Kelly wrapped her arms around my neck, squeezing so hard I was afraid my head would roll off my shoulders. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Everyone was here to see me. Flynn, Rowan, Blake, Kelly… I glanced around for Corbin before the memory of his death bounced off my skull like a rock.
Corbin.That’s why I cut myself. Because he was dead.
The rest of Flynn’s words sunk in.Or you’d have joined Corbin and Maeve.I searched the room for her face, but she wasn’t there. “Where’s Maeve?”
Kelly leaned back. The guys exchanged a telling glance. My chest tightened. Behind me, a machine beeped at double speed.
“Flynn,” I demanded.
Flynn cleared his throat. “Right, there’s something we have to tell you, and you’re not going to like it. But we need you to stay calm and don’t burn down the hospital until we’ve finished talking, okay?”
“Bloody hell, just tell me!”
“Maeve’s gone,” Blake said, his voice hard and cold. “She’s in the underworld.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-ONE: ROWAN
It took a lot of convincing, and some low-level compulsion from Blake, to get Arthur discharged. As soon as we were piled into Ryan’s car and Simon had started the engine, I explained what I’d found in the library. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and showed them the pictures of the book, as well as Corbin’s post-it notes. “Corbin was reading about these Mysteries of Lazarus before the attack on Briarwood. I think he might’ve figured out how to protect himself in the underworld.”
“That wanker,” Arthur breathed, holding one of the Post-it notes up to the window. “Why didn’t he just tell us? Surely he doesn’t expect us to learn Latin or bloody Elvish so we can bring him back.”
“He must not have got that far,” I stared at the Post-it notes. They still made no more sense now than they had before.
“Or the answer was so obvious he knew we didn’t need the books to figure it out,” Blake piped up.
I whirled around to face him. The corner of his mouth twitched up.
“You might’ve said something!” I yelped.
“I wasn’t sure.” Blake grinned. “I’mstillnot sure. I’m trying to think like Corbin. Maeve said there was an object around Corbin’s neck that usually sat on the library shelf – an ampulla.”
“What’s that?” Flynn asked.
“It’s a medieval vial for holding holy water,” Arthur said.
“How do you know that?”
Arthur gave a small smile. “I picked it up once and Corbin gave me a boring lecture.”
My chest pinched. I could just imagine Corbin launching into a long-winded description of how the pilgrims used the ampulla.
“What’s the plan here, gents? Are we going after Corbin and Maeve?”
“I think that ship has sailed,” Arthur looked up at the pale moon, where the last traces of the Slaugh riders had disappeared. “Unless we’re all planning a suicide.”
Flynn frowned. “Jeez mate, ease off.”
Arthur glanced at Flynn, then stared at his hands. “Sorry mate. I forgot.”
“I don’t think Corbin intended us to follow him,” Flynn said. “I think there’s something we’re supposed to do on our end to bring him back. And of course, now we’ve got to get Maeve back, too.”
“Do we need another ampulla?” I asked
“I don’t know!” Flynn threw up his hands. “I’m not the expert in all this magicking shite. I don’t think an ancient pilgrim hip flask is the kind of thing you can buy from Sainsbury's.”
