded but she still didn't let go.

"So…" I listened to the bashing outside for
a second. "If you and Ripp'n Jack are working for the same
Revenant, then why are we hiding in here? Why did you pull me away
from him?"

Lucky leaned in close and I realized where
the smell was coming from. Her ripped lips were starting to decay.
"I do not obey the same master as that vile creature. My maker
doesn't like him."

"So…your Revenant didn't use the bodies your
Lamias made to create an Earth Banishing pentagram?"

"Yes. She did."

I had to rethink a second. We'd all been
moving on the idea the Djin and the Revenant were working as a
team.

But they weren't. Same goal, different
employers. And both of them wanted me.

"So Lucy…" I shifted again but her grip was
pretty firm. "What do you plan to do once Ripp'n Jack runs out of
steam—or if he does?"

"Take you to my maker. She's waiting in the
Peripheral for you. And there she will keep you, until you go mad.
And once mad, she believes you will take your place beside
her."

I stared at her shadow. Okay. I was so not
going to stick around here. My odds with Ripp'n Jack were much
better.

"Please don't hate me, Darren McConnell. But
she took my kids. She threatened them if I didn't drink from her
and create those abominations. And if I bring you to her…" I
couldn't see her face but I knew she was smiling. "She'll let me
see my kids. She promised she'd make me human again and give them
back to me. I just….I just want my son and daughter back, Mr.
McConnell. Please…"

I knew Lucy would never be human again. Nick
Shay, Jason's Ghoul, had explained that much to me. Once the
transformation was complete, a Ghoul's soul was locked to their
body until the truth death took them, either from decapitation or
by fire. If Lucy's maker ever denied her blood, Lucy would go mad.
And from the look of her lower lip, I was assuming that had already
happened. Her maker was using her, toying with her, torturing
her.

And as for her children…I was pretty sure
they were already dead.

No matter how much I wanted to help her, I
wasn't going to go quietly back into the Peripheral for some crazy
ass Queen. No…I'd already dealt with one of those with Maab.

I asked the book for an answer. Any kind of
answer. I could burn her where she sat, but the smoke would
suffocate me in the small space. And the bright light might grab
Ripp'n Jack's attention. I needed something quieter.

Subtler.

The book stirred in my chest before I saw it
in my mind's eye. The pages flipped and rested and I looked down. I
saw the words but didn't really understand how that would help. I
didn't want to say them, but the same force that wielded the sword
now moved my tongue.

"Ana essuti sabatu anna abnu."

Reorganize unto stone.

Lucy gasped just before it happened. The
power took her quick and she released her hold long enough for me
to get free and scramble away as far as I could, which was only a
foot or so. I heard the crack and crunch of stones being pressed
beneath a truck tire. With a quick word I threw the small marble of
light back up and slapped my hands over my mouth.

Lucy's transformation was half finished when
I realized what I'd done. Her skin, her eyes, her hair, her
arms—even her tattered lip—hardened and cracked as it became stone.
And not just any stone. It looked as if the spell gathered up the
natural elements around it as her color grew more gray and she
stopped moving.

When it was all done and the sounds of
crushed gravel stopped, Lucy Mullhaly was nothing more than a stone
statue of a woman reaching out into the darkness for children she
would never see again.

What…the hell…had I done?

THE ART OF THE DEAL

I got out of the mausoleum as fast as I
could and kept low. I crept along the side of the area where
Rippin' Jack was making a big-ass mess. I hated to see what the
groundskeeper was going to make of this in the morning and I didn't
want to think what the family buried in that mausoleum was going to
go through when they saw the new stone addition on the floor.

The sight of Lucy reaching
out was going to haunt me for a while. Something nagged in the back
of my brain about what I'd done. Some part of my conscience wasn't
happy. It was ashamed. And afraid of the power and the potential of
the
Grimoire
,
something I was just starting to understand.

I waited for the lumbering and quickly
rotting zombie to slow down. Rippin' Jack's overshadowing was
taking a toll on the zombie's body, faster than I think it would
have happened normally. Most of the neck skin and muscle was gone
now. It hadn't fallen off like a regular zombie. It looked like it
was burning away. From the inside. Which explained the aroma of
fried chicken in the air.

