"What is it, Sam?" Ina grabbed a paper towel and dried her hands. "You look like you need to ask me a question."

  "How…did you know Ivan was back?"

  She shrugged. "You told me."

  Something brushed against my personal defenses and set off a wave of internal actions for me. I sent out a feel to look at the perimeter. I conjured my dex and looked at Ina through a myriad of pentagrams of changing colors. "No. I didn't." I took a step to the right, away from the bag and the island. "What would you say if I told you the Vampire that took Ivan was Arwen?"

  Ina made a confused face. "I'd say you're wrong. Arwen's not a Vampire, and she's certainly not a Leviathan. Why on earth would you say that?"

  "Did you know the salve didn't work? Or was it supposed to work at all?"

  "Oh Sam, I'm so sorry." Ina put the towel on the counter near her basket and braced her hand against the edge. "Why are you looking at me like that? And why on earth are all your defenses up?"

  "You can see them."

  "Of course I can see them. I taught you how to use them."

  "When did Arwen join your group?"

  Ina pursed her lips and shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe six months ago? It wasn't long after you came back from Savannah, talking about Faeries and Alfheim." She moved away from the cabinet, and her expression shifted to worry. "Sam…what's wrong? What are you thinking?"

  I was thinking it was awfully convenient for this Leviathan named Dionysus to show up here in New Orleans and join Ina's coven right after I returned with Medbh's head. I was thinking that bitch…bastard…whatever it was, had wormed its way into Ina's group to learn what it could about the head. And I was thinking Ina had no idea. Hell, she might actually be one of Arwen's Ghouls and not even know it.

  And I was thinking I had one hell of an imagination.

  "Sam?"

  I was alone here with Ina. No one else was on the grounds. My defenses stayed in place, and my dex kept insisting Ina was human. Not a Ghoul. Dionysus might be smart enough not to involve a Witch, but to just move on the peripheral of one. The very one related to the person who had the Faerie Queen's head. "It's been a long day. That's all."

  "Well, enjoy yourself tonight. Did you bring the necklace back?"

  "Yeah. It's in the box." I was also asking myself why Ina was so interested in an heirloom she said she had forgotten she had. "The reason I asked about Arwen is because she's the one that took Ivan."

  Ina's expression of surprise looked real enough. And it might be that she really didn't know this. "Arwen…took Ivan? Did he say why?"

  "She's looking for the Hammer. Seems she knew it was with Higgins. She mysteriously knew that Ivan could see Arcane as well, so she wanted to use him to find the book."

  Ina crossed her arms over her chest. "Doesn't that sound a little odd? I mean…if this creature is from one of the Demon Realms…wouldn't they already be able to see an Arcane object?"

  That…was a brilliant observation. One I'd come up with myself. I was a little more confident Ina hadn't been Ghouled, but it was possible she'd been deceived. "That's a very valid point."

  "Eh…it's always been my thinking on the whole Arcane thing." She snapped her fingers. "Remember when you saw her in the doorway while we were talking about Ivan? I'll bet that's how she found out."

  Relief washed over me. That made perfect sense. "I should have suspected something was up with her then."

  "How? You had no cause to use your dex on her."

  "Yeah, but…even when I used it before, it didn't show her as being a Vampire."

  Ina approached me and put her hand on my shoulder. "Leviathan. Remember, they're different. Might have to recalibrate the spell to include them."

  Again, Ina was right. She made sense. But then, all through my life, she'd been there for me. Found the right questions and led me down the path to the answers.

  She squeezed my shoulder. "So…tell me what happened. Oh, and can you start peeling those red apples for me?" Ina turned and started pulling things out of her pantry. Flour, baking soda, sugar…I figured, with all the apples, she was going to make pies for tonight.

  I grabbed the small white-handled knife on the counter and picked up an apple. "She said Ivan couldn't find the book, and she had no idea where it was. She wanted me to find it, so I made a deal with her."

  Ina stopped what she was doing. "What deal?"

  "I told her I'd find the book if she’d heal Robin."

  "Well, I'm sure she can, given she's the one that created the Changelings. But, how are you going to find the book?"

