“Nexus said there’s a way of using the crystal tip of the spear to separate the Horseman’s soul from the team member’s soul. It’s risky, but if I can pull it off, I can save the team member and still banish the Horseman. I have to try it,” I say.
Aziza nods.
“Yeah. You do,” she says. “But don’t think that means I won’t be watching your back like a hawk.”
I smile at her. “Thank you,” I say. “Aziza, I have to ask something of you. Something big.”
“Go on,” she says.
“I need you to keep this conversation between us,” I say.
“Well I’m hardly likely to tell anyone and give whoever the Horseman is a heads-up that you’re onto them, am I?” She laughs.
I shake my head.
“I know you won’t. That’s not what I mean. As I’m sure you can imagine, I wasn’t supposed to share this information with anyone. Nexus would be so pissed off. And Rye? Well, I can only imagine how angry Rye will be.”
“Ah you don’t want your crush to be angry with you,” Aziza smirks.
“No, it’s…”
“I’m joking, Sailor. Damn, girl, where’s your sense of humor? Someone would think your life was in danger or something,” she says.
We look at each other and burst into laughter. The tension inside of me starts to leave me a little as I laugh. After a few minutes, Aziza starts to get herself under control and she puts her hand on my shoulder.
“I know what you’re saying, Sailor, and this conversation will stay between us.”
“Thank you,” I say again.
“So what are you going to do now?” Aziza asks. “Confront Jinx?”
I think about it for a moment and then I shake my head.
“No. I’ve made the mistake of accusing the wrong person once. I won’t make that mistake again. While everything is pointing to Jinx, it was only moments ago I thought it was all pointing to you. I need to be sure this time. I’m just going to stay alert, watch the team, and wait for the Horseman to come to me.”
Aziza raises an eyebrow.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Sailor? You have the element of surprise if you take action first.”
“I’ll have it anyway. The Horseman doesn’t know I know he’s a member of the team. He’s going to figure I’ll be easy to get close to and attack, and he won’t be expecting my defenses to be up. But they will be up. I know it’s a risk having War loose, but it’s not going to be for long. He’s not going to be able to resist trying to kill me sooner rather than later.”
“Okay. That makes sense. But you need to make sure you don’t let your guard down for even a second, Sailor. I know you think it’s Jinx, but if you’re wrong, you can’t risk someone else taking you by surprise. Now you have the spear, the Horseman will have fully woken up and taken over whoever he is inside of completely. When he strikes, he’ll mean business and you’ll get no second chances.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN: YOU’RE ACTING WEIRD
Aziza opens a portal and I am relieved when it works. I’d momentarily forgotten my fear that we wouldn’t be able to portal out of the cavern until Aziza raised her hand to open one.
“Be careful. We don’t know if the battle with the Slip Demons is still going on,” Aziza points out, and then she steps through the portal.
I take a moment to take a deep breath and gather my thoughts. I have no real idea what I’m going to be walking into up there, but I’m pretty confident the Horseman won’t attack while the rest of the team is there. Only I can end him, but the others can still wound him, and he won’t want to give me any advantages. He’ll try to get me off alone with him.
I push the spear down the leg of my jeans, leaving the crystal poking out of the top, and I have to admit I quite like the solid feel of it there against my thigh. I reach for it and pull it out to make sure I can access it quickly if I need to. I can and I smile to myself as I push it back in and step through the portal.
The team is all gathered around the medallion shape in the sand, and Mel hands me the medallion, which I push into my pocket as Rye steps closer to me and pulls me into a tight hug. It takes me by surprise, but I hug him back, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms.
“You were gone so long,” he says.
“What? I was seconds behind Aziza,” I say, thinking he means that I hung back for a second.
“No, I mean both of you were gone so long. We were starting to think the cavern had caved in on you both.” He releases me from his embrace. “What took you so long? Did something happen?”
Yes, I accused Aziza of wanting to kill me and then spilled all our secrets about the Horseman.
I shake my head and Aziza jumps in before I try to explain, which I’m pleased about, because I had no idea what I was going to say.
“It took ages for the column to come up. Maybe because it was the second time or something,” she says.
Rye nods, accepting it as the truth. Why wouldn’t he? He doesn’t expect me to lie to him. I feel bad for a moment, but it’s not like I’m lying about us or about anything important. I made the choice to trust Aziza, that’s all, and I’m only lying about it because I really don’t want to argue with Rye about something I can’t change now even if I wanted to. And I don’t want to.
“I’m just glad to see you both up here alive. Did you get the spear?”
I
