Sniffing loudly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, my mother sighs. “Because Ragnor told me not to.”
There is silence for a moment. We both know Ragnor is not someone you say no to.
She points a long, pale finger toward the coffin. “When Elena died, Ragnor got wrapped up in the dark magicks. He joined H.E.L. and worked his way through the ranks.” She presses her lips together. She’s physically shaking. “He made a pact.”
I can barely hear her. I move closer. “What kind of pact? Is that what Eve was talking about? The Phoenix in exchange for…” A shudder ripples my shoulders. I know what I heard.We give him the Phoenix. He brings your love back to you.But my mind can’t make sense of it.
Mother’s lips twitch into a sorrowful smile. “That’s what all this is about, Nico.” She waves her hands in the air. “Ragnor promised the Shadow King he would find The Phoenix.” She swallows hard. “He promised to give The Phoenix to the king, so that he may rise. In return…” She is staring at the coffin now. “The king will give Elena her life back.”
“But he hasn’t captured Nova. We failed.Ifailed.” In the distance, Eve is now dancing barefoot around the coffin.
Mother takes my hand. “No, my love, you didn’t fail.” She squeezes it tight. “We know exactly where she is. Ragnor is just biding his time.”
I swallow down a lump of fresh ice-cold fear.
“Nova and her boyfriends are hiding behind a mask in the forest outside of Phoenix Falls. They can’t leave; the Bureau is looking for her. So, all Ragnor needs to do is open the portal and tell the king where she is.” She nods at the coffin. Her gaze is dark and vacant. “Then Ragnor will have his wife back.” She looks at me and lifts her hand to stroke my face. A silent tear rolls down her cheek, following the groove of her scar. “He’ll have his wife back, and the world will crumble.”
5
NOVA
Sam and I enter the cabin holding hands. Mack and Luther are standing either side of the kitchen, glowering at one another. They stop when they hear the door close behind us. I study them both. Mack is pissed, it’s written all over his face. Luther is pissed, too. His skin is quite literally fuming.
“Did we interrupt something?” I ask, folding my arms and staring at them.
“No.” Luther grabs his whiskey bottle from the countertop and pours another glass. He’s drinking too much. Since we got back fromSpine,he’s had a whiskey in his hand more often than not. Catching me looking at him, he defiantly pours in a little more.
I glance at Sam. I’m not up for refereeing an argument. Not right now. “We promised Tanner and Kole we’d carry on researching.” I gesture to the table and Luther’s ancient laptop.
“It’s pointless,” Luther spits. “You won’t find anything. Mack was just giving you kids a job to keep you out of the way.”
“Luther…” Mack almost growls. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately, but you need to snap the hell out of it.”
As they square up to each other, I let go of Sam’s hand and march over to the kitchen. “Okay, I was going to let this go, butyou twoare the ones behaving like kids. What the fuck is going on?” I put my hands on my hips and wait for one of them to speak.
Mack gives in first, turning to me with a contrite expression on his face. “I suggested something Luther doesn’t like. We’ll fix it, Nova. Don’t worry.”
“What kind of something?” I’m not going to let him get away with not telling me.
“Go on.” Luther raises his eyebrows. “Tell her your grand plan. See what she thinks.” He takes a long sip from his glass. Heat is still coming off him in waves. It intensifies when he looks at me. Do I piss him off that much?
I widen my eyes at Mack. Sam has joined me and is leaning on the counter.
“I suggested we speak to Annalise in person,” Mack says, hands in his pockets. “I don’t believe she betrayed us. Either Tom ignored her orders, or he never spoke to her in the first place.”
“Okay,” I say, relaxing my stance a little. “And why do you think we need to speak to her?” Glancing at Sam, I quickly explain. “She’s an old contact of Mack’s from the Bureau. We thought she’d told the agents to stand down, but they attacked The Hollow anyway.”
Sam nods. He turns to Mack. “You think she can help you?”
Sighing a little, Mack leans back on the counter opposite us. He rubs his beard as he says, slightly sheepishly, “Luther’s right about the research. You won’t find anything. We’ve looked at every archive, every book, every ancient text. We’ve never foundanythingrelated to The Phoenix Prophecy.”
Indignation tugs at my chest. He really did give us a fruitless task just to keep us busy?
Noticing the look on my face, Mack says, “I didn’t want you out of the way. I wanted to keep your mind busy. That’s all.”
I soften as he fixes his gaze on mine. “Okay.” I cock my head to the side. “But you think Annalise might know something? Wasn’t she your boss when Kole first accessed the prophecy? If she knew anything about it, wouldn’t she have told you then?”
“Honestly?” Mack shakes his head. “I don’t know, but even if she can’t help us figure out what Ragnor is planning, shecancall off the agents.” He turns back to Luther. “We need them off our backs, Luther. You know we do. We can’t fight Ragnor when we’re too busy fighting them. We can’t even leave this hell-damned cabin while they’re out there waiting for us. If Annalise—”