teenagers armed with laptops and a wireless connection,” Em mumbled as she scrolled.
Tod chuckled. “We’re the twenty-first century’s Mystery Inc.”
“Well, that’s comforting, right?” I said, summoning a grin in spite of the circumstances. “Scooby always gets his man… .”
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out to find Alec’s name and number on the display. I accepted the call and held the phone up to my ear, swiveling on my bar stool to face away from most of the talking at my back. “Hey, shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Yeah.” The tension in that one syllable rang sympathetic notes of fear down the length of my spine. “We have a problem, Kaylee.”
I excused myself with a glance at Tod, then blinked into my room and closed the door. “What’s wrong, Alec?”
“I need your help. Now.”
My chills became icicles growing in place of my bones, freezing me from the inside out. “Where are you?”
“My place. And, Kaylee? Bring your dagger.”
16
“DID HE SAY who it is?” Tod paced at the end of my bed while I typed furiously on my phone with both thumbs.
“No. He just said to bring my dagger, which I can’t do until Madeline brings it back.” I hit Send on the text to my boss.
My room. Need dagger. Now.
“Who do you think it looks like? It has to be someone you know.” Tod stopped pacing and the fear in his eyes no doubt mirrored my own. “Someone you both know. How else would Alec know it’s actually a hellion?”
My phone slid through my grip and thumped to the floor at his feet. I hadn’t thought of that. Alec would have to know whomever he’d seen well enough to know that person was acting strange. “There are only a few people on that list, and most of them are in this house,” I said, grasping at that fact for what little hope I still clung to.
Tod knelt for my phone, then handed it back to me. “So who’s not here? Your uncle?”
I nodded slowly and squeezed his hand when it slid into mine. “And your mom.”
“No.” His denial surfaced as a furious burst of pale, pale blue, churning within the brighter cobalt in his irises. “I’ll kill the bastard myself if he’s touched my mother.”
“You won’t have to.” I’d do it. That was my job. I’d thought I was being resurrected to save souls, but so far I felt more like a murderer than a savior, even though I knew in my head that I was only doing what had to be done.
Tod pulled his own phone from his pocket and started to dial his mother’s number, but before he could place the call, Madeline appeared on the rug behind him, holding my dagger. I was off the bed in an instant and took the knife from her so fast I almost grabbed the blades instead of the hilt.
“Thanks. Don’t tell anyone where we’re going. We’ll explain to everyone all at once, when we get back.”
“Where
“Be back soon.” I squeezed his hand, then blinked us both into the living room of Alec’s apartment, about half a mile away.
I’d only been there a couple of times, but the minute my feet touched the carpet, I knew something was different. Everything looked the same, but felt…wrong.
The TV was off. Alec left the TV on all the time when he was home, and I’d always assumed that was part of his ongoing quest to integrate with the twenty-first century, after having missed a quarter of the previous one. Sports, cartoons, infomercials—he’d watch anything. But this silence was new. And creepy.
“Alec?” I called, then immediately wished I hadn’t. I couldn’t limit my audibility to him if I didn’t know where he was, and I really didn’t want to alert the hellion to our presence.
The tiny galley-style kitchen was empty, but an open bottle of beer stood on the counter, next to a half-eaten chocolate cupcake—Alec’s favorite snack food.
A second later, I realized that television sounds weren’t the only things missing. “Where’s Falkor?” I whispered as Tod headed across the living room toward the short hall. Alec’s half Nether-hound—another littermate of Styx’s—was named after a flying dog-creature he’d loved in some movie from his childhood in the eighties. And like Toto, Cujo, and Baskerville, he’d growled every time he saw me since my unfortunate demise.
But now Falkor was silent.
“Stay here,” Tod said, and I could tell from his bold volume that no one but me could hear him. “I’ll check the back rooms.” Which included the only bedroom, the bathroom, and a single small storage closet.
I stomped after him. “This is
“Kaylee, wait!” Tod tried to hold me back from the bedroom doorway, but it was too late. I saw it over his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me and tried to walk us back into the living room. I saw it all. Blood streaking the walls and Alec’s unmade bed. A small lump of bloody fur on the floor, too mangled to recognize.
“Falkor…” I buried my face in Tod’s shoulder and he led me toward the living room, holding me up when I backed over my own foot and nearly tripped. “Who did this?” I whispered, blinking back tears I didn’t want to let fall.
“It was him or me,” a familiar voice said from behind me, and Tod stopped walking as I twisted in his arms.
Alec stood in the middle of his own living room, a bloodied, broken broom handle in his right fist while his left arm dripped blood onto the floor from the jagged, gaping wound on his forearm. Only it wasn’t really Alec. It couldn’t be.
Avari couldn’t take Alec’s shape unless he already had Alec’s soul.
Alec was dead.
“No…” I whispered, and this time I couldn’t stop the tears. “No, not Alec,” I said through teeth clenched against an agony I couldn’t possibly express in mere words.
Alec, who’d helped me rescue my father and Nash from the Netherworld. Alec, who’d made me tie him to a chair so he couldn’t hurt me if Avari possessed him in the middle of the night. Alec, who’d proofread my history term paper, and listened to my French recitation, and shared the last chocolate-chip pancake with me, even though he’d called dibs fair and square.
Tears pooled in my eyes until I couldn’t see clearly, mercifully blurring a face Avari had no right to wear. They poured down my cheeks, scalding against the cold of my own shock and denial.
Alec couldn’t be gone. Not after everything he’d already suffered at Avari’s hands. Lost youth. Dead parents. Avari had used him to kill three teachers just a couple of months earlier.
Alec was supposed to be okay now. He was living the life he’d missed out on. He was supposed to get a happy ending, not death at the hands of a hellion who stole his soul and wore it like a costume.
Then Avari smiled coldly at me with Alec’s beautiful mouth, displaying malice where there had only ever been kindness before. His dark eyes shined with greed as he drank up my pain and abused the memory of my good friend.
I choked on sobs, trying to collect myself and my thoughts so I could do what needed to be done. The only thing I could still do for Alec—reclaim his soul from the monster who’d stolen it.
“Alec…” Just saying his name brought more tears to my eyes, and I blinked them away. “You soul-stealing bastard,” I hissed, and the Alec-monster shrugged.
“Is this about the dog? He was a ferocious little beast—tougher than his size would indicate. He reminded me of you, and I didn’t want to kill him, either. Not that quickly, anyway. But he gave me no choice.” Avari held up his injured left arm. Both his sleeve and his flesh were shredded, and still dripping blood. “Your true death will last much longer. I’ve given the matter serious thought, yet I can only imagine it one way. Your pain will be elegant and
