Before I Wake

you, personally. This particular hellion has been around for thousands of years and has been directly or indirectly responsible for more deaths than any of us can even imagine. His breath killed Doug Fuller. He killed Mr. Wesner, Mr. Wells, and Mrs. Bennigan at school. This afternoon, he killed Brant Williams in his own car. And even if he didn’t personally kill Scott, he’s ultimately responsible for his death.”

“Why?” Snot dripped from Sophie’s nose and she wiped it with the back of one hand. “He tried to lock me up in the Netherworld and now he’s killing everyone I know. Why is this happening to me?”

Sabine rolled her eyes. “Because you’re the beautiful fairy princess and the evil Lord of Hell can’t secure his kingdom until he’s feasted from your flesh and slaked his thirst with tea brewed from the ashes of your incinerated bones.”

Nash groaned, and Tod laughed out loud.

Sophie hiccuped and turned to me, frowning. “Is she serious?”

“This isn’t happening to you, princess,” Sabine snapped before I could do more than shake my head. “This is happening to us. While you spent the past few months prancing around in ignorant bliss, we were all being possessed, or kidnapped, or stalked by this hellion. So dry your tears and take off the tiara, because this is a call to arms, not a pity party. You’re not going to find any sympathy here.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” I said. “She’s still new to the horror.” And the truth was that she’d been involved in most of this from the very beginning. She just hadn’t known it.

“I’m only showing her the bigger picture,” Sabine insisted. “She needs to understand what’s really going on.”

“I understand.” Sophie reached for the shot glass and held it out to me with one shaky hand. “So I’m gonna need one more of those.”

I hesitated, until I noticed that Sophie’s eyes were already glazed with shock. “Fine.” I poured one more shot for her, then screwed the lid on the bottle. “But that’s it. I’m not putting my life in the hands of a bunch of drunks.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket so I handed the bottle to Tod and dug my cell out so I could answer it. “Hello?”

Luca’s number was on the screen, but I couldn’t understand whatever he whispered into my ear, so I had to shush the rest of the room so I could hear him. “Sorry. I’m in the office, so this’ll have to be quick. Is Tod with you?”

“Yeah. Why?”

His voice dropped even lower, and I glared at Sabine, who was still talking to Nash. “There’s someone at your house. Someone like you, and it’s not Aunt Madeline. If it’s not Tod, either, my guess is Thane… .”

“Shit. Okay, thanks.”

“How’s Sophie?” he asked, before I could hang up.

“Shaken. But she’s dealing.”

“What’s up?” Tod asked as I pocketed my phone.

“Luca says there’s a walking corpse at my house. His guess is Thane.”

I stood already heading for the door before I remembered that I hadn’t driven, and that walking would be a ridiculous waste of time. I held my hand out and Tod took it. “Ready?”

Nash stood. “I’m coming, too.”

“No way.” Sabine scowled. “You are not leaving me here with Ballerina Barbie.”

“Call her dad,” I said. “But if she’s drunk when he gets here, you can explain how that happened.” I glanced at Nash, holding up the half-empty bottle. “Any more where this came from?”

He shook his head. “You still have my whiskey.” Because he’d left it at my house the night he showed up on my porch, and my dad had confiscated it.

“Good. Let’s go.” I took Nash’s hand and glanced at Tod. “See you on the other side.” Then I blinked us both into my living room, which I could only do over short distances. Fortunately, Nash only lived a few blocks from my house.

Tod appeared in my living room as I let go of Nash’s hand and set the tequila on the coffee table.

“Good thinking,” Thane said, and I whirled around to find him standing in my kitchen, holding an open bag of my dad’s favorite tortilla chips. “I was getting thirsty.” His empty white eyes made it impossible to tell what he was looking at, and my skin crawled as I stared at him.

Nash and Tod started across the living room toward him, and their combined rage made the hairs on my arms stand up. In that moment, watching them face a mutual enemy, I caught a glimpse of just how powerful a force they could be together—if I could keep Nash busy fighting someone other than his brother.

But Thane held up one hand. “I’ll be gone before you get halfway here, and then you’ll never know what I came to tell you.”

“Did Avari send you?” Tod stopped and hauled his brother back by one arm when Nash didn’t stop on his own. Nash jerked free of his grip, but stayed put.

“Where’s the other one? That feisty little mara?” Thane said. “Is she going to jump out of a closet somewhere and yell ‘boo’?”

“Are you going to deliver whatever threat Avari sent you with, or are we going to have to start guessing?” Tod said. “I gotta warn you, I’m insanely good at charades.”

“There’s no message. I’m jumping ship. But I need your help.”

“Why the hell would we help you?” Nash demanded as I edged around them for a better view.

“Because I know what Avari’s doing, and how he’s doing it.”

“And, what?” I said. “You’ve reached the limit on how many secret evil schemes you can keep a lid on? We’re supposed to trust you because you conveniently show up with answers when we need them most?”

Thane set the chip bag on the counter behind him and shrugged. “You’re going to trust me because I’m all you have. Unless you want Avari to keep picking off your friends and family one by one until he gets what he wants.”

“Start talking,” Nash growled, but Thane shook his head slowly.

“I’m not saying a word until you swear you’ll help me.”

“Help you with what?” I asked, arms crossed over my chest. I wasn’t convinced he wasn’t just playing another of Avari’s games. But I believed that he hated the hellion as much as we did, and that gave us a common goal. Potentially.

“He has my soul. I want you to swear you’ll get it back for me.”

“Why would you trust us to do that?” Nash said.

“I wouldn’t trust the two of you to hit the pot when you piss. I trust her.” He pointed at me, and they both turned to follow his blank-eyed gaze. “If she gives me her word, she won’t break it.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“Because you’re trustworthy and you have a hero complex. That’s why Avari wants you—you’re everything he’s not, and he doesn’t understand that. You protect people with lies, and he manipulates people with the truth. You keep saving those who’ve hurt you—” his empty eyes rolled in Nash’s direction briefly “—and he hurts people who’ve done him no harm. Avari wants to dissect you, physically, mentally, emotionally.” Thane shrugged. “I just want to offer you a fair exchange of services. My information for your help getting my soul back.”

“He’s lying, Kay,” Nash said, fists clenched at his sides. “Hellions can’t lie, but we all know reapers can.”

“Careful, pot,” Tod said. “Someone might notice your resemblance to the kettle.”

Tod only shrugged when I tried to scold him with a frown. “He started it. As for this clown—” he glanced at Thane, then back at me “—I’m with you, whatever you decide.”

I didn’t want to rescue Thane—or his soul—from Avari. There was a large part of me that thought he deserved to be tortured for all of eternity for all the poor souls he’d condemned to that very fate. And for killing my mother when it wasn’t her time. But Thane was our best shot—maybe our only shot—at stopping Avari from going through everyone I knew or loved to get to me.

“Okay,” I said at last, and Nash groaned. “I’ll help get your soul away from Avari. But there are conditions.