The Keeper's Curse (28 page)

This was
clearly not the answer he expected. He stared at her like she had
grown a second head.

“
Help me?” he said. “Why would you want to help
me?”

Emmy
shrugged. “We want the same things, don’t we?”

He shook
his head in disbelief. “I guess we do.” He circled the room to make
sure none of the possessed animals were watching them through the
window and continued. “Now listen to me, I’m not the only person in
Methelwood working for Thoreoux. Someone is here possessing those
animals and people as well. Obviously I’m not trusted completely
because Thoreoux won’t tell me who it is.” Emmy took in every word
carefully, and he continued. “Firstly, I would recommend destroying
the spies. The faster we do that, the less information Thoreoux can
get.”

“
I don’t know where they all are,” Emmy said.

“
There are a few spots on our peacekeeping grounds they seem
to keep going back to,” Cyrus said. “One of Thoreoux’s people will
always be on patrol, watching through the spies, but they’re a lot
less careful at night since we’re supposed to be
asleep.”

“
So you want to go find them at night?”

“
Precisely. We won’t have long to do this, a few nights tops,
before they catch on to the pattern, so we’ll have to do it fast. I
know they look deadly, but the spell isn’t perfected yet. They’re
weak and they die quickly. It won’t be too hard.”

Emmy
couldn’t help but pick up on a very specific word, even while
storing everything else he had just said. “They’re under a
spell?”

His lips
tightened, but he answered her. “I don’t know how it’s possible,
since I thought Clara Crawford took the Book of Curses with her,
but yes. Possession seems like a curse to me, and the way the
palewraiths are responding to it seems like it fits. Anything
else?”

“
When do we start?”

“
Might as well start tomorrow night. Meet me at the stables at
Urquhart at one. I’d advise you to wear a disguise.”

Emmy
continued to nod, feeling stupid for not having anything else to
add. She still couldn’t believe it. Cyrus – helping her.

“
Now get out of here.”

Emmy
grabbed hold of the knocker, ready to leave when Cyrus cleared his
throat.

“
By the way, I know you’ll be tempted to tell your little soul
partner about all this –”

“
I won’t. For his own good, I won’t.”

“
Right. For his own good.” He was being sarcastic again.
“Go.”

Emmy
didn’t need to be told again. She slipped between the sliver of an
opening in the door, and ran back down the winding path.

Her
thoughts raced even faster than her legs. This was her chance. She
could save herself and Breckin if everything went according to
plan. Of all the people in the world Thoreoux could have picked to
murder her, of all the people he had trusted, he chose the only one
who would save her.

Emmy was
back on the horse and out of the Crow grounds a few minutes later,
the horse skittish from the unfamiliar and unpleasant
terrain.

The
surprising thing was Emmy still didn’t understand why he would save
her. His brother’s life, as well as his own, was on the line, and
he still wouldn’t kill her. She was a stranger, and more than that,
a stranger he didn’t particularly like. A stranger who held the
soul of someone he despised. Yet he still couldn’t do it.
Why?

With hope
renewed in her, she couldn’t wait to tell everyone who Cyrus really
was. Everyone would be flabbergasted, and why wouldn’t they be? She
hardly believed it herself.

She
sighed, realizing that she would once again have to keep secrets,
but this time she was doing it for everyone’s good. She would save
herself, save Breckin, and now she would help save
Cyrus.

Chapter 18

Hunting at Midnight

Persephone came back to school the next day acting as if she
had never been gone, with one simple exception: she ignored Emmy
completely. At first Emmy didn’t really care, lost in her own
thoughts and worries, but she soon realized it was more than just
Persephone being in a bad mood. When Emmy asked to borrow a piece
of paper, Persephone’s grip on her pencil tightened until it broke
in half. Jade promptly sat between them and talked through all the
angry silences about dress shopping.

“
This is exactly why I prefer guys,” Emmy said to Teddy in the
cafeteria. “They don’t play these stupid head games, getting mad at
you over something you don’t even know you did –”

“
Emmy I hear what you’re saying,” Teddy said over her. “But
don’t take it out on your sandwich. It’s not Persy’s
face.”

Emmy
looked down, sure enough she had jabbed her fork in her food so
many times nothing left but a pile a mush.

“
Why don’t you just ask her what’s wrong?” Teddy
said.

“
It’s Persephone! If I’m not careful she’ll disembowel me and
hang my intestines on her wall.”

“
If she’s angry at you she’ll probably do that
anyway.”

As Emmy
had feared, Persephone didn’t sit with them at lunch, or come into
the cafeteria at all. Jade sat across from Emmy without looking at
her, clearly worried she would be caught in the
crossfire.

“
Did she tell you why she’s mad at me?” Emmy asked
her.

Jade
jumped, as if she were surprised by the question. “Well, um, sort
of.”

“
Would you mind
telling
me?” She knew she was being unfair to Jade, but
her tolerance for dancing around the issue was nonexistent. Girls
and their subtle nuances in communication was one of the reasons
Emmy had gotten into psychology in the first place.

“
Well,” Jade said, lowering her head and separating her food
into piles. “She’s angry you and Breckin have ... put a
Ministrialian bodyguard on her.”

“
What?
”

“
I’ve seen the guard following her around. Look, Emmy, when we
talked in the hospital, I thought we were on the same page about
Persy, that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about how she knew
about the ...” she trailed off, realizing Teddy was listening and
nobody was supposed to know about the Keeper’s Curse.

“
I did
not
put a guard on her! Breckin must’ve done it.”

