"It's not what you think. I wanted it for him."

  "For Atreus? To use against me? To revenge himself against Carlo?"

  "No. For me. I wanted to kill him for what he had done to me. They took my baby, abandoned her." Tears traced down Helen's cheeks. "I intended to help you have the baby early, as you asked. He must have found out somehow, and added the poison to your drink. You must believe me."

  "Liar."

  Helen's voice was thin. "Drusus, for god's sake, you must help me."

  Drusus was silent. He took one step forward. "Stop!" Lucy barked. "You are mine, Khun. I will not have you interfering."

  "How could you deprive Drusus of his will, make him act against it?" Helen said. "Do you not see how evil this is?"

  "He is in my service. He would be most problematic otherwise, given what I intend to do to him and his children." Lucy lowered herself to the ground. "You cannot speak to me of evil, not when you have murdered my daughter."

  "Lucy, listen to me. I made that poison because I wanted to use it on Atreus. My father told me the truth about my child before he died. She was alive, and they took her away. Then they lied to me." She clasped her hands, praying. "Please, Lucy, I beg you." She fell to her knees. "Please."

  Lucy considered. "I am sorry for your loss, but really, Helen, you know nothing in Galt house passes Atreus' notice. Intentional or not, you gave him the tools for his revenge. You killed Flavia."

  Helen shook her head. "This isn't you. What happened to you, Lucy?"

  "Solomon's Scroll made me like this. I intend to end this infernal agreement, to stop it with this generation."

  Helen raised her head. "You cannot kill innocent children?"

  "You must hope I am successful, for everyone's safety." Lucy glanced at Drusus. "I am not the savage you think I am. Now, Helen, I do have a task for you, a chance at redemption if you like. Even though you have caused Flavia’s death, I will bring her back to life."

  Helen stood. "That's impossible."

  "As you see," Lucy appraised Drusus, "I have created life from death before. When I have saved Flavia, you will deliver my child to Carlo. If you do this for me, I will forgive you."

  "Neither I nor Drusus have a choice in the matter?" said Helen. "Am I correct?"

  "You are," said Lucy. "No choice at all."

  Helen bolted away from the carriage.

  Lucy rubbed her chin with thumb and forefinger. "Not unexpected," said Lucy. "Drusus, please catch her for me."

  Drusus thundered after her. Helen glanced over her shoulder, her face twisting, and ran as fast as she could. Drusus tackled her, knocking her over. He encircled her with massive arms as he pulled her up from the road.

  "Let me go!" Helen kicked, but Drusus held her fast. "Help me!" Helen yelled. "Someone! Help me!"

  "You may shout," said Lucy. "Even if anyone could hear you, we will be gone soon enough." Lucy blinked her golden eyes. "I see you in there, Drusus. You think you can say something to me to change my mind about this. Would you like to try? No?"

  Drusus closed his eyes, a slow blink. He shook his head.

  Lucy opened a shadowy portal. "Don't worry, Helen. Your discomfort will be of short duration."

  The three of them moved through the smoky landscape of the Abyss: rocks and fire, ashes, and the cries of the damned. When Lucy felt they were in the right spot, she ripped open another hole through which light shined. They stepped through into the white stone of a mausoleum, the names of Klaereons carved in the walls.

  Lucy found Flavia's name. "Death cannot keep her from me. Khun, break the stone."

  Drusus released Helen, who rubbed her arms. His fist cracked the stone, and Flavia's name fragmented. He hit it again and it sharded into pieces. Breaking away the brittle marble, he revealed the tiny bundle. Helen's fist flew to her mouth as she sobbed.

  Drusus lifted Lucy and she reached in, cradling the bundle. Behind them, Lucy heard Helen struggling with the door of the crypt. "Stop it, Helen. It is locked from the outside."

  Helen faced Lucy and Drusus, her back against the wall. "Lucy, please reconsider. This is not natural. It's not right."

  "A mother should be with her child." Drusus carefully placed Lucy on the ground. "Come here, Helen."

  Helen clawed at the door. "You can't make me do anything I don't want to."

  "It is true I hold no sway over you, but I can make you do what I want. You have virtually no power at all. Did you ever feel cheated because you received only minor gifts?"

  "Drusus, listen to me. You don't have to do what she says. Think of your children, of Octavia!" Helen wielded a piece of sharp stone as Drusus stepped toward her. "Stay away from me!"