  I positioned the knife on the apple and started turning it in my hand. The red peel came off in a long spiral. I used to love to sit in the kitchen and do this when I was in school. I'd come home and help Ina cook while she listened to my day. I'd ask her questions, and she gave me advice. There was a comfortable nostalgia in the action.

  Something…spellbinding.

  "The truth is Ivan did find the book." I continued to peel the apple, not looking at Ina at all. The spinning of the glossy red fruit held my attention even as a more no-nonsense part of me pointed to a basket of peeled apples on the counter near the stove.

  Ina stepped closer. "He did? Where is it?"

  "I have it." One apple finished. I set it to the side and watched it wobble a bit on the table.

  "Keep peeling, Samantha. I'll need at least ten apples."

  I picked out a nice, fat, round apple and started peeling it.

  "Good. Now, tell me again where the Hammer is?"

  "I have it."

  "Yes, but where is it? Is it in your apartment? Or did you hide it? Have you told Crwys Holliard about the book?"

  I hesitated as I peeled the apple. Too many questions asked at once. I wasn't sure which one to answer. So I picked the last one. "He knew about the Hammer before I did."

  Ina made a frustrated noise. "I'm sure he knows about the Hammer, but did you tell him you had the book?"

  Somewhere between answering her about Crwys and her clarifying her question, I decided something was wrong. I couldn't lift my eyes from the apple I peeled, and I felt as if I were back in high school, recounting my day. It was something we always did. It was Ina's ritual.

  Usually I wouldn't have any problem with it. But this time, there was something niggling in the back of my head. Some strange little noise. An incessant tapping, as if someone was trying to get my attention.

  "Samantha, I need you to answer my question, sweetheart."

  I held the peeled apple in my left hand, the knife in my right. I didn't want to peel any more apples. There were enough peeled on the counter. My thoughts felt hazy, and everything else narrowed down to just the apple and knife in my head.

  Again the nagging in my mind.

  Ina came up behind me and put her hands on my shoulders. "Samantha, what is it? You can tell me. You can tell me everything. You've always shared with me. Tell me if you told Crwys about the book."

  "No." The answer came out before I could stop it.

  "Good." She squeezed my shoulders. "Now…tell me, where is the book?"

  "Uploaded."

  Ina hesitated. I could feel it in her hands. Her fingers were warm. I pushed my will forward and slowly, very slowly, put the apple sideways on the table. Something else had soft control of me, of my actions, of my words, and I realized it was Ina.

  She was pulling my strings. She'd always done this, as long as I could remember. Always asked about my day, wanted to know what I was doing, and I always felt compelled to call her and tell her.

  Always.

  But not this time. My need to hide Ivan was stronger. My need to keep that book away from her was stronger.

  My need to…protect.

  "I don't know what you mean by uploaded. The book was uploaded? Samantha, dear, you're going to have to help me out understanding this."

  I brought the knife down across the apple, slicing it to the counter. The two halves fell to either side, exposing the one thing I needed to clear my head.

  The pentagram.

  A little known thing about apples, to most, is the perfect star at their core. Five points. Five seeds.

  Earth. Air. Fire. Water.

  Spirit.

  The center of this apple was blood red. So were the seeds.

  I grabbed the first apple I'd peeled and cut it in half as well.

  Blood red in the center.

  "Sam, what are you doing?"

  "There's blood in the center of these apples." I was counting on it being her blood. And it was just…gross. "You injected blood into these apples. In all the years I peeled apples for you…it finally dawned on me you never used them for pie." I straightened up and looked ahead, no longer forced by some unseen hand to look down. "You never made apple pie."

  I felt her move behind me as her hands left my shoulders. I grabbed the only weapon I had—the only weapon I was ready to use—turned and shoved it into her forehead. "Lady Darksome, your lie dispel, I make it right, your truth to tell!"

  The flat side of the apple against Ina's forehead smoked. Her eyes widened as she dropped the large knife she was about to plunge into my back. It clanged to the floor as my spell, in conjunction with the pentagram of the apple, held her in place. Her body vibrated and then slumped as her eyes closed.

