Bathin’s gaze cut to me. “It’s opening.”
Than pressed his palm down on Bathin’s shoulder and, demon or not, Bathin shivered under that hold.
“The vortex,” Bathin said. “You need to stop it. Myra. Now. Now.”
And wasn’t my chest tugging, hard, hot, echoing Bathin’s words:Now, now, now.
Than paused. I paused too. This could be a trick.
Oh, who was I kidding? Of course it was a trick.
But didn’t I feel the need to go? Didn’t I feel the heat in my chest that tugged and twisted, painful because in a moment I would need to benot hereand instead betherewherevertheremight be? Betherenow, now,now.
I had seconds before I’d be grabbing my bag and running out the door, no matter what was happening with Bathin.
I let out a groan. “Are you kidding me? Did you trigger it? Did you make this happen?”
“No.” Bathin scowled. “I don’t care if you don’t believe me, that’s the truth. It was coming. Ever since Delaney fell. Now it’s here.”
The ground trembled, shook. “Earthquake?” I asked.
“Vortex,” Bathin said. “You’ll need Xtelle. She’ll know how to close it. But for the love of Hell, keep Delaney away from it. The closer she is, the more pain she’ll be in.”
“If I take her soul back now? Will that close the vortex?”
Bathin shook his head, hard. “You do not want a soul floating free, not even for a second when a vortex is open to the Underworld. We already know the vortex lures humans to it. A human soul, even Delaney’s soul, would be gone in an instant.”
“But Than can—” I said.
“No,” Than interrupted. “He is correct in this, Myra Reed.”
“Which part? The vortex thing or the soul thing?”
“Both.”
The little tremble got a lot bigger. It sounded like a huge, monstrous train speeding past my house, close enough the windows rattled and the dishes in the cupboards clattered.
I met Bathin’s eyes. He was waiting. Letting me make the call. But he was worried. If I didn’t know him better, I’d say he was very close to panicking.
“Can you close it?” I asked.
He frowned. “Xtelle will do it faster than I can, cleaner. And she’ll do it. She doesn’t want more demons pouring into town any more than I do. I’m not the only one running and hiding. I promise I’ll be here when you’re done. We can pick this up right where we left off.”
I scuffed my boot over the spell line, breaking it with a bubble-wrappop.
“Xtelle is gone. You’re the only demon I have left.”
Chapter 23
Than returnedthe scissors to their bag, which he handed to me with a sniff.
“Can you close it?” I asked Bathin again. I was already at the front door. I had to go, drive, betherenow, now. Now.
“Yes,” he said.
Something in my chest warmed and solidified. I liked how certain he was. I liked the illusion that he was on my side, that he had my back. A brief, insane image of him beside me, always right where he needed to be just like I was always right where I needed to be, flashed through my mind before I shoved it away.
This.
