“Let’s focus on the token and your magic,” I said.“You’re saying your magic is cursed.Maybe we can use that.If I tell Canyon—”
“No.”He cut me off.“The curse deters no one.No matter how often I explain it, the token holders think they can wish carefully enough that the consequences won’t be too bad or that they will be worth it to get what they want.”
“We have to try something, Garion.”My patience was slipping.Why was he giving up?
He shook his head.“You have to give my token to the fey.”
My jaw clenched, and something made me look to my left where a soft breeze weaved through the sparse grass.That’s where the Null ended, and that’s where I’d followed Nora, Blake, and Officer Tanner.It felt like I should see someone standing there now, but it was all empty space, and the feeling—just a ripple in the air, or maybe in me—passed before it fully formed.
I gripped the front edge of the bench.We had options.We just had to identify the ones most likely to work.“What happens if I give Canyon the token, but you remain in the Null?Or we give him a fake?We could—”
“You can’t fix everything!”The words burst out of him, loud and sharp and startling, before he reined himself back in.Garion was a good half foot taller and almost twice as broad as me, and with his square jaw and muscular shoulders, he should have been intimidating.But this was the man who’d made me virgin cocktails when I was younger.He’d left the Null to find me the moment he’d learned my parents were dead.He was more like an older, protective brother than a paranorm to be feared.
“You can’t fix this,” he repeated, softer this time.“I won’t let this happen to you.You’ll give my token to the fey king.”
He wouldn’t let go of his guilt.Just like Christian, he couldn’t accept the fact that sometimes bad things happened and there was no one to blame.No single place to direct our fury.I felt the frustration too, the rage.I could wrap myself in that anger and lash out.I could hate and blame, but what would that solve?I’d be using all my energy to rage over the past when I could use it to focus on the future.On Garion’s future.
“It will kill me if we don’t try,” I said.
He clasped his hands between his knees and stared at the ground.“What were the exact words of the bargain?”
It wasn’t agreement, but it was something, a small step toward not giving up.I closed my eyes and thought back.
It was strange having the hole in my memory filled.It felt half stitched and distant, like it belonged to some other Kennedy Rain, and aside from the image of the token—and a moment of something ancient and immutable—only Canyon’s voice and the weight of the bargain remained clear.
“You will bring it directly to me.No one else is to know what you’re looking for.It is coveted.Whoever possesses the medallion controls the djinn.This is the bargain: You, Kennedy Rain, will bring me the djinn’s token, whole and unbroken.In exchange, I will give you the key to the letter your parents left you.”
The moment he said the worddjinn, I should have said no.I should have walked away and accepted that I’d never learn what the letter contained, but I couldn’t remember my thoughts from that moment.I only remembered my next words.“I accept.”
Frustrated with my past self, I repeated Canyon’s words to Garion, who continued to stare at the ground.When he didn’t respond or react in any other way, I pointed out the possible loophole.“The bargain didn’t specifically say I have to give himyou.”
“Whole and unbroken,” he said.“The king of the night court included those words for a reason.The token isn’t whole without me.”
“I don’t equate a person with an object.He can’t hold me to it.”
“Let me see the token.”
I took it out of my pocket… and hesitated.I trusted Garion.I wasn’t sure if he trusted me.Whether I’d been enchanted or just plain stupid, I was responsible for this mess.The edge of the Null was at the edge of the cemetery, and if he gave up the fight, he could take his token and leave.I’d already broken something in him the moment I agreed to Canyon's bargain, and now I was about to ask him to risk even more.An idea flickered at the edge of my mind.It wasn’t a plan—not yet—but a path was forming.A direction.A sliver of possibility.
I dropped the token into his hand.He clenched it tight, as if he wanted to break it or throw it or somehow unmake it, but eventually his grip loosened.
“It’s not whole,” he said.“It’s too thin.Too light.Outside the Null, my presence will infuse it with a layer of magic.It will glow with an inverse of light.”
“That makes no sense,” I said bluntly.
His mouth curved in the smallest smile.“I know.You’ll understand when you step outside the Null.”
“I don’t have to leave the Null.”
“You do.”
“I don’t.Listen.Just give me some time.A few days.Let me do some research.”
His expression turned stony again.“There are no accurate books or records on djinn.”
“I don’t need records.”I wet my lips.I didn’t know if he’d agree to this next part.“Jared is old.”
He met my gaze suddenly.Aggressively.“Jared is preoccupied with securing his position.”