  I pulled the apple half away, and she dropped like a house of cards to the floor.

  The apple continued to smoke in my hand, and I ran to the sink and threw it inside. I watched in morbid fascination as it continued to smoke, turn black and decay, until finally it was little more than ashes. I grabbed salt out of a nearby bowl, cast a handful onto the ashes, and watched as they writhed until nothing remained. With shaking hands, I turned the water on and washed it all away.

  The shaking moved from my hands to my entire body as I used the sink to stand. I was trying to process what just happened, realizing that the woman who raised me had been using magic to control me all these years. But not just any magic.

  Blood Magic.

  My stomach heaved, and I threw up in that same sink. Luckily, I hadn't had much to eat, but the ache in my gut remained. I splashed water on my face and wiped it down with a clean towel.

  Ina lay on the floor, her eyes closed, a pentagram burned into her forehead. The spell had been fast, it had been strong, and I hadn't been prepared. I approached her, grabbed the knife off the floor, and tossed it into the sink as well.

  In seconds, my world turned upside down. And I wasn't sure what to do. Was Ina one of Arwen's Ghouls? If that were true, then it would have only been for a few months, since the Leviathan's appearance here. But I couldn't trust what Ina told me. What if that was a lie?

  It had all been a lie. The reason for my mother's death…all fabricated for what?

  To protect me? Or to control me?

  I had to pull myself together. Arwen was waiting on me to find the book. And then she'd cure Robin. I didn't trust her, but I didn't have a choice either. I couldn't read the book. No one could read the book…

  I ran into the herb room and yanked open the drawer. My mother's athame was there. I grabbed it and held it in my hand as my phone rang.

  It was Kyle. "Where the hell have you been?"

  "With my aunt. Wow…you all right?"

  I took a deep breath and watched for any signs of life from Ina. I didn't want to touch her. "I'm okay. Look, can you head over to the hospital and keep an eye on Robin? He's in ICU."

  "Yeah…sure. But…and don't yell at me…but why can't you?"

  "Because I need to take care of a few things, okay? Just promise to keep an eye on him? And don't let anyone near him unless they say Blessed Be. Okay?"

  "Oooh-kay. But this sounds nuts."

  "I know. Please do it?"

  "I promise."

  I disconnected and immediately called Ivan. I told him to get over here and bring me my laptop bag. And to leave Grey in the apartment.

  I started to call Crwys and stopped. No. Not yet. I had a few things I needed to do first, and then I'd call Crwys, and only if I needed him.

  With my phone in my back pocket and the athame tucked into my belt, I looked around the house for something to use to tie my aunt up.

  NINETEEN

  Ivan tossed a Hello Kitty flash drive on the table beside the open copy of the Malleus Maleficarum. An hour had passed since Ivan arrived and downloaded the book again for me. We made sure to do it in Ivan's Mini Cooper while Ina was still unconscious. Ivan was more than shaken up when he saw Ina on the kitchen floor. I'd used some handcuffs I'd found in a drawer in the kitchen (I did not want to know why she had them) and tied her crossed ankles together with some packing twine I found in the pantry.

  I had just wrapped a kitchen towel around her face when Ivan arrived.

  Once I had the book in my hands again, I took it to the dining room and used my mother's athame to see the hidden type. I'd filled half a composition book with notes in that hour. "This would be a lot easier if the type would just stay visible."

  Ivan leaned over my shoulder. "Is that an exorcism spell?"

  "Yes, it is. I haven't found any cure for a Changeling's toxin yet, so I'm going to have to trust Arwen that she'll come through."

  "But that's only if you trade her this book."

  I smiled up at Ivan. "Not this book," I said as I picked up the flash drive. "This book."

  "I don't think I understand what you're doing."

  "You don't have to, Ivan. Did you make the blank one?"

  "Yeah, it's in the living room, by the door, in the bag." He pulled out a chair and raked his fingers through that thick hair of his. "So, what does this mean with Ina? She's not who she says she is?"

  "I don't know. The reaction to my apple spell points to some kind of Arcane intervention, but my dex still says she's human."

