“Not this again,” Marci said, crossing her arms over her chest. “We went through this deal-with-the-devil stuff already, and it nearly got me under your boot.”
But it’s different now,Ghost said, swishing his tail.That pompous UN mage went on and on about how Merlins are spirit/mage pairs. What if the reason I haven’t seen our path yet is because you’ve been holding me back from my purpose?
Marci set her jaw. “That’s not—”
Youdidpromise you’d help.
He had her there. When she’d bound him again after Vann Jeger, she’d promised to help the Empty Wind do his work in exchange for going back to a more equal relationship. Since then, she’d nearly gotten him killed dragging him all over for her business with Julius. He’d steadfastly stayed by her side the whole time, saving her life at least twice in the process, but Marci hadn’t kept her end of the bargain even once. Just thinking about that made her feel terribly guilty. Guilty enough to give his idea a shot at least, especially since none of hers had worked.
“Okay,” she said with a long breath. “What did you have in mind?”
Ghost jumped into her lap.Ever since Algonquin mentioned I was an accident, I’ve been wondering, why me? Why did I rise faster than whatever carefully groomed spirit she’s growing down there? I was thinking it was just luck like she said, but now I understand. I wasn’t born by accident. I rose because everything Algonquin’s built in this city—Reclamation Land, the skyways, the borderlands, everything—rests on the bones of the dead. The pleading voices of those who died in her flood and were forgotten were what woke me in the first place. If we harness that anger, if we grant the dead of Detroit the vengeance they cry out for, we might be able to take it back.
“Take what back?” she asked. “Reclamation Land? The DFZ?”
All of it,Ghost said, his blue