Bitten in Two

the headache was knocking harder now, and if I had to say anything I might puke. I glanced back to see if Cole felt the same. Uh, considering that he was winding a long purple string of gum between his teeth and fingers like taffy, probably not.

I nearly turned back to Vayl and said, “I can’t work under these circumstances. I need peace before a kil , man.” But then I imagined myself meditating and maybe downing a cup of chamomile tea before pul ing off my next hit. And that was so ludicrous that I nearly slapped myself across the face. Pull it together. You can do this.

And afterward, free margaritas for everyone! shouted my Inner Bimbo from her favorite barstool. Which she promptly fel off of. I glared at her.

This is why nobody listens to you, ya lush.

Teen Me was waving frantical y from the second-story window of Granny May’s house. Now why would she be up there? That wasn’t even the room I usual y stayed in. I looked around for somebody to ask, but my Librarian was sprinting down the road like she’d just heard there was a two-for-one sale at Borders. And Granny May’s bridge table? Deserted.

I stopped. “Something’s wrong.” Hey, no vomiting! Two points for me!

Vayl murmured to Yousef and we stopped at the edge of a smal alcove formed by the side of yet another deserted building, part of the medina’s outer wal , and a third structure that the tannery seemed to be using as a warehouse. Inside this capital U was lowercase U formed by one large tub. Our tub. But al I saw was a white blur as I pul ed back and ducked inside the abandoned home with Vayl, Cole, and Yousef. We huddled beside the open door, discussing our options.

Sterling spoke into our ears. “Demons are holding steady,” he reported.

“Why would that be?” I wondered aloud. “Why didn’t they ream us up on the roof? Why retrieve the map and then hand it back to us? What are they waiting for?”

“They’re demons,” Cole said bitterly. “Playing games like this is their favorite pastime.”

I didn’t reply. Vayl had been watching me like if he just held stil and stared hard enough he could see right into the workings of my brain. The thought scared me less than it would have a few months before. Until he said, “Jasmine?

Are you thinking that they already have the Rocenz?”

“Yeah,” I whispered. I’d only just realized that’s where my thoughts were taking me. How had he figured it out?

Cole said, “That’s ridiculous.”

“Not real y,” Vayl said. “In fact, it makes a great deal of sense to hand a treasure map over when you have already retrieved the loot.”

“But we’ve been watching the place. Kyphas hasn’t been here since she got the map.”

“No,” I said. “Because she’s had the Rocenz for a lot longer. The whole bit about getting the map? That was to fulfil her contract with us. She agreed to help us find the tool. And we’re about to. In fact, she’s leading us right to the spot where it’s been held since Roldan and his Gorgon rider took it from Sister Yalida over eighty years ago.” Sterling spoke up. “What are you saying, Chil ?” I replied, “You guys know about the canals?” Cole had been quietly translating al this time. Now Yousef tugged on my sleeve, shaking his head in confusion.

I said, “Thousands of years ago demons could travel to our realm a lot easier than they can now. Part of the reason was because the Great Taker had built al these canals between his world and ours. And no, they’re nothing like those placid little rivers you see every time Denmark advertises for tourists. Anyway, smal teams usual y made up of a couple of fighter types and a Seer or holy man eventual y sealed the majority of them. Except the ones that were wel disguised.” I paused, to wave my hands around the tannery.

“But the map,” Cole protested. “The dove!”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Probably taken from the dead hands of just such a crew. I don’t think the holy mark was meant to show where they’d completed their work. I think it was their guide, leading them to the place where they needed to make that seal real. I’l even go further. I think Sister Yalida was a member of that crew. And the story about her possessing the Rocenz was just part of a bigger tale, one in which she probably used the tool to find the canal that she and her comrades needed to lock. But they were kil ed in the process. Then their murderer, Roldan, hid the Rocenz in that very canal.”

“Why?” Vayl asked.

“You said the Gorgon eats his death. I’m guessing the Rocenz can somehow separate the two of them again.

Maybe the same way it can split me and Brude. If that happened, wouldn’t they both die?”

Vayl stared at me thoughtful y. “I cannot be certain without researching the matter, but yes, I would think so.”

“Why keep the map, then?” Cole asked. “Why not destroy it?”

I shrugged. “Maybe the Rocenz’s other powers are just too tempting to give up.”

“What about the writing on the map?” Sterling asked doubtful y.

“Temptation again,” I replied. “It’s hel ’s stock-in-trade, and here we are, risking our souls to get the Rocenz for ourselves.”

Vayl sent a piercing look out the door, scanning the tannery as if sight alone could force it to reveal how much of my theory tracked true. He said, “Much of what you say makes sense. The tannery legend, that it adjoins the land of the dead, could have its basis in fact. And then, there is the smel .”

“Exactly,” I agreed.

Through Cole, Yousef said, “I do not understand.” I explained, “The canals run below places that hide the odor