  "So…it is her."

  "I think so. But I think she's been Ghouled by Arwen. Levi and Crwys said Leviathans can puppet their Ghouls, control them any way they want." I turned the page and held the athame over it. After rewriting a few things in the notebook, I put down my pen and the athame. "I've got one more thing for you to do."

  He blinked at me. "I'm tired, Sam. This is taking a lot out of me."

  "I know. And I'm sorry, but I need you to upload this book again."

  To my surprise, he shook his head. "No. I can't do it. I won't."

  Frustration clouded my tone. I was a woman on edge, and I wasn't about to have people tell me no. Not when I was this close to destroying the thing that killed my mother and poisoned my boyfriend. "No?"

  "Sam…this book. You don't see what I see. You can smell it. But I see it. And every time I upload it…" He wrapped his arms around his chest. "It feels like little pieces of it are left behind. Data that I can't scrub off. I feel…contaminated."

  I stared at him. Really looked at him. Honestly, he looked worse now than he had when he was dumped at the shop's front door. Dark circles under his eyes hung heavy over gaunt cheeks. "I'm sorry. I keep asking a lot from you, when you just discovered a new Gift."

  "It's okay. Just… please don't ask me to do that again."

  While he had it uploaded, Arwen couldn't sense it. Or even see it. But if Ivan couldn't do it again, how else was I going to hide it? "Can…can you transmute it without uploading it?"

  He winced. "I don't know."

  I pushed the book toward him. "Try it."

  "Turn it into what?"

  "I don't know. Just…make it invisible."

  Ivan chewed on his lower lip as he looked at the book. He put his hands out and I saw his eyes turn green. White bits of what looked like code—patterns of ones and zeros—covered the book until it wasn't there anymore.

  I patted the table down. "Ivan…it's not there."

  "I know. You told me to make it invisible."

  "But I should still be able to touch it, right?"

  He looked panicked as he reached out and patted the table. "Uh oh."

  Shit. There was no telling what he just did to that book. But I couldn't think about it at that moment. I had to make the call to Arwen. With a hand on his shoulder, I grabbed the flash drive and slipped it into my pocket. "We'll figure it out later. I have to make a call."

  "I need to take a nap." Ivan stood and pushed the chair in. "You mind if I head back to the shop?"

  "Go ahead. I'm going to seal the house. Take it out of sight for now." I moved away from him and made sure Ina was still on the kitchen floor. "I think she'll be okay. Though"—I grabbed up the twine and looped it around her ankles and her wrists in a sturdy hog-tie—"I think this'll keep her here until I'm finished."

  "Where's Kyle?"

  "He's doing something else for me." I retrieved my phone. Ack. It was at twenty-five percent battery. I typed in the number Arwen texted me and waited.

  "It's about time you called. I was getting worried. You have the book?"

  "Yes, I do. You have the antidote for Robin?"

  Arwen laughed. "Of course I do. So…where should we meet?"

  "I think Ina Devonshire's place is a good place to start." I said that just to see what kind of rise I got out of Arwen.

  I wasn't disappointed. "I take it she tipped her hand."

  "You could say that. I don't know how long you've kept her Ghouled, but it stops tonight."

  "Fine. You give me the book. I don't need her anymore."

  I couldn't help but think of my mom having sought this creature out all those years ago, only to have it make a deal with the Faerie. "No Faerie deals."

  "No what?"

  "No. Faerie. Deals."

  Arwen laughed. "Sure, Samantha. Whatever you say. But I don't think Ina's house is a good place to meet. Let's say eight o'clock, at Couturie Forest. And make sure you come alone. Oh, and don't forget that beautiful necklace Ina gave you. I think it should look nice around my neck."

  She disconnected before I could protest.

  Why would she want to meet in a forest and not Ina's house? And what was so interesting about the necklace?

  "Sam?"

  I'd nearly forgotten Ivan was there. "Yeah?"

  He was looking inside the bag I'd brought from the apartment. "What's all this stuff in here? Looks like things from your altar. And…what's this folder?"

 

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