“Claire!” Stretched out like smoke in a wind, Jacques streamed toward Hell, caught in the binding.
Even if there was time, unraveling the binding would free Sara’s name.
“I don’t think so…” Wielding power like a sword, Diana slashed through the pattern where Jacques was caught.
Not subtle, but effective.
As the points flipped up and over, Claire broke her name free.
CURSES, FOILED AGAI…
The unmarked bedrock of the furnace room floor steamed gently.
Diana let out a breath she couldn’t remember holding. “Wow.”
Dean jerked to his feet as Claire swayed. “You okay?”
Actually, she had no idea how she was, but okay would do for the moment. “Sure. What about you?”
He frowned. Until Jacques had appeared out of the darkness, he’d stood on the slope leading upward toward the glow of what were probably the fires of the damned and had known he’d been forgotten. Sure, Hell was busy with Sara, but still…“I hesitated,” he said.
Claire felt her lip curl. “Get over it. You were willing to die to save the world. You’re a terrific person!”
“You mean that?”
She cupped his face between her palms and moved close enough that he could see her clearly without his glasses. “Yes. I have never meant anything more in my life.”
Keepers lied quite easily to bystanders; but he believed her. The load of guilt lifted off his shoulders. “Thanks.” Pulling free, he took a step back. “There’s something I need to do.”
“Ow!” Diana rubbed the spot where Dean had applied the side of his work boot. “What did you kick me for?”
His silence said it all.
“Oh. Never mind.”
“You’ve done a wonderful job, Claire, but are you certain you don’t want me to come to Kingston and check things out?”
“Quite certain, Mom. The site is closed.” Claire had put the furnace room through every test she could think of, and she’d even allowed Diana to come up with a few. To all intents and purposes, there’d never been a hole to Hell. Or an Aunt Sara. “Dean drove Diana to the train station. She’ll stay with friends in Toronto tonight and head home first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Well, I’m sure that’s the plan.” Martha Hansen sounded doubtful.
“Don’t worry, she gave me her word she’d go straight home.”
“Claire Beth Hansen! Did you put a geas on your sister?”
Claire grinned. “Yes.”
“Good. But how on earth did you manage it?”
“I agreed with her when she opened her defense with ‘all’s well that ends well,’ and while she was still reeling in disbelief I slipped it by.”
“You agreed with her?”
Her grin broadening, Claire explained. “I had every intention of tearing a strip off her for being so adolescently arrogant, thinking she could wake Sara without consequences, but then I realized that she was right. Keepers go where they’re needed. The two of us in combination were needed to close down the site, so it’s entirely possible that everything that happened was intended to happen. Diana, me, Dean, Jacques; even Hell had a hand in its own demise by squeezing a Hell Hound through the tiny window of opportunity between Sara’s original capture and her power being used to temporarily seal the site.”
The phone remained silent.
“Mom?”
“If Diana’s reckless disregard for consequence was necessary to help save the world, she’s going to be impossible to live with.” Claire very nearly felt her mother’s sigh. “Still, I expect your father and I can come up with a few things to say to her when she gets home.” Sara’s choice of sacrifice had not been elaborated on, but parents were perfectly capable of drawing their own conclusions. “You said that Dean was driving her to the station; how is he? Is it safe for him to drive?”
“He’s fine, Mom. Really. He was a willing sacrifice, completely ignorant of what that meant, and he believed that in falling he’d burn in Hell forever. With that kind of karma, he could’ve just walked through the possibilities to the light. If Jacques hadn’t found him so quickly and brought him back to the basement, I expect he’d have started tidying the place up.”
“What do you mean, he had no doubt he’d burn in Hell forever? He’s been living next to the site for almost a year completely unaffected.”
She’d been hoping she’d slipped that by. “There was an incident.” Leaving out the bits that Diana would be sure to embellish on later, Claire explained about the elevator and Faith’s boyfriend. “He hesitated.”
On the other end of the phone, Martha snorted. “Oh, for…”
“That’s what I said. But this whole sacrifice thing grounded him again. He’s as good as new.”
“I see.” The pause spoke volumes. “What happens now?”
Claire chose to misunderstand. “Now, I expect I’ll be summoned somewhere else. Austin says I’ll be able to leave by tomorrow, that help is on the way.”
“Claire…”
“He’s down to his last life, you know. But he says he’s not worried.”
“Very well. If that’s the way you want it. Give Austin our love.”
An uncomfortable moment later, Claire hung up and sighed.
What happens now?
Jacques was waiting in her sitting room. He had to know she’d be leaving—that she couldn’t stay and he couldn’t come with her.
This wasn’t going to be a pleasant interview.
“Jacques?”
He stopped pacing and turned to face her. “Vôtre mère, your mama, is she good?”
“She’s fine.”
“Bon.” Drifting out through the coffee table, he waved a hand at the sofa. “Please, cherie, I have things to say.”
Since she wasn’t looking forward to saying the things she had to, Claire sat. If listening was all that she could do for him, she would at least do that.
“You are ready? D’accord.” He rubbed his hands against his thighs, a living gesture Claire’d never seen him make before. “I am decided, it is time I move on.”
You’re leaving me? Somehow, Claire managed not to voice her initial reaction.
His expression grew serious. “I have seen Hell and I do not belong there, or they would not have allow me to leave. There is not enough evil in me for them to hold.” The corners of his
