“Barely remembering is still remembering.” Quinn pointed out. “Besides, why do you think the god would even know where Greg is?”
“Because the god knows much more than he’s been given credit for.” I set down the book and picked up my chalk. “I’m doing this, with or without your help.”
I stepped across the room toward my old bed, Loretta’s damning words echoing in my head.Because we’re the murderers. I had to find out.
Trey moved in front of me, pressing his body against the wall. “No.”
I grabbed his shoulder and shoved him aside. “Maybe the rest of the world bows down when you issue a command, but I don’t.”
I knelt on the bed, trying to control the shaking in my hand as I drew a large circle. It was slightly lopsided, but I wasn’t an artist like Ayaz. I glanced down at the diagram, following the instructions for the order in which to draw the lines.
Behind me, Trey tapped his foot against the floor. Quinn sucked in his breath. As I drew, heat flared along my arm. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a flicker of blue flame arcing down the lines.
I resisted the urge to pull back, to push the fire back down inside me. Back in the cave with Zehra, I’d seen flames like this around Rebecca’s sigil. And then again when Trey set the boundary sigil on the table in the RV. Maybe the fire was a sign it was working.
My hand buzzed with heat. An invisible force gripped my fingers, dragging my hand over the wall, dipping and swooping and forming beautiful, perfect lines.
With a final flourish, my hand flew off the wall. The chalk sailed across the room, hit the other wall, and broke into two pieces that fell on Quinn’s head.
“Voila!” I struck a pose. Trey shook his head. Quinn picked up the broken chalk and pretended to draw a penis in the air.
I didn’t ask them if they could see the fire. If Trey knew it was there, his face would have given it away. He’d make a big deal about it, and I couldn’t deal with any more tantrums tonight. I needed to get this done, for Greg.
I lay back on the bed, kicking off my socks and diving under the covers. I downed the glass of milk Andre had snuck down for me. I’d warmed it over the radiator so it went down easily. Above my head, the rats circled with renewed vigor, their tiny feet scratching and scrabbling in their haste.
“Goodnight, boys.” I waved at the Kings from beneath the covers, then reached out to flick off the light.
“This is a bad idea,” Trey muttered from the darkness.
“I don’t know how you even sleep with that racket in the ceiling,” Quinn added.
“I find them comforting,” I said. “I can’t explain it. When I came here I was so lonely. Not even Loretta would talk to me, and when I lost Dante’s journal… I lay on this bed and stared at the ceiling, and the rats were doing their thing. They’re alwaysthere. I like that.”
Quinn wrinkled his nose. “Nope, doesn’t make sense to me.”
“It doesn’t have to.” My head hit the pillow. I closed my eyes, willing sleep to come. But I was too wound up with worry over Greg and with unspent energy from being cooped up inside all day. Quinn fidgeted and Trey coughed, and I threw the covers off in annoyance.
“This isn’t going to work,” I muttered. “I need sleeping pills or something.”
“Let me help.” The bed creaked as Quinn sat down. He lifted the corner of the blanket. “May I?”
“Sure.”
Quinn climbed under the covers with me, wrapping his arms around me, pressing his whole body against mine on the narrow bed.
This was a guy who didn’t do true affection because affection meant admitting some deeper connection that terrified him. And I couldn’t blame him – I knew what it was like to hold back, to put my trust in one person in the world who was supposed to love me and to have that ripped away. I used anger and Quinn used humor to push people away, but they were two sides of the same fucked-up coin.
This embrace was Quinn starting to let his guard down, to drop the facade he’d so carefully crafted. And the boy beneath that mask was more fragile and more beautiful than I’d ever imagined.
He snuggled against me and nuzzled my neck, his breath hot against my skin. And without realizing it, I relaxed into his body. My eyelids drooped, the comfort of his affection cradled me…
My eyes flew open.
Bitter-cold wind tore at my skin, ripping me from the safety of Quinn’s embrace. I was alone. And freezing my ass off.
Even before my eyes adjusted to the gloom I knew where I was – in the cavern, facing the scaffold once again, staring down the trapdoor beneath which the cosmic god slumbered in its prison.
This time, I didn’t hesitate. Greg’s life was at stake. I kicked out the bolt and flung open the trapdoor, bracing myself against the onslaught of vile darkness.
