“About Marie-Louise—”
“What has she to do with anything?” Scarlettasks, sounding angry for the first time.
Do I smell perspiration? Perhaps he isn’t as impervious as heseems. I may have broken through his armor and hit a nerve. “I suppose I’m justpuzzled that you killed your own mother but merely ruined Father.”
“Because she married Lennox, of course. You really are stupiderthan I thought.” Scarlett takes off his hat and tosses it. “It’s in my natureto strike where it hurts most. Father loves money more than life, so it didn’tmake sense to kill him. I took his riches instead.”
“But he’ll rise again and get it back.”
“And I’ll destroy him again. For the rest of his life, he’llnever have time to enjoy prosperity, always looking over his shoulder for thenext crisis, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. As soon as he reaches thezenith, I’ll plunge him back to the depths. Another Sisyphus with his boulder,if you care to borrow from the Greeks.”
“Hmm,” I say, enjoying the fact he’s riled. “Hat, coat, gloves,cravat. Are you going to remove any other clothing before we get on with this? Ifso, I’m glad I’m blind.”
The air freezes. Oh, that poked the bear a bit. Vanity, thyname is James. Suddenly, a great force pushes me. It winds around my legs,abdomen and arms, squeezing like a python, rubbing the skin raw beneath mydress. I struggle against it, but I lose ground, feet slipping backwards as mybody slides closer to the tracks. I am picked up like a rag doll and flipped onmy back, suspended in the air.
“A taste of what you’re up against,” Scarlett whispers.
Whistling loudly, the train comes round the bend and speedstoward my head. O di immortales. Please help me. The air around the topof my skull is terribly hot and sucks my body forward as the huge machinescreams past. My hair is ripped free of its pins, flying about my face. Then Iam thrown back to the platform, skidding across the hard surface on my knees. Itry to stand, but my legs buckle, weak from shock and fear. My bladder nearlyempties itself. What the hell, Mary Arden! Scarlett has some elementalpower, you said. He can mix reality with illusion, you said. You nevermentioned anything like this! Sweet blazes, when I get my hands on you…
Scarlett’s at my side in an instant. “Your great weakness, babysister, is that you care about others. How foolish to make yourself sovulnerable.” He laughs regrettably. “I will stab you in the heart, but not witha blade. Miss Collins will be the first to go, and then Willard Little Hawk.It’s been fun playing with Craddock’s mind, but I’m undecided on the order ofdisposal between him and Kelly—you’re attached in different ways to them both.And that hideous monster who just moved in with you? I don’t know what I’ll dowith him.”
You’ll never save them. It’s your fault they die. Hewhispers the words in my mind and desolation fills me. I grow desperate to domyself harm. Worthless freak. Unlovable. Weeping uncontrollably, it isall I can manage not to dash my brains against the station wall. Do it,Hester. Throw your life away.
With Scarlett’s power still wrapped around me, I push myselfup. No. I won’t, liar’s spawn. The pressure is crushing, but I staggerlike a drunkard across the platform. Not for you.
My defiance must surprise Scarlett, enough to make him losefocus for a moment. Blinking back tears, I raise my hand, fingers separating toform a V, for Veritas, goddess of virtue and truth. My brother’s dark energybears down upon me, and heat builds inside my body, igniting my own power.Drawing on the inner blaze, I physically push against Scarlett’s might, until ascream tears from my throat. The force weakens slightly and then dissolves.
I stumble back a step and drop my hand. Lungs aching, I inhaledeeply, free to breathe at last. The oxygen stings my throat, but I savor it.Yet there isn’t time to recover. Echolocation tells me Scarlett is now standingon the south side of the platform, fifteen feet and six inches away.
Lex talionis, brother.
Following the sound of his black heart, I run directly atScarlett. Boom. Crash. Lightning splits the heavens as we collide. Thesound stabs at my head, and we tumble apart. A whirlwind arises and pushes meupward, a sensation similar to the one I had when I levitated at the asylum butmuch more powerful. The strange wind lifts both Scarlett and me from the groundso that we’re high above the train station roof. We spin faster and fasterwithin a vortex. Bile in my mouth, I hear the humans below cry that the moonhas covered the sun. An eclipse! Is it a miracle or the end of days, they askand huddle together within the station house, praying in the darkness.
I sense the black fog—impenetrable, boiling and writhing like aliving thing. It forces its way into my lungs, and I cough like I am choking onmolasses. The viscous air doesn’t move when I push against it with my hands.How do I fight this?
“You cannot win,” Scarlett says, as the fog rolls back.
His voice is like crashing waves, and sound pummels me from allsides. Continuing to spin, I scream, covering my bloody ears, and once more turnoff the power I have always relied upon, my greatest gift from the LadyVeritas. Never have I shut down my ears in a situation this dangerous. All is speedand terrifying silence. I fly round and round, not knowing what’s coming next.Up, up, I go. Then I’m jerked side to side and plummet down again.
The faces of my dearest friends fill my blind eyes. I seeCordelia cold and still as marble, Willard broken and torn. Then Tom. Kelly… Scarlettsaid he would strike me in the heart, and he will. Maybe I shall lose. Thecourage I previously demonstrated has deserted me. I cannot summon it, not whenI imagine my loved ones suffering on my account.
Where are the immortals? Have they turned away in my moment ofneed? Deus miserere. Help me.
As I continue to whirl in
