Ramin glanced at the Bajangs. “You all need to get to safety,” he said. “The Hermessi will be here soon, and you don’t want to suffer their wrath. Go, hide…”
Rebel, one of the Bajang leaders, raised her chin and gave us a cold grin. “We don’t shy away from a battle. Yes, those vulnerable in our pack will go back to the citadel, but the rest of us won’t go. We cannot bring ourselves to leave you here, on your own.”
“They’re not alone,” Safira replied. “We’ve got their backs. Please, Rebel. All of you must go. Your species has been through enough with Azazel. It would be a shame if more of you were harmed now. Please.”
Rebel didn’t seem too happy, but she obliged. She motioned for her brother, Thorn, and the rest of the remaining Bajang crew to join her back inside the Stonewall citadel. That place was big and solid enough to withstand a violent earthquake, just as it had resisted many of the ocean’s tantrums. Hopefully, by the time the Hermessi got here, both Ramin and I would be gone.
“Ideas, anybody? I would like my sister to come back to me alive,” Phoenix said, his voice shaky. I could almost feel his anguish. It broke me.
“Hold on,” Kailani muttered, and gave Ibrahim a quick sideways glance. “Herbert.”
“What?” Ibrahim asked, slightly confused.
Corrine gasped. “Holy crap, she’s right! Harper is a soul. Herbert could—”
“Are you crazy, woman?” Ibrahim snapped, clearly exasperated. “Just earlier, we were debating the risks of letting a ghoul loose in exchange for information, and now, you want to hand him Harper’s soul? To what? To take her back to Neraka?”
“What are you talking about?” Ramin asked on my behalf.
“I have a trained ghoul in this pencil case,” Ibrahim replied, showing us the rusty old object. It took a few seconds to dig into my memory, because I’d heard something about this creature before. Corrine must’ve told us the story when we were kids. Or maybe Derek.
“Herbert,” Ramin said, picking up on my thoughts. “The ghoul that Derek used to make Jeramiah understand a few things about his father, Lucas.”
“Yes. Well, we brought him out, earlier, to see if we could get him to tell us more about Reapers, since we have no one else to ask,” Ibrahim explained.
“That is a fair assessment. My knowledge of Reapers is minimal. Death and the Hermessi have rarely mingled,” Ramin shot back. Of course. After all, by “rarely” he meant that time when Death had intervened in the Hermessi’s first ritual. Ramin himself had been created from the aftermath.
“Grandpa, it’s an option. I’m not saying it’s a surefire way, but it’s the only one we have, and Harper’s life depends on it,” Kailani pleaded with him. “I’m worried about anything involving a loose Herbert, but if we don’t at least try to get Harper back, she’ll… she’ll die anyway.”
“Honey, Kailani has a point,” Corrine added. “If Herbert wants his freedom, you could add this task to the deal. Information on the Reapers and returning Harper’s soul to her body on Neraka, intact. He’s part of this interdimensional thread of Reapers. He eats souls, yes, but with the right incentive, and given the extensive training you put him through, it should be enough to get him to do this.”
“You seem to trust Herbert more than I do,” Ibrahim muttered.
“I don’t. But like Kale said, what other option do we have?” Corrine replied. “If Ramin gets anywhere near Neraka, the Hermessi will come at him with everything they have, and they will destroy him and Harper.”
It didn’t take long for me to end up agreeing with Corrine and Kailani. “I’ll do it,” I said to Ramin.
“Are you sure?” he murmured to me.
“It’s either that or I die. Worst-case scenario, I die anyway.”
“Harper says she’ll do it,” Ramin interjected.
Kailani breathed out and looked at Ibrahim. “Okay. Now, let’s see if Herbert says yes to this new deal.”