I regretted not asking Lucy if she'd seen
Mike or Raven. Seeing Raven's boot by the bones filled me with
dread. If she was dead, then what had happened to Mike? Was he
trapped in the Peripheral with Stella? I made a quick plan in my
head. It was stupid and far fetched, but I figured if I could get
into the Peripheral, I could find them and we could find Hob. If we
got back through that Cairn, we wouldn't suffer any sickness.

Right?

It was time to get this over with.

"Hey! Rippin' Jack! You wanna calm your ass
down?"

The zombie stopped in mid-swing—or, rather,
he stopped swinging at his intended target even though his body
followed through. He looked around in the darkness. "Guardian!"

"You just stop with the pipe. We need to
talk."

"We have a hire, you paid your price. But
your hire can't be fulfilled until I fulfill the one now!" He
sounded frustrated, angry. And I guess I would be too if freedom
was right in front of me but unattainable because of someone else.
Here he'd thought if he captured me, he would be free. Then the
object of his hire tasks him again.

It sorta sucked ass.

"I know. And you have to deliver me in irons
to the first hire. What if…as part of my hire, I'll give myself up
to you after you tell me who hired you."

"Oh no, no. Confidentially was required when
she paid with my name. The same would go for you. No one else will
know what you task me with—only you haven't tasked me yet."

"Do I do that now?" He was right—I'd paid
the fee by using his name, but I never gave him the job.

Ripp'n Jack lowered his pipe and stood
still. "You could. But I can't accept it now if it conflicts with
my present job."

Meaning I can't ask him to set me free. I
can only do that after I'm delivered, and I figured he'd be long
gone by then. I was going to have to get creative. I wiped at my
forehead with the back of my right forearm. April wasn't usually
too hot in southern Georgia, but when I added my nervousness and
terror, it generated a bit of heat. I was sweating bullets. No, not
bullets: bazooka rounds. "As far as you've told me, your hire with
your boss only includes delivering me. Did they tell you to kidnap
Stella Rosenberg?"

He paused, his head tilted to the side as if
he were listening to voices. "No, I wasn't told to take her. It was
a suggestion."

"From your boss?"

"Yes. They suggested taking Stella to lure
you out. But you know that."

That was true. I did. "Was it your idea or
your boss's idea to take Mike or Raven?" I was going on the
assumption the bones next to Raven's shoes weren't hers, but
someone else's.

He leaned his head to the side. "It was
mine."

Okay. Good. "So, if you
think about it, Stella's freedom, Mike's freedom, and Raven's
freedom aren't subject to your present job. Those kidnappings were
decisions
you
made
because you weren't ordered to." Come on, pea-brain…put it
together.

Abruptly he reached out and put a hand on
the half-broken cross tombstone. "You're right. Freeing them is my
decision."

"Right. So, if I ask you to make sure all
three of them get out of the Peripheral by way of the Maab's Cairn,
you'll do it as my task for you."

"Why through a Faerie Cairn?"

I didn't want to give that bit of
information up just yet. "That information's not up for grabs, and
since Maab's not there anymore, it shouldn't be a problem,
right?"

"Right, right…" He laughed. I didn't like
the sound of it. "I see what you're doing. And I like it, Guardian.
You've taught me something."

What did that mean? My heart pounded.
Teaching a Djin wasn't in the plan.

"So my decision is this." He moved to the
arch and stepped through, suddenly disappearing as if walking into
an invisible rip.

Huh. I remained in my hidey place and waited
a few minutes. When I didn't hear anything other than the distant
traffic and a catbird's call, I stepped around the azalea I'd been
kneeling behind.

Abruptly the portal shimmered and Rippin'
Jack in his zombie suit reappeared. I heard the clink of heavy
metal before I saw the oxidized iron manacles in his hands. He
dropped them on the ground in front of the cross. "You can see
these, Guardian. I know where you're hiding. And because you've
shown me how easy words can be manipulated, I'm going to weave the
two hires together." He laughed.