Rafael stared blankly at me. “Are you quite sure you’re all right?”
I shook my head. “We’ve really got to introduce you to our fine North American cinema, Rafael. There’s plenty of time before Halloween. It’ll be team-bonding.”
“Never mind that, where did you go?” he said. My almost-death had blown away any of his remaining anger. Good to know.
“Let’s just say if you’re considering various holiday hot spots, I’d skip Sheol. The food is non-existent and the housekeeping leaves a lot to be desired.” I brushed off some more dust.
“As in the Jewish underworld?”
“That’s the one. The land of death, silence, and forgetting. Hence the fleshy reminder. Also, I’ve made great leaps into my knowledge of all previous Jezebels seeing as I just relived every single one of their deaths.”
He blinked at me. “Aren’t you industrious?”
“Right? It was like It’s a Small World but replace the grand tour of countries with deaths. Also, less singing, because, silence. Long story short, the ride ended, I demanded passage back to the living, ended up in the grove where I’d first been tested as a Jezebel, and then it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the library.”
“Oh,” he said.
“Quite. Does anyone know I’m alive yet?”
“I called Priya, who was extremely distraught.”
“Disappearing in the presence of a known necromancer tends to have that effect on friends and loved ones.” I sat up, a little wobbly but mostly fine, and pulled out my phone. My call to Levi went straight to voicemail. I left him a brief “So that happened” message, hoping he’d call back soon. “If you don’t need me, I should check in with Miles that Jonah is secured. Thanks, Rafael.”
Then I was going straight to Levi.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “If you have any lingering symptoms, you know where to find me.”
“Will do. Any solution to my magic problem?
He shook his head.
“How about cracking the codename?”
Rafael made a discouraged face.
“Better and better. Want me to help with the second one after I check in with the others?”
“Thank you, but no. A cup of tea and some fresh air should be all I need.”
“Good luck.”
This time the ring took me home. Priya and Mrs. Hudson rushed me, Priya squeezing me tight.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Actual, full-stop sorry. I hurt you and then I doubled down with the dog. I apologize.”
“Forgiven and forgotten.”
When Mrs. Hudson nipped at my pant leg, I crouched down. “Who’s a good girl? Who did mommy miss? Yes, she did.” I gave the dog nose-to-nose kisses.
“Mommy, huh?”
“I’m keeping her. Yes, exactly like you said I would. Be smug at your peril because I will hurt you,” I said in a cutesy voice to the puppy, who pranced in a circle around me, her sandy-colored tail wagging. “Who loves me more than the cow?”
Her ears perked up and she ran off in search of her true love.
“If I have to use the C-word, it better not be to describe a cow!” I yelled after the pug. I sat down on the couch. “I have a lot to tell you. Levi and I are a thing now. Yes, I owe you twenty bucks. Good luck trying to collect. Also, my father is definitively dead. Bummer, huh.” I twisted my hands in my lap, kind of wanting another hug.
She didn’t disappoint.
“I also have to tell you something.” Priya bit her lip.
“Did Jonah get away?”
“No.” She swore softly and made a phone call. “Miles, she’s here.”
Suddenly an unfamiliar woman stood in our living room, wearing the House security uniform. “Come with me, please,” she said.
Dread snaked through me. “What’s wrong? Priya?”
She dropped her gaze to her feet.
“Miles will fill you in.” The woman took my arm and we disappeared, reappearing on the floor in House HQ where the isolation cell was located.
“We teleported?” I said and grabbed her arm. “Are the wards down?”
She shook her head. “I have clearance as a member of Levi’s team. Miles?”
Miles blinked at her words like he’d been jolted out of a reverie, but he didn’t stop pacing in front of the security room, a bleak look on his face.
“What the hell’s going on?” I demanded.
“Jonah told us he’d sent you to Sheol.”
“I swear to God, Miles, tell me what’s happened or I will rip this place apart.”
“We thought you were dead. Levi went ballistic. He’s locked himself in the isolation wing with Jonah.” If Miles rubbed his hand over his sleeve any faster, he’d be going at warp speed.
“You’re worried he hurt Jonah? Killed him in retaliation?” Levi wouldn’t regret his actions if I was dead, except they could cost him everything: his position, his freedom. The horrible irony was it would be for nothing, because I was alive.
“I don’t give a fuck about that scum,” Miles said. “Levi’s torturing him with illusion magic. You know how he hurts himself when he overloads on his powers.”
The hair on the back of my neck lifted and a shiver ran down my spine. “You think he’s gone blind?”
“We’ll be lucky if that’s all that’s happened. We can’t get to him to help. Arkady tried. He lasted all of three seconds before the doors blew open. From the glimpse I saw? It’s… madness in there. You promised me once that you’d save him from himself. Please, Ash.” His voice cracked. “Save him.”
Chapter 27
“Madness” could have meant a lot of things: Levi might have illusioned a pack of wild animals to rip Jonah apart or an ax-wielding clown to chase him.
My first clue that it was so much worse was when the woman with the Transporter magic put on a blindfold and industrial ear protectors before jumping us into the sealed-off wing.
“Good luck,” she said and transported out.
I stood alone on a desolate moor. The moss, so dark green it was almost black, lay boggy beneath my feet, and fog striped the world like wraiths. A craggy rock face made up of jagged black boulders sticking up like crooked teeth