  Drusus stopped, holding his head. "Not…possible," he squeezed out.

  "Please!" Helen concentrated.

  "Oh," said Lucy, amused. "A tug of war, over Drusus, then?"

  Drusus turned to Lucy. "I won't let you do this!"

  Shadows outlined Lucy in a dark halo. "You…have…no…choice!"

  Drusus shouted. He grabbed Helen's arm, dragged her to Lucy, and threw her to the ground.

  "I can see exactly what Flavia needs inside of you." Lucy's flat hand hit Helen's chest, and conjured a portal of shadow. Lucy reached inside. Helen screamed as Lucy pulled out a strand of silver. "We all have a soul. Mine is tied to a god, waiting to be released back to me. Yours rests inside you until the day you die." Lucy cupped the silver, which slid in her palm like mercury. "The Egyptians divide our soul into many parts. There is the ba, which I lack. The ba is the piece that makes you Helen. And you have an jb, which is your heart, your love and emotions, if you like. Now this piece”--Lucy lowered her hand to show it to Helen—"this is called sekhem, which is the energy that keeps you alive. I want this piece of your soul, Helen. The living piece."

  Lucy gently slid the soul into the small bundle. As the baby cried out its new life, Helen's body crumbled, becoming the dust of Erasmus' desert.

  "Now," said Lucy, "the children." She stared at Drusus, evaluating. "You will not disobey me again, or there will be consequences for them. Do you understand?"

  "Yes, I see what you are capable of," said Drusus. "If you can understand me, Lucy, I know these actions are not yours."

  "Open the door," said Lucy.

  Drusus broke the lock, and they stepped out of the stone building. In the distance, Mistraldol rose out of the peak.

  "Change back to yourself," said Lucy. “Before you go to the nursery, find some clothes. You will bring me your children. If you make me come after you, you will regret it."

  Drusus shifted. "I have no choice, do I?"

  Lucy ignored him, studying the house in the distance. "Carlo will have made preparations. He wouldn't be Carlo if he hadn't. Let's give him something to think about." Lucy whispered and Mistraldol's windows blackened. Shadows poured out of the house like flood water, seeping under the doors. People ran outside. Darkness whipped around her in corded ropes. "Don't fail me." Lucy walked into an oozing tendril of shadow and sank into it, and she and the child were gone.

  "I hope you are as powerful as Antonius says you are, Olympe." Drusus ran toward the house.

  Lucy held a squirming, crying Flavia in her arms as they walked through the dark space of the Abyss. "I know," Lucy said. "It's scary here. It will be all over soon. You will like your papa, I promise you." Lucy walked through the shadow into the light of the scroll chamber in Mistraldol. Horus coiled at attention, his wings spreading wide. Her nephew Gregorius, held onto one of his legs. What was he doing down here? She set her jaw. Divide the children so I cannot find them both? Or protect the scroll? Either way was good thinking, Carlo.

  Gregorius wasn't alone. A man stood behind Gregorius in shirtsleeves and a tricorn hat.

  George took his hat off and held it. "Carlo said you might be this way. I'd ask you to reconsider whatever it is you might be thinking of."

  "You're one of those Hamwich men. George? Peter?"

  "George."

  Lucy eyed Horus while talking to George. "Mr. Hamwich, I would be most gratified if we could make a trade. I leave you with my daughter, and you deliver her to my husband. You let me leave with Gregorius, Horus, and the Solomon Scroll. You know there's nothing you can do to stop me, so why don't you save yourself any trouble?"

  George leaned against the wall. "You're awfully sure of yourself."

  "I have no wish for either Flavia, Gregorius or you to come to any harm. Do as I say and none of you will.”

  George considered, tongue in cheek. He stepped forward. "Let me take her."

  Lucy offered the baby. "I am glad you see reason."

  Flavia stopped crying. George let her tiny hand grab his finger. As Gregorius toddled toward George, George balanced Flavia on one arm.

  "She seems to like you," said Lucy. Lucy's eyes flashed to their original color.

  "She does. I want to apologize in advance for this."

  Lucy shook her head. "You must try to stop me," she said. The wall behind Lucy punched blocks into her and she pitched forward on her hands and knees. Her eyes flashed golden again. She breathed heavily. "You…are a magician? That changes things."

  "What's wrong with your eyes?"

