single word.
“No.”
The anger in Josef’s voice made Nico cringe. She shrank back, feeling like a coward as she hid beneath her hood. Across the room, Eli’s eyes flicked to the swordsman, his boyish face falling into an uncharacteristic scowl.
“Josef,” he said, his voice as light and pleasant as the morning breeze. “I respect your opinion, I really do, but this isn’t your call.”
Josef didn’t move. He didn’t have to. Nico could feel the tension rising in him, ready to spring. “Do you even know what you’re asking?”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be asking.”
Eli smiled and stood up, walking across the room to fall to a crouch in front of Nico. He reached out and snatched her hand before she realized what he was doing, clutching her thin palm between his long, nimble fingers. She stared at him, thrown off guard not just by the contact but by Eli himself. This close, she could see the faint glow of the light he’d shown her up on the roof back in Osera, when they’d first found out she could see as spirits saw. His spirit wasn’t open now as it had been then, but Nico could see that the mask he usually kept so smooth was beginning to fray. She stared at him, gripping his hand just as tightly as he gripped hers. What had happened in the days he was away from them? What had that woman done?
“Nico,” he said, his voice earnest. “I know you can take people with you through the shadows. I saw you do it in Osera with Josef. Den also carried me that way, back in the mountains when he took me from Izo’s. He carried me hundreds of miles over impassible terrain, and then he took me back again, walking through the shadows like they were his own private highway. That’s how I knew I could ask you. You’re stronger than Den ever was.”
Nico began to tremble. “I’m not—”
“You are,” Eli said fiercely. “I saw you in the valley outside Izo’s. Even when you were lost in the demon, you stopped yourself from hurting Josef. You saved him even though you didn’t know yourself, and then you beat the demon. You conquered the enemy even the Shepherdess couldn’t best, and you did it on your own. That’s the only reason I’m asking this, because I know you can do it.”
He inched closer, pushing her hand against his chest, his blue eyes earnest and pleading as his heart thudded against her fingers. “All Karon did was care for me,” he whispered. “Because of that, and because he spoke his mind, the Shepherdess threw him away. I couldn’t do anything to stop it, but I refuse to let him die, not if there’s the slightest chance I can save him. I’m begging, Nico, if I’ve ever done right by you, please take me through the shadows to the Shaper Mountain. I know it’s far and I know it’ll be hard, but I’ll help you any way I can. Just please, please help me undo this wrong. Help me save Karon, if there’s anything left to save.”
Nico closed her eyes and stared at the darkness behind them, the endless, empty blackness. The Demon of the Dead Mountain waited there for her. She’d beaten him inside her own head, but the shadows were his world, not hers. Alone, he couldn’t touch her, but she wasn’t sure she could protect Eli and Josef from the demon’s grasp. Even if she could open her spirit wide enough to shelter them, the Shaper Mountain was a long, long way away. They would have to cut the journey into several small jumps, and there would still be long periods in the dark where the demon could work his way in.
But that wasn’t all. Something had stirred in her yesterday when Eli said they were going to the Shaper Mountain, something far below her conscious mind. A deep, throbbing pain, the kind that meant she was treading dangerously close to memories she’d suppressed. The pain was there even now, bleeding through the wall of her memory.
She took a ragged breath. Whatever the memory was, she didn’t want it. She’d locked her past away for a reason, and the pain alone was enough to warn her that going to the Shaper Mountain was a bad, bad idea, however they got there. And yet…
Nico opened her eyes to see that Eli hadn’t moved. He was still crouched in front of her, his face so full of hope and trust she wanted to cry. How could she disappoint him? He and Josef were so strong, and she was always so weak. Always the soft spot, the brittle link, and now he was counting on her. Depending on her.
She didn’t realize her hand was shaking until Eli moved his other hand to join the first, pressing her trembling fingers against his shirtfront with both palms. She was the one who could see souls, but his eyes were the ones that looked through her, reading her fears like posters.
“I know you can do it,” he said again. His thumbs rubbed against her skin as he spoke, a soft, soothing motion. “All you have to do is get me there. I’ll do the rest.”
“You can’t.” The words were so tremulous, so afraid that Nico almost didn’t recognize her own voice. “The shadows are the demon’s realm. You don’t understand, the fear—”
“How can I be afraid if you’re with me?” Eli said, his face breaking into a smile. “You beat the demon already, remember? If you can master your own soul, you can kick him out of the shadows.” His voice warmed as he spoke, suffusing Nico with confidence and hope. “This is your chance to take his final stronghold, to beat the demon once and for all. You can do it, and we’ll do it with you. You’re not alone, Nico. We’re a team, now more than ever. All you have to do is help me get—”
He never got to finish. One moment he was in front of her, gripping her hand, the next he’d vanished. It was over so quickly Nico didn’t realize what had happened until she saw Josef was standing beside her with Eli dangling in front of him, his wrists bound in the vise grip of the swordsman’s fist.
“Josef!” Eli shouted, his feet kicking. Josef didn’t move. Nico couldn’t see his face from where she was, but she knew from the set of his shoulders that he was furious. Killing furious. Behind her, the Heart of War began to shake.
“Don’t. You. Dare.” Josef’s voice was low and cold, and each word was sharp as a dagger. “Don’t you dare try to con her.”
Eli’s eyes widened. “I wasn’t—”
Josef dropped him before he could finish. Eli fell with a grunt, hitting the floor hard. He scrambled to his feet and stepped back, putting a foot between himself and Josef, who’d moved in to block Nico with his body.
“Josef,” Eli said, his voice pleading. “I don’t know how you got the impression I was—”
“You don’t?” Josef growled. “Then you must think I’m an idiot. I’ve been with you on a lot of jobs, Monpress. You think I don’t recognize how you work?” His hand whipped back, finger pointed directly at Nico’s face. “You were talking to her just now like she was a damn door. Powers, man, you were even stroking her hand.”
Eli closed his eyes, throwing his head back in frustration. “It’s not like that.”
“Oh sure,” Josef said. “You had nothing but Nico’s best interests at heart while you were trying to convince her that helping you get where you want to go was the next phase of her battle with the demon. Like taking you to the Shaper Mountain was her damn destiny instead of your self-serving idiocy.”
He took a step forward, looming over Eli, and for the first time ever Nico was glad she couldn’t see Josef’s face.
“I warned you before,” Josef growled. “Don’t ever try to con me. You’re not stupid, so I’d figured you’d understand that that warning extended to Nico as well, but guess I underestimated what a selfish bastard you could be.”
“Josef, come on,” Eli pleaded. “I wouldn’t do that to you, to either of you. I’m your friend. I’d die for either of you. You know that.”
“I do,” Josef said. “But I also know that you’re a con artist, a thief, and a stubborn bastard who doesn’t take no for an answer, even from us. Now shut your mouth before it runs you any deeper into trouble. Nico’s not one of your idiot spirits, and she’s not taking you anywhere.”
“I’ve never thought of her that way!” Eli shouted, clenching his fists. “You’re the one treating her like an idiot, Josef. You think she needs you to stand up and say what she will and won’t do? You’ve been all mother hen with her ever since you found her, but Nico’s her own person, and she can make her own decision.”
Josef clenched his fists as well, his white-knuckled hands moving to his sides where his twin swords rested. “She has enough to fight without adding you to the list,” he said, his voice thick and dangerous. “Now back off, thief, before I—”
“Stop it.”
Both men jumped as Nico stomped forward, pushing herself between them. She grabbed Josef first, wrapping her hand over his shoulder and pushing him down with a burst of her demon strength. He folded like a
