Leo laughs dryly. “We won’t bring her back. She’ll have to work hard to gain some trust if she wants it after how she left you in the pit. But someone needs to check in on her.” Then his face turns thoughtful. Shy, even. Not blank like the mask he wears around the adults. “I’m glad you’re coming. It’ll be nice to talk.”
“Yeah.” My face betrays me by flushing bright red. “Talking is good.” It is good, with Leo. He actually listens instead of telling me how to feel. Honora interrupted us this morning. I’d love to talk more with him about being a Slayer. Or anything else, really. I’ve shifted from hating his presence to feeling like he’s someone I can truly depend on. Someone who believes I can do this, which makes it easier for me to believe it too.
“There’s something I need to tell you.” He climbs into the driver’s seat. “I haven’t been able to figure out how to bring it up, or when, or even whether I should. But—”
“Where are you going?” Artemis runs up to us from the direction of the forest, grabbing my door and holding it open. She was probably scouting for Doug. I hope Honora isn’t still out there, skulking around like a creep.
I hesitate, but only for a second. Artemis and I don’t agree on who to trust. We don’t even trust each other the way I once thought we did. But keeping secrets from her has only made things worse. “We’re going to Dublin to talk with Cosmina. Mom wanted us to check in on her.” I pause. “Well, she wanted Leo to. She definitely wouldn’t want me to.”
“My mother didn’t want either of us to do it.” Leo doesn’t so much as crack a smile.
“So you’re both disobeying your own mothers by doing what the other person’s mother asked you to.”
I try to sort through the tangle of connections. “Right. Wait, no. Well, yes. Sort of. No one’s mother wants me to go. Unless you know something about Wanda Wyndam-Pryce that I don’t.” Going to talk to a hostile Slayer who almost got me killed the last time I helped her? Wanda would probably approve, now that I think of it.
Artemis raises an eyebrow. Her tone isn’t critical. It’s almost . . . curious. Like she can’t quite understand it, but she maybe gets it. “You’re directly defying the Council.”
Leo shakes his head. “We’re Watchers. Athena’s a Slayer. This is our job.”
“I’m coming.” Artemis climbs into the backseat of the car. So much for talking with Leo. And I’m pretty sure he was on the verge of telling me something big. Personal, even. I really want to know what it was. She leans forward. “I can’t believe you’re doing this, Nina.”
I shrug, but Artemis is right. Even when I’ve disagreed with the Council’s tactics and ideologies, I’ve always done what they told me. But I can’t get over what Eve said—that if my mom wasn’t worried about the hellhounds, it means she had information we didn’t. Which means she’s connected to all this somehow. So whatever she doesn’t want me to do, I’m going to do.
I hate to go against Eve, but Leo’s logic makes sense too. My only real issue with talking to Cosmina is that I don’t want to. And good Watchers don’t get to make decisions based on their own feelings. Pretty sure Slayers don’t either.
Once again we head for Dublin. I stare out the window, hoping that the body count will be lower, if nothing else.
• • •
Leo’s fingers strangle the steering wheel.
“Maybe we could stop and get food?” I suggest.
“Why would we do that?” From the sound of her voice, Artemis’s jaw is clenched. I don’t dare look back. When she joined us I hoped it meant all was forgiven. But something still feels broken between us. I want to blame Honora, but I was the one who didn’t go to Artemis when I needed help.
Then again, maybe it isn’t only Artemis who needs to do the forgiving. Instead of supporting me through this maelstrom of suckage in my life, she’s been acting like I’m a problem she needs to solve. And she instantly sided with Honora over me. I want to blame Honora, and I still will. But that doesn’t mean Artemis is entirely without blame. Things were bad before Honora came back into the picture.
I spend the rest of the drive suffocated by Artemis’s steely silence. Leo isn’t any better. With Artemis here, he hasn’t said a word. I hadn’t pegged him for the teenage rebellion type, but this whole trip feels like him being mad at his mom for some reason.
When you’re a Watcher because of your family, but the Watchers take precedence over that family, it gets complicated. The three of us—sitting here sulking in a car as we defy our mothers—are evidence of that. Maybe we should ask Cosmina to take us in, instead of the reverse.
After two stops for petrol—this car has issues—it’s almost dark when we finally pull to a stop. The neighborhood leaves a lot to be desired, like safety and buildings that won’t fall down if someone sneezes next to them.
“Being a Slayer isn’t a very lucrative gig.” I stare up at the bleak apartments.
I used to resent Slayers, but now that I’ve felt some of their lives and fought some of their battles in my dreams, I get it. At least a little. It’s too much for one girl. Cosmina shouldn’t have to do this alone. I hope we can convince her of that.
Leo’s a good Watcher. Better than the rest of us, who are so bitter toward Slayers that we didn’t put any of them before our own safety. Maybe . . . maybe that’s what happened with Buffy all those years ago when she broke with the Council. It was the wrong choice, obviously. But I’ve seen behind the scenes. We don’t always work the way we should, or even could.
Maybe that’s why my mother made another unilateral move. She knew the idea of bringing Cosmina in would get deadlocked in the Council, and while they argued and debated, Cosmina would still be out here alone. Not in the castle where she could take my place.
My mother’s motivations might have been selfish, but Leo’s weren’t. He made the right call. He’s still that boy showing up in the darkness to help when things are dire. I glance over at him, glad he’s on my side. His expression is worried, his shoulders tense.
“We got this,” I whisper. His tension eases ever so slightly.
Artemis tries the door to the building, but it’s locked. She pulls out a lockpick.
“Allow me!” I say. She moves out of the way, waiting for me to kick it in. I push a random buzzer instead.