Darkness Becomes Her

Sebastian looked happy for the first time since I’d met him, like the dark cloud constantly hovering above him had lifted.

“You’re not staying with your dad?”

“I don’t want you going back to the GD alone.” His face colored slightly, and he shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “If there wasn’t a goddess after your ass and bent on destroying the Novem, then, yeah, I’d stay with him for a while and catch up.”

“She’s not alone, Bastian,” Violet said, offended.

Sebastian smiled. “I know, Violet. But the more protectors Ari has the better.” He met my gaze. “My dad wants you to consider staying with him. It’s safer at his house.”

I knew where I wanted to be. “I’ll think about it. Right now, I want to get out of this dress and eat. I’m starving. And the first places Athena will look for me are the Novem’s houses, not some run-down place in the GD.”

Sebastian nodded. He made a flourish with his hand. “Shall we, ladies?”

A funny feeling swept through my chest. He’d chosen me. He cared. Yeah, the world as I knew it was basically falling down around me and my life was in the balance, but the happiness I felt in that moment erased it all. We walked down the sidewalk, heading for the streetcar that would take us home.

Sixteen

WE FOUND DUB, HENRI, AND CRANK IN THE PARLOR, SEATED on the floor around the coffee table playing poker with a pot consisting of coins, gold teeth, cameos, and an assortment of old jewelry. There was a container of gumbo and used bowls on the table. It smelled awesome.

“Where the hell have you guys been?” Sebastian asked tiredly, plopping onto the couch and stretching his legs.

“You went to a ball!” Crank tossed her cards on the table, eyes devouring the gorgeous black-and-white gown as I parked my butt on the arm of the couch, wincing as the belt around my thigh rubbed the sore spot on my skin. Dub cast an odd look at Crank, and immediately she went indifferent. “Looks like it itches.”

“It does.” I wished I could’ve stripped the dress off right then, but I was too damned tired to make it upstairs. One thing I could do was relieve myself of the blade. Standing, I angled my thigh away from the others, lifted the skirt, and removed the blade, setting it and the annoying strap on the side table.

When I turned back, it was to see all eyes on me. “What?”

Dub’s pale eyes went from the blade to me. “I really like her.”

Crank grinned. “I vote we keep her.”

Henri tossed a card facedown on the table. “Yeah,” he said on a sigh. “She does fit in with the rest of you weirdos.”

“Oh. Ha-ha,” Crank said, dealing him a card. “So what ball?”

“Arnaud Ball,” Violet answered in a singsong voice, skipping out of the room. Her footsteps echoed on the stairs.

Sebastian let out a long exhale and dragged his fingers through his hair. “What about you? I thought you guys were coming back to the house after I left.”

“We decided to do a little ransacking along the way.” Dub nodded to the pile of treasure on the table. “Whoever wins the pot gets to sell it to Spits.”

I pulled off my boots. “Who’s Spits?”

“Antique dealer in the Quarter,” Sebastian answered as Violet returned with Pascal, passing the parlor to let him out back.

“You want in?” Dub asked me and Sebastian.

“No,” I said, “but I want some of that gumbo.”

“Help yourself.” Henri gestured to the pot. “Ms. Morgan brought it by, and petits bebes here went apeshit over the stuff.” Crank kicked him. “Ow, that hurt.”

“Then stop calling us babies. And you went nuts over it too. Just like always.”

“No,” Dub said, “Henri went nuts over Ms. Morgan. He’s in loooooove with her.”

Henri colored fiercely, picked up a molar with a gold filling, and pinged Dub in the forehead with it. “I don’t love her, you idiot.”

Dub and Crank erupted into giggles as Sebastian filled two bowls. I slid onto the couch cushion and arranged my gown, pulling my feet under me. “Ms. Morgan,” he said, handing me a bowl, “is like a traveling teacher, comes through the GD once a week and brings food.”

“Yeah, Violet was telling me about her.”

I was so hungry I ate way too fast. But damn, it was good. And filling. The poker game continued. It didn’t take long for Crank to win the pot, with enough gloating to make a pro wrestler proud.

After learning the truth from Sebastian earlier — that Crank wasn’t really his sister — I watched her more closely, feeling sorry for what she’d been through. Poor kid.

I thought I knew a lot about New 2, but after coming here and spending the last couple nights, I realized I’d never had a clue what this place was really like. Besides all the supernatural stuff, I never thought there might be kids left to survive on their own, living in abandoned houses, making do in whatever ways they could.

And they were an amazing bunch of kids. I was proud to be here with them.

One by one, they went upstairs to bed, leaving me, Sebastian, and Henri.

Henri rested his back against the chair opposite the couch. “So is one of you gonna tell me what really happened tonight?”

The small lamp on the end table flickered, making the long shadows on the wall sway back and forth. The light made Henri’s eyes glow — a preternatural glow that reminded me of the watchful gaze of a jungle predator.

With my nod, Sebastian told Henri everything that had happened at the ball, leaving out my dance with Gabriel and our conversation in the courtyard guest house.

“So Athena caused the hurricanes,” Henri said, shaking his head.

“Who knows? She might’ve just made them worse, or caused the final one. Still”—Sebastian shifted his gaze to me—“none of it explains what your mom had to do with it.”

“I think Athena wanted my mom like she wants me.”

“Yeah, wanted you alive. Otherwise, she would’ve just killed you at the ball.”

“And you have no idea why a goddess of freaking war and the Novem would fight over you?” Henri asked. I shrugged. “So what now? She’ll come back for you. Here. Eventually she’ll realize you’re not with the Novem, and she’ll come here.”

With Dub, Crank, and Violet at risk. Henri didn’t need to say it aloud. I knew my presence here was a danger to them all.

A lump thickened my throat. “I’ll leave.”

Sebastian’s face screwed into a frown. “Outside The Rim she has full power. You leave and she’ll know the minute you do. You’d never have a chance. At least here the Novem has their wards on the city. Not enough to keep her out, but their power weakens hers.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“She’s afraid of you.” He ignored my sarcasm. “I can feel it, sense it from her. It’s because of your curse. . whatever she did to your family can hurt her somehow.”

I thought of Athena’s wrist, the way my hand on her skin had made it harden.

Henri got to his feet, stretched his arms over his head, and yawned. “Yeah, well, a lot of good that does us if we don’t even know what the curse is.”

I studied Henri for a long time. The grandfather clock ticked loud in the silence. “There is one way to find out,” I said, my attention shifting from Henri to Sebastian.