Emmy was
hurt when she saw Jade’s surprise. “You didn’t have anything to do
with it?”

“
Of course not. How could you even think that?” She sighed and
sat back in her chair. “I’ll talk to Breckin after school and get
this straightened out, okay?”

“
Okay,” Jade said, her voice still layered with uncertainty
that felt like a punch to Emmy’s stomach.

***

What
worried Emmy more than anything was that if Breckin was so opposed
to Persephone, who had done nothing wrong as far as she was knew,
how he would react to what she was doing with Cyrus behind his
back.

She
flashed a quick message in his mind telling him she needed to talk
to him after school, which he accepted.

He waited
for her at the front gate, leaning against a pillar in his
threadbare jacket, appearing concerned.

“
Everything’s fine,” she said before he even saw her, just to
get it out of the way. “It’s Persephone. Apparently you’re having
her followed.”

He was
taken aback by her bluntness, but responded. “Yes,” he said as if
this were the obvious thing to do.

She
wanted to place a hand on his shoulder, but she resisted. Not only
was it not public behaviour, but she knew he didn’t like being
touched.

“
I know what you’re thinking,” she said, being as placating as
possible. “But you’re wrong. She doesn’t work for
Thoreoux.”

He gaped
like what he was saying was so painfully obvious it didn’t need
explaining. “Lana – she knows. And she didn’t even deny
it!”

“
Because it’s so ridiculous! Look, I understand, I’m freaking
out too, but –”

“
I’m not freaking out! In case you’ve forgotten, you were
nearly killed the other night.”

“
I know, but none of that has to do with
Persephone.”

“
How do you know? I’ve been thinking about this and,” he
pulled on her sleeve, away from the entrance where the students
were filing out, and out of earshot. “Cyrus can’t be doing this on
his own. I think he has an ally.”

Emmy
avoided his eyes and blocked her mind off from him. The last thing
she needed was to feel guilty over already knowing this.

“
That makes sense,” she said.

“
Remember that portal we found? The final step in creating a
portal is to have a crafter on the receiving end accept it, and
until then the land means nothing. Basically, you can’t just create
an orb and suddenly start traveling – someone had to be here in the
first place, before Cyrus got here. Someone that already lived
here.”

“
And you think it was
Persephone?
”

“
I don’t know! Probably not, but it’s possible.”

She
closed her eyes and sighed. She couldn’t entire blame him for his
suspicions – Persephone still hadn’t told her how she knew about
the Keeper’s Curse, and she was being awfully defensive. But then
again, so was Breckin.

She heard
Rozelyn’s words ringing in her head, about Breckin’s mistrust –
borderline paranoia – of people.

“
I know we don’t know each other that well,” Emmy said softly.
“But we have to have some common ground here. I know Persephone.
She let herself get caught up in my problems to make sure Jade
didn’t get hurt, and she helped me too. Can you please trust me on
this?”

Emmy was
fairly certain he wasn’t used to people demanding things from him
(or at least people who weren’t his superiors), but she waited in
patience for an answer while he choked on his words.

“
Lana, I can’t.” His face crumpled at disappointing her. “This
is too important.”

Emmy put
on a blank mask, trying to control her anger. She couldn’t say
Rozelyn hadn’t warned her, but still. She knew she needed to try
another tactic with him; all those counselling books said the same
thing. You needed to build trust with a patient, and sometimes that
took a very long time. If telling Breckin wasn’t going to get him
to see, she would have to show him she could be trusted.

“
Fine,” she said. “Keep the guard on her.” Emmy tried not to
look too upset in front of him, knowing that until she got him to
change his mind, Persephone would no longer be her friend. And
changing Breckin’s mind wasn’t something that would happen
overnight.

The two
of them made their way off Urquhart grounds, down the lane into the
forest, falling into an easy pace beside each other.

“
There’s still one more thing I don’t get,” Breckin said,
trying to steer the conversation away from Persephone. “I guess
it’s safe to say whoever is here working for Thoreoux is the one
possessing those creatures to kill you, and I know what you’re
thinking – that possession is a curse.”

“
Persy told me Thoreoux had the Book of Curses.”

“
The thing is my mother took the Book of Curses when she
became a fugitive. I don’t see how they could have gotten the Book
back.”

“
Is it possible that it wasn’t the Book of Curses?” Emmy
asked. “There are thirteen of those books, aren’t there? If
Thoreoux was able to find one he could find another
one.”

“
I doubt it. Those books have been lost for ages. Hundreds of
years.”

Emmy
chewed on her lip. It was incredibly frustrating not to know
anything about these enigmatic spell books, how they came to be, or
where they were. She couldn’t help but be slightly impressed
Thoreoux had been able to find one and reverse his own spell that
should have killed him.

She shook
herself, trying to focus on what Breckin was saying.

“
... besides, did you see how those people attacked you
looked? Like they were being jerked around by someone? It seemed
like they were possessed, and it could have been the palewraiths
trying to resist, which they do when anyone tampers with the spell
books.”

“
Then maybe your mother didn’t take the Book with her,” Emmy
suggested. “I mean, not for good. She’s on the run, Breckin, think
about it. Maybe she didn’t want to carry something around that
important. If she got caught, they’d get the Book.”

He
blanched, stopping in his tracks. “So you think Mom gave it to
someone here, to someone she trusted, and they ended up working for
Thoreoux?”

She
shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know. That, or maybe someone stole
it.” The chances of that were slim, but his shoulders seemed to
relax at the thought.

“
I hope so,” he said, beginning his pace again. “I guess
that’s it, then. We’ll have to find out who has the
Book.”