Cheat the Grave

he said grandly, gesturing at the ragtag men again, “is your army.”

My eyes went almost as wide as Io’s, and I waited for someone to laugh. Roland and Gareth only scowled more deeply. I sighed. Well, of course they were an army. What else could they be?

“Surely you’re joking.” I had swallowed a worm because Carlos promised to stave off Mackie’s attacks if I’d keep an open mind. But an open mind to what? Leading my own troop against those I used to count as allies? In my mortal flesh?

“You’re right. There aren’t enough of us yet. Only fourteen with you,” he said, shrugging as I opened my mouth to protest. That wasn’t what I meant. “But once we open the threshold to Midheaven and free the others from their bondage, we’ll outnumber both of the existing troops, two to one. Maybe more.”

My mouth stayed open. Holy shit. An entire army of rogues. “What about individual star signs?”

In the existing troops there was only one agent for each sign of the Zodiac, twenty-four in total between both sides. Rights to the star sign were guarded fiercely, passed down through the mother’s lineage.

“Fletcher and Milo are both Pisces.”

I glanced at the two men, sharing a bench and alcove. A meal of meat and beans. From the way they touched, lightly and comfortably at the knees, probably also a bed.

I crossed my arms. “Okay, so what about Warren’s lock?”

He’d placed it over the entrance to Midheaven as soon as Hunter crossed over. Though Mackie and Tripp had since escaped, I knew there’d be another barring the entrance by now.

Carlos shrugged. “We’ll break it again.”

Because he was no longer worried about the valley’s agents knowing what they were up to. Building an army.

“Don’t worry,” Alex said, misinterpreting my silence. He lacked Carlos’s discernible accent. “Between the defenses we can offer you and the weaponry left to you by your mother, you’ll be well protected while in this world.”

While in this… “My mother?” My head jerked up and I swallowed hard.

“Why, yes.” Carlos glanced at Io, whom I now realized was more of a den mother than a ward mother. “The treasure chest. Didn’t Io tell you?”

Io held her hands in front of her, an uncharacteristically defensive motion. “She didn’t even know I could feel the past living within her.”

“She’s disconnected,” Tripp said. I couldn’t tell if it was accusation or excuse.

“Bet she never even knew she possessed a sixth sense!” Fletcher dragged from a long-necked bottle.

Milo hit his leg. “That’s not the problem. I told you. She’s chased death before. She has a taste for it now. She’d rather die than live.”

Carlos held up a hand, halting the discussion. I took the opportunity to jump into the fray, ignoring the comments of men who’d never known me. “Let’s go back to the part about my mother.”

“She’s the one who set it up so we could find you. Told us where you’d show up, when, and to leave the weapons until you found them. Once she learned of Mackie, she knew she could no longer protect you on her own. She’s never involved us in her affairs to this extent before, so she must realize it’s time.”

My mother had left me weaponry. I was willing to bet she’d left me the warning note on the day of Suzanne’s bachelorette party too. She’d also created Skamar to rival the Tulpa in power. Before that, she had taught me to make a fist. I shook my head as all this new knowledge flooded it. “Time for what?”

“The Shadow to bind with the Light.”

The fifth sign. I’d stumbled right into the portent…just by trying to avoid it.

And Zoe had known what happened to me too! How could she not, when she knew all this? That I’d given up my powers as she once had, the pain and struggle in that…and how Warren had left me in the world, alone. Yet she remained hidden, waging a solo war on the Tulpa, her sole obsession and care. I mattered…but only if I could help her with that goal.

Io, who had touched me on the inside, took my hand with her own. “You’ve got your own vigilante guardian angel. Always have.”

I gritted my teeth. All I’d wanted was a mother.

“Let’s go for a little walk,” Carlos said, and I realized the rest of the room had fallen silent. I wondered belatedly what my bitterness smelled like, and tried to dam up the emotion before these strangers learned anything more of the woman who was supposed to somehow lead them into a new existence. Yet holding it back was like trying to stop floodwaters with a single sandbag. Besides, my dreams had been invaded, my insides fondled, and my body told the secrets I’d long denied to myself. I had a daughter in the world. She would need to know about her fate. I had a mother too.

And though absent from my life, she somehow unfailingly continued to manipulate mine.

15

I emerged from the rogue’s lair hesitantly, squinting like a newborn into a blinding winter day. For some reason I’d expected nighttime, but the sun rode high above the desert, sprawling around us like a forbidden planet. I felt like a cactus thrusting up through the crusty terrain, surviving despite the harsh climate, eking out an existence with only the barest of necessities. Not too far from the truth, actually.

Looking at Carlos-busy not looking at me-I wondered if he felt the same, emerging from an environment no one knew existed. Looking past him, I saw something else residing on the desert floor. Like the cactus, like me, it too was built for survival. And like most things on Frenchman’s Flat, it was also built for destruction.

“Go ahead,” Carlos encouraged, as I took an involuntary step toward the cache of weapons…those I’d just learned my mother had left me. “I always feel better about things after I hit something.”

I did too, I thought, gazing down at the trident, gun, cane and saber. They’d been returned to the original black chest, retrieved at some unknown point from Caine’s destroyed home. Its lid was propped wide and, in additional invitation, a bull’s-eye was set up across from it in the distance.

I reached for the saber, stroking its small antique firearm. Though still upset about the drugging, I wasn’t unaware of the faith Carlos was putting in me by bringing me here, revealing not only his location but the bulk of his plans. There was nothing keeping me from going back to Warren with the information, trying to insinuate myself back into the troop…or even to the Tulpa in efforts to exact revenge on my former allies.

Though Carlos wasn’t entirely without protection. The agents wouldn’t be able to destroy the bunker beneath Frenchman Flat because they couldn’t leave the city, unlike the rogues-and now me-who could travel freely. And right now, I thought, leaving didn’t sound half bad.

Lifting the saber, I tested its heft. Two months ago I’d have been able to propel the thing across the desert floor like a javelin, striking dead center ten out of ten times when standing still. Squinting, I sighted down the silver barrel. I’d be lucky now if my mortal eyesight would allow me to hit the thing at all.

I squeezed the trigger. There was a swift chuff, as if I’d shot air instead of a bullet, then silence. A miss. Gazing in the opposite direction, I sighed.

“You could do it,” Carlos said, reading my mind. “You could just start walking, head northeast toward Salt Lake. Use Olivia Archer’s money to alter your appearance, draw up new personal documents, build credit under a new name. Even enterprising mortals have managed all that.”

It wouldn’t be so different than how I was living now, I thought, reloading. All my possessions and habits dependent on the woman I was impersonating. Going through each day ever conscious of appearances. I sighted again.

“But-”

“There’s always a but,” I muttered, firing. Damned sun. Its glare was relentless, even in winter. I immediately reloaded.

“You can’t unlearn what you know. Your experiences this past year have shaped you into a different person entirely. Even with a full memory cleanse, there will be dreams. I know…because there was a time when I tried to