Reluctantly, Ibrahim snapped open the pencil case and whispered a spell. As the gray mist spilled out from inside, tension rose across the continent. The ground trembled, ever so slightly, announcing monstrous things to come. The air was thick with dread and anticipation, as the Daughters nervously glanced around, ready to protect us with everything they had. They’d gotten themselves into a dangerous position here—the product of one Hermessi fighting against the others. I worried it wouldn’t end well for them, and Eritopia needed its Daughters now more than ever.
The mist transformed into a translucent mass, and as the creature began to form before my very eyes, I realized that Ramin and I were equally nervous about this. I could feel him, just as he could feel me. Given the impending threats looming around us, we ultimately agreed that this was the best way forward.
The Hermessi resistance needed Ramin, who’d refused to join Brendel’s side, even though she still had his son on Yahwen. Granted, Ramin’s determination had to at least partially stem from said son’s betrayal and decision to serve Brendel. And I needed to go back to Caspian so I could continue my own share of the fight against the Hermessi.
I’d never questioned the possibility of sacrificing myself in this fight. But I was certain that I still had a long way to go before dying to save my people. I wasn’t done here, and neither was Ramin. There was more work to be done, and it required us alive and in one piece.
Standing before a ghoul, I braced myself for what would probably be yet one more weird and dangerous experience to add to my GASP portfolio. As long as Herbert didn’t eat me.
Harper
It took me a while to get used to the ghoul standing before Ramin and me, almost as tall as the Fire Hermessi. Despite the long black claws and its hungry-looking eyes, Herbert didn’t do anything that could be considered a threat. Then again, I was still safe inside Ramin. That might change once I was handed over.
Ibrahim handled the negotiations with Herbert. According to Corrine and Kailani, the ghoul’s demand in exchange for information on the Reapers and Death was difficult to consider. He wanted to be free, out of that charmed pencil box forever. The implications were obvious. Herbert could easily just go on a rampage and eat souls, of which there were plenty inside the sanctuaries, probably easier to eat than, say, living and conscious people.
But Herbert had been tamed and trained, by far the most docile of all the ghouls to have ever been held in the Witches’ Sanctuary. Ibrahim was equal parts doubtful and hopeful about how this would turn out. I listened as he and Herbert spoke in their whispered ghoulish language. After a few minutes of back-and-forths, they turned to face us.
“I have his word that he will carry you safely back to Neraka, and that he will go as far away from here as possible,” Ibrahim said. “I cannot make him promise not to eat another soul ever again, but he has assured me that he will do his best to stick to corpses. Ghouls can survive through necrophagy, even if it isn’t their lifestyle of choice. And, before he leaves with you, Harper, he will transfer everything he knows about Reapers into my mind.”
“Can we trust him, Grandpa? Honestly?” Kailani asked, her brow furrowed. Her hands were in her tunic pockets, but I could see them fumbling from here. She was likely picking at her cuticles, a sign of anxiety coming from her.
“Herbert and I go way back,” Ibrahim replied. “While I worry he might give in to his more primal nature, I do have faith in him. I must. He’s been a loyal servant for so long, and our rapport was never one where I held all the authority, while he had no choice but to obey. Herbert has repeatedly demonstrated willingness and common sense, despite his species’ more savage traits.”
“Plus, I assume he knows that I will bring down the entire Witches’ Sanctuary on his bony ass if he hurts our beloved Harper,” Corrine said, narrowing her eyes at Herbert, who, in turn, gave her a faint grin. Oh, he understood that, all right. Message received.
“I wouldn’t want to piss off the White Witches, either,” I muttered to Ramin. “They will stop at nothing until he’s found, drawn, and quartered.”
“We’ll let Caspian know you’re coming via ghoul, then,” Kailani chuckled.
Spine-tingling growls trickled in from the western woods. Phoenix was the first to react, suddenly stiff and ready for combat. “Those are Shills. The way Amelia described the sounds they make… it’s exactly like this.”
“The Hermessi destroyed Mount Agrith, but that only sealed the pink waters from us, not from them. They can still make their monsters in there,” Kailani said.