  "Nothing now." Lucy scrambled to her feet. Horus floated toward her. Her arm lengthened, a rope of flesh and bone, and lassoed the scroll case from the pedestal. Horus snapped at her, nipping her hand with his sharp beak. A tendril of darkness wrapped around Gregorius and pulled him toward her. Horus screeched.

  The floor rumbled underneath her, and she rocked off balance. Gregorius cried. Horus jumped on top of her, but she fell back into the shadows behind her, through the darkness, barely missing the rake of sharp claws.

  Lucy emerged into the portrait gallery in front of Juno Klaereon. "My apologies," she said to the portrait. "I am about to destroy all of those improvements you made to the house."

  Lucy slowed the blood flowing from her hand, the scroll case slick with it. Her voice echoed as she spoke. "I call upon you, Ra, king of Egypt, to give me all your power and grant me entrance into the land of Duat." Lucy emanated gold and black. Shadows globed around Lucy's fists, and she grabbed rays of light and strands of shadow, weaving them into a pulsing cord. With one quick move, she sliced reality and it split like skin. Inky black blobbed into the air and then the black inverted and oozed, pouring over the floor, eating the room.

  You never needed me to become a monster. Be ashamed.

  "Be silent," said Lucy. The shadows became a thick pool of tar, and Lucy dragged the screaming little boy after her as she jumped in.

  Within seconds, Horus shot through the roof of Mistraldol, followed by a trail of debris, which rained down from the sky.

  Drusus climbed the stairs to the nursery. He knocked on the door before he opened it, just a crack. Inside, Olympe Vipond stood in front of her daughter Diana, who peered at him from behind her mother's skirts, holding a small rosary of beads. Marcellus stood to the right of them, Thoth on his shoulder, his tail wrapped around the boy's neck.

  "Olympe," Drusus said. "I assume you know why I am here."

  Olympe's fingers raced up and down the necklace. "Stop where you are," she said. "I know you are not yourself."

  "Where is Gregorius?"

  "Somewhere you cannot find him." Olympe ripped off a bead from her rosary and held it ready. Marcellus looked like he would cry.

  "If Lucy finds him"—Drusus entered the room—"she has made threats."

  "He is in good hands. Stay where you are."

  Marcellus started toward his father. Drusus shook his head. "Listen to Madame Vipond," said Drusus. "Do as she says. Be a good boy."

  Drusus stepped forward. Olympe ripped off a bead and tossed it. The crystal stone chipped on the floor and a snake of noxious smoke spiraled from it. Drusus coughed. "Not good enough. You should have led with something deadly." In an instant, Drusus manifested Khun.

  As if to mock him, the room twisted, the walls splintering from the floor, collapsing. People and furniture jumbled, the air full of splinters and dust.

  "My god," said Drusus, "you did this?"

  The doorway slanted treacherously, and the floor teeter tottered. "I did not," said Olympe. Diana screamed as the room rocked again.

  "We can agree on the children's safety," said Drusus. "I will not be at odds with you in that regard." Drusus propped his arms and shoulders against the falling ceiling and pried open the doorframe. "Hurry! Out, all of you."

  Olympe herded the children. The stairs behind Drusus swung like a gangplank. Olympe tossed several shells from the rosary at the stairs and the walls, and coral grew, scaffolding the swinging stairs to the wall as they raced down. The ceiling collapsed behind them as Drusus abandoned it. Dust hung in the air, coated them.

  "We need to open that," said Drusus, pointing at a tower window. The glass was sealed into the stone. "Get the children out."

  Olympe pitched a green stone at it. The glass shimmered into water and splashed outward. "You jump with Diana," Olympe said. "Break the wall, make it larger."

  Drusus advanced toward the little girl.

  "No," said Diana, backing into Marcellus.

  Drusus grabbed the trembling girl, sheltering her with Khun's giant arms, and dived through the window. He took the brunt of the fall, then opened his arms so Diana could run away. "Run," he said, pointing away from the house. "As fast as you can."

  Above him, Olympe picked up Marcellus. Thoth scampered into the little boy's arms. The three of them leaped and Drusus caught them. There was no time to recover. The tower tilted and fell, chunks littering the ground. Drusus threw Olympe and Marcellus forward, hoping they were clear, and raced toward Diana, scooping her up again. The tower collapsed onto the ground, and his back was struck by the roof as it struck the stones, propelling him forward.

