Their first order of business had been calling Setsuna’s soul back into her body, and Patrick hadn’t been able to make himself look at the television screen during that time. Hearing the echo of her voice, long after she was gone, had been difficult. His palms still throbbed with the cuts his fingernails had dug into his own flesh.
That hour had crawled by, and he’d asked no questions to the dead while everyone else had. When the necromancer finally put Setsuna back to rest, Patrick didn’t feel relieved, only hollowed out. The rest of the meeting was spent discussing the rapid deployment of the National Guard—who couldn’t arrive soon enough in Patrick’s opinion—and what magical defenses could be erected around Manhattan and the other boroughs, as well as the nexus in Salem.
It made him wish the barrier they’d set last year with the Greek coins and cliff roses had survived. But Cernunnos had destroyed it after sucking out all the life in every park to keep Hannah and her unborn child alive. Patrick didn’t trust the gods, but at this point, he’d take any help his side could get.
As soon as his phone was fully booted, the notifications started rolling in. Patrick’s heart skipped a beat at the number of missed calls, voice messages, and texts showing up on the screen. He didn’t bother reading any of the texts or listening to his voicemail. Instead, he called Jono, who picked up before the first ring even finished going off.
“What happened?” Patrick asked tightly, gripping the steering wheel with both hands.
“We were attacked by hunters at Gentry & Thyme this morning. I’ve been trying to reach you all day. Sage took a blow meant for me and got gutted by a fucking poisoned blade,” Jono said, sounding tired and angry.
A ringing noise filled Patrick’s ears, drowning out the rain. The rattle in his chest was him trying to breathe. “Is she—”
“She’s alive but in the ICU at Bellevue. Whatever was on the blade is making it difficult for her to shift right now.”
Patrick opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t find the words, heart pounding as if he were running a race. The light turned green, and he pressed on the gas pedal. “Will she be okay?”
“She’s stable. Marek and Wade are with her. Where are you?”
His stomach twisted, and he swallowed hard. “I just finished a meeting with the joint task force. I’m on my way to meet with Ashanti.”
“Why?”
Patrick wanted to lie to protect Jono, but he couldn’t find the will to do so. “I need her to do something for me.”
“You couldn’t ring her and ask?” At Patrick’s silence, Jono let out an angry laugh. “You promised me you wouldn’t fuck off without telling me first.”
“And I told you before I don’t have a choice.”
“Right, then. I’m putting you on speaker.”
The fury in Jono’s voice made Patrick flinch, but it didn’t stop him from driving toward the Brooklyn Bridge rather than Bellevue, despite everything in him that was demanding he turn around and go check on Sage.
“What the fuck is going on, Collins?” Gerard asked.
Patrick jerked at the sound of his old captain’s voice coming over the line but kept the steering wheel steady in his hands. “Gerard? When did you get here?”
“Today. I have the whole team with me, and we need a sitrep.”
Patrick clenched his teeth until his jaw ached before finally speaking. “Did Jono tell you Ethan has my grandmother?”
“We’ve been filled in.”
“Then you know the Salem Coven and my mother’s family are responsible for the protective wards around the Salem nexus. If we give up the piece of the Morrígan’s staff, I can get Eloise back and block Ethan’s power source.”
“We both know that’s a fucking lie. Don’t do it, Collins. Don’t trade yourself for her. The veil is tearing as we speak, and we need you here.”
“And what happens when Ethan drains that nexus dry? The SOA is going to send mages to barricade it, but the protective wards are generational. The SOA can’t just tear them down. Ethan will still be able to get through the defenses because of Eloise. She’s a back door to the damn thing like my sister is. She’s the only one that has the command trigger for those wards and can take them down.”
“He’s not related to her.”
“That doesn’t matter when Hannahisand he has my blood as well. But getting Eloise back means she can take down her family’s wards, and the SOA can block Ethan. It’s two fucked choices, but taking away a power source might buy us time to figure out where the hell Ethan is, because I guarantee you he isn’t in Salem.”
“There are millions of zombies and demons and who knows what else waiting to break through the veil. Whatever time you think you’ll buy us isn’t going to mean shit if we spend days fighting that army. It’ll mean even less if Ethan has a working weapon.”
“Ashanti can help us track Hannah with my blood. We wouldn’t be fighting blind.”
“You’d have to beherefor that spell to be useful.”
