I need to find someone. We’re running out of time. But how do I convince Aliz to go along with this? She’s not bloodthirsty like Ada. I can hear her behind me, shifting in front of the microwave as she heats up a cup of blood. We haven’t kissed—we’ve barely even spoken since leaving the library.
The words on the page blur together, and just as I rummage through my drawers for a new pencil, my phone vibrates. Under ordinary she-hasn’t-been-playing-dead-for-days circumstances, I wouldhave declined the call and told her to call back later. Now, when I see Penny’s face appear on my screen, I’m too taken aback to think. My fingers move on their own, and I squeeze out, “Penny?” holding the phone to my ear.
“Are you with the leech?”
I look over at Aliz, remembering that her senses are far greater than mine, and she’s staring right back at me, eyes wide. She definitely heard that. Ohfuck.
I rush out of our room without saying a word and sit down on the top step of the staircase, under the gaze of a dozen ancient portraits. “You’re alive?” I ask, my heart slowing.Why haven’t you answered my texts?
“No thanks to you,” she says. Strangely enough, Penny doesn’t sound angry. In fact, Penny’s tone is exactly as it was when she last called me, before sending me to the blood party in Inverness. I’m still trying to gather my thoughts when she asks: “Have you found the book?”
The book is a ghost.I almost say this aloud. But then I remember my promise to Elia.
“I haven’t,” I say, and the lie comes so easy, because I’ve spent the last month and a half doing nothing but lying. “But—how did you get out? Did you fight the Council?”
There’s a pause. Something I could mistake for a sigh.
“No, Rebecca. I did not fight the Council.”
I cross my legs, peering back along the hallway to ensure Aliz is not eavesdropping.
“But I’m glad to tell you that you have officially been ranked as a Stake of Callisto. Once you return to London, you’ll receive your new uniform and quarters. Oh, and a raise, of course.”
I’m still staring down the hallway, her words not fully hitting me. They make absolutely no sense.
“I’m—what?”
“FindingThe Book of Blood and Rosesis still an important mission, but I have not been entirely forthcoming with you, Rebecca.”
“What do you mean?”
“Crosses, as you already know, work alone. You are expected to see vampires,allvampires, as your natural enemy.” My eyes are locked on my boots, trying to figure out where this is going. “The main purpose of sending you to Tynahine was to see if you would be able to integrate—meaning work alongside them without losing sight of your mission. Sometimes—and I don’t like it—we have to work with the Council. You proved to me in Inverness that you can distinguish between evil and—I don’t like calling vampiresgood,so let’s say,tolerablevampires.”
I stare ahead, not blinking. Elia said Callisto is working with the Vassals. But what if she’s wrong? Nocth had mentioned that if Callisto sent a hunter, it would be to oversee Integration. That my supposedly real mission would be a cover, and he was right. The only reason I’m here is to prove I could blendin.
“So, you’re not angry with me?” I whisper. My head hurts. Penny sent me here as atest? Was she just acting when she tried to shoot me in Inverness?
“Quite the opposite. You went above and beyond what I expected of you,” she says. “You uncovered the Red Ribbonsanddismantled that party in Inverness.”
“I…” For some reason, I don’t buy it. Penny has never been impressed byanyonein the four years that I’ve known her. There’s no way I’d ever be the subject of her admiration. I swallow hard and focus. “So I’ve finished? I can come home?”
“Not yet,” she says. “I still want you to findThe Book of Blood and Roses.And once you hand it over, I’ll tell you who killed your parents.”
There is no book.I almost say it. But Penny hangs up. Afterwards I feel as though I’ve just survived an earthquake. What the actual fuck was that?
A test?
Sometimes we work with the Council.I want to scream. I think of Elia, of Gustavsson and his secrets, but somehow, I can already feel myself being roped back in by Penny. She finally gave me the promotion I wanted. I’ll finally learn what happened to my parents. MaybeElia is wrong about Gustavsson, maybe it’s a coincidence. Penny wouldn’t betray me. She wouldn’t use me. And now she’s finally realised my true worth.
Suddenly, I feel the thorns digging inwards, slicing through my skin. I choke, and when I press my hand to my skin, I’m sure I’ll find it soaked with blood. But it’s dry. The last time I felt this sort of pain was the night Aliz’s memories returned.
When I get back to the room, I can barely breathe. But Aliz is all right. She closes the book she was reading and turns towards me. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” she says as I close the door. “I can’t control—” Her expression changes suddenly as she looks at me. “What’s wrong?”
“The mark,” I say through gritted teeth. She rushes towards me, pressing her hand against it, the scalding sensation slowly receding. I breathe out. “Thanks.”
Aliz’s hand trembles on my neck, and as soon as I place my own hand over hers, she asks:
“Who was that?”
