“That being said, we certainly shouldn’t rely on any kindness from Firr or any of the others. Wei hasn’t stepped in yet, but I really don’t want to find out where his allegiance lies right now.” I sighed. “There’s too much going on at once, and I admit, I am not emotionally prepared for another betrayal.”
Phoenix smiled. “I get it. I imagine we all feel the same way. Besides, the Shills did kill some Bajangs, so there was definitely aggression in the Hermessi’s reaction, just not as much as we’d have thought. Anyway, that’s done, for now. My sister is on her way back to Neraka, and Ramin is off Calliope. Hopefully, he’ll find a safe spot to meet with the other rebels in the meantime.”
“Does Caspian know?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’s been notified. This is coming at the right time, too. Harper’s body is hours away from certain death,” he said, his voice uneven. His aura burned yellow and red in fear and anguish. He loved his sister fiercely, and I couldn’t blame him for feeling this way. I’d have gone to hell and back to make sure my Lenny was okay.
Ibrahim clapped his hands once, to move the discussion along. “I do have some good news,” he announced, the corner of his mouth twisted into a sly half-grin. “I’ve been digging through the many… many memories that Herbert transferred to me about Reapers and Death and all that side of their business. It will take some time to make sense of most of it, but… I think I’ve found Mortis.”
“Whoa…” I managed, my eyes bulging.
Phoenix chuckled. “I know, right? As soon as Ibrahim gives me all the details he can, and I find you Mortis’s coordinates, I can go back to locating Tae and his crew… and obviously send a team over there to retrieve them.”
“Herbert was on Mortis?” Eva asked.
“At one point, a very long time ago. I’ve seen a few things there. It’s mostly woods and, from what I could tell, wandering spirits, but I did see a building atop some waterfalls. Weird place. But Herbert knew, for a fact, that he couldn’t be there for too long, let alone go anywhere near that place. Death lives there,” Ibrahim recounted. “I have enough data for Phoenix to get you an exact location.”
Just then, Kailani appeared in the middle of the room with a faint huff. “Okay, I’m done with Stonewall. What did I miss?”
Ibrahim frowned. “What do you mean you’re done with Stonewall?”
“I’m not needed there anymore. Viola and her sisters and Grandma are perfectly capable of handling it,” she said. “I’m anxious to know what you got from Herbert, so spill it, Grandpa. All of it!”
Once she learned about Mortis’s location, Kailani went quiet, nodding slowly as she processed the information. Her aura glistened in shades of blue and green, a mixture of determination and resolution I hadn’t seen in anyone in days. The Hermessi had certainly managed to clamp down on our collective spirit, but they couldn’t stifle our individual resolve. And Kailani’s seemed stronger than ever.
“You’ll need to prepare for the trip,” she said after a long pause, looking at me. “Gear, weapons, the whole shebang. You should bring pulverizer weapons, too, just in case.”
“Those are kind of big and clunky, though I wouldn’t mind them in case we run into Shills,” Eva mused, pursing her lips.
“We’ve made a newer, slightly more compact model,” Phoenix said. “Smaller, but equally potent. Prior to this Hermessi problem, we were still testing them in the shooting range, but they passed all the marks. They’re good to go in the field, if you ask me.”
“And given the urgency, I doubt Derek and Sofia will object to us using them without GASP’s final seal of approval,” Fallon interjected. “Okay. I’m down. Count me in.”
“You really don’t have any other choice,” I said with a grin.
“What, you’d make me go, if I didn’t want to?” he retorted, jokingly scowling at me.
“You’re damn straight.” I laughed. “You’re good for us, Fallon. I hope you know that.”
He blushed like a lovestruck teenage girl. “Aw.”
“And! You can’t go there without a witch,” Kailani added, hands on her hips. She’d assumed her commanding pose, the kind that made it clear it would be her way, or the cosmic highway.
“You want to go to Mortis?” I asked. Knowing her strength and her fusion with the Word, I sure wouldn’t have objected to her coming along for the ride. Kailani was a most gifted White Witch-swamp witch hybrid, and she was particularly good at what she did. She’d come a long way since Strava.