  Olympe landed heavily, stunned. Drusus placed Diana gently on the ground, and the girl raced forward to her mother. Marcellus crawled away from Olympe, shaking. Thoth climbed on his shoulder and made small squeaks. Marcellus gazed up at his giant father.

  Diana shouted at Drusus. "Leave him alone!"

  Drusus picked up his son, holding him tight. He kissed Marc's forehead. "I will not let her do anything to you." Surely, Carlo's drug, this compulsion amplified, would wear off?

  "Thoth says we have to go," said Marcellus. "To get Greg."

  "Let's go rescue your brother," said Drusus. He ran into Mistraldol, where Lucy was waiting.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Carlo didn't enjoy the view as Vergilius flew himself, Octavia, and Lady LeClere over the top of Hathersage. Below him, Mistraldol was in pieces, one of the towers crumbled and lying at the bottom of the peak, holes in the ceiling, black shadows pouring out of the house like a fountain. A crowd of onlookers, servants and citizens of the town, gaped.

  A blur of motion shot past them in the sky. "What is that?" asked Vergilius.

  "Horus has left the scroll chamber," said Carlo. "This bodes ill."

  "Gregorius," Octavia said in a small voice. "He must be looking for Gregorius."

  Vergilius landed them smoothly. One of the footmen supported a greenish McAllistair, who waited for them. McAllistair couldn't keep incredulity off his face as his ordered world collapsed around him. This was a bit much, even for his composure. "The shadows have taken the house, Signor. Lady Klaereon, they swallowed three servants."

  "We will get them back," said Octavia. "Have you seen Mr. Claudian? Where are my children?”

  "We don't know. We couldn't—" McAllistair's voice cracked.

  Octavia's chin quivered, and Lady LeClere touched her. Deliberately, Carlo watched Octavia lower the mask of the gentlewoman she had kept in place since he arrived, and he caught a glimpse of the sorceress at her strongest. She brushed away Lady LeClere's hand. Octavia clenched her fist, knuckles whitening. "Vergilius, get everyone organized. Search for survivors. Lady LeClere, please help him."

  "You need me," said Vergilius. "To help you."

  "You've helped my family quite enough." Her expression was stone. "Your powers and Lady LeClere's are uniquely suited to remove debris and search for survivors."

  "I can't let you go after Lucy by yourself."

  "You don't understand. You do not let me do anything. Please do as you are told." Octavia marched forward, discarding her cloak and her bonnet as she went, tossing them on the cold ground. Shadows hissed as she moved toward them. Whore. Patricide.

  "Wait! Octavia!" Carlo raced forward.

  Octavia's splayed hands reached forward and she grabbed handfuls of shadows. She grimaced and the shadows streamed out of the house in a river, hitting Octavia and splashing around her. "You forget," she seethed. "I am the real mistress here. I always have been. I always will be. You will never say those things to me again." The shadows groaned and screamed. "If you have had a hand in harming my children, I will find all of you in the Abyss, and I will make you all wish for your dark prince, I will be so ruthless." The shadows exploded into inky blots and faded. Octavia did not turn around. "McAllistair, you should be able to find our people now." She marched into the house.

  Carlo noted the servants backing away. He could feel the silence, feel the fear.

  Vergilius shouted orders. "Those who are injured, head for The George Those who can help with the searching, come with me." Most of the servants didn't need to be instructed twice as they clambered toward the house.

  McAllistair pulled himself up. "How may I be of service, Signor?"

  "You are the most important man here," said Carlo. "Look after all of them. They know you in ways they do not know Lord Claudian. Protect the family's good name." Carlo knew the Klaereon name was going to need all the help it could get after what had happened today.

  "Very good, Signor. You will look after Lady Klaereon?"

  "Heavens, no. I hope she will look after me." Carlo followed Octavia into the house.

  Horus left a trail of ruin, a hole which ran all the way from whatever metaphysical level he had burst from, through the roof he had burst out of. Octavia parted shadows like Moses parted the sea as she wandered toward an oozing black hole in the portrait gallery, which devoured most of the floor. A dwindling ledge around it led to the tunnel of the scroll chamber. Magic throbbed, and Carlo shifted into his demon form. "Blood," he muttered. Where had he smelled this blood before? He willed himself back to his usual form, anxiety nibbling at the back of his mind.

 

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