“I’d like to, but I’m still needed here and in all the other sanctuaries,” she replied, her shoulders dropping. “The fae require my care, not just the White Witches’. But I’ll give you two of Lumi’s apprentices. Hold on.”
“Wait, who are you—” Fallon never got to finish his sentence, for his answer came as soon as Kailani closed her eyes and summoned Acantha and Nethissis. They appeared next to her, tall and proud and beautiful creatures, clad in long white dresses with wide gold bands clasped around their waists. Dozens of small silken pouches hung from the bands, likely filled with swamp witch spell paraphernalia.
“I believe you remember Acantha, a Bajang of Stonewall, and Nethissis,” Kailani said, smiling.
Eva gasped and rushed to hug Nethissis, a Lamia from her mother’s protective detail. “I’m so glad to see you’re coming along!” she said.
Nethissis grinned. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Meeting Death has been on my to-do list since we first learned she existed.”
“Acantha and Nethi, as we call them, are the first two of Lumi’s apprentices to ascend. They’re now full swamp witches, like me,” Kailani replied, beaming with pride.
“Oh, wow,” I breathed, my eyebrows going higher than ever before. “How did that happen?”
Kailani shrugged. “I guess… I don’t know!” she said, laughing lightly. “We assumed it was because of this current situation. The Word wouldn’t tell me, but I am inclined to at least think that it might’ve softened up on the apprentices, allowing Acantha and Nethi to become fully-fledged swamp witches.”
“We need all the magic muscle we can get,” Riza replied. “Maybe that’s what the Word had in mind as well.”
“Either way, we sure didn’t mind.” Acantha giggled, while Nethi gave me a startling glance—the kind that said she’d do a lot more than just look at me.
And Eva was quick to pick up on that, as she scowled and moved back to stand by my side. Granted, Eva and I weren’t in any kind of relationship, but I doubted either of us could deny the intense magnetism between us. It had become uncomfortable for me to exist without at least seeing her.
Nethi was gorgeous, though. Not as beautiful as Eva. But she carried herself with a lot of grace and dignity, her hair long, straight, and copper red. Her eyes were white with amber rings around the irises, the sign of a full swamp witch, and her Cupid’s-bow mouth could easily make any man wonder what it would be like to kiss her. I felt Eva’s eyes on me, so I turned my head and found her watching me—her aura flared with swirls of gold, pale yellow and a dirty red. She certainly didn’t enjoy me looking at Nethi. I decided then that I would need to find a moment to have a word with her. We’d known each other for long enough to be able to just talk about this… this thing between us. I didn’t want Eva getting the wrong idea.
“Okay, so, we’ve got two swamp witches on our side to go visit Death. That’s great!” Fallon said, loud enough for all of us to look at him and forget whatever thoughts we’d just had.
Phoenix settled in front of his monitors with Ibrahim by his side, and they began a new search through the astral maps of the In-Between, looking for Mortis based on Herbert’s memories of the place.
“And it’s an honor to be a part of such a powerful and… dashing crew,” Acantha replied, smiling and constantly stealing glances at Herakles. She ran a hand through her rich, blonde mane, and Herakles gave her a polite but downright awkward nod. Her eyes had once been reddish-brown, but only a ring of it remained around the white irises, much like Nethissis and Kailani.
Riza’s enthusiasm began to simmer down, from what I could tell. We’d formed bonds in this crew. I saw them, better than most. Amelia and Raphael. Eva and me. Riza and Herakles. Acantha and Nethissis were double-edged blades, it seemed. Yes, they were going to be quite helpful on Mortis, especially since we didn’t know how Death would react to our presence there, but they also seemed to threaten the balance of two of these bonds in our midst. Acantha was clearly pretty sweet on Herakles, and Nethissis… Well, I’ll just have to talk to Eva about this before the claws come out.
Eva was reserved in her nature, but I doubted she’d last long if Nethissis started making moves on me. I’d be understandably flattered; however, any attempt on the part of Nethissis to garner my romantic attention would fall flat. My heart was leaning toward Eva, and I doubted it would ever change its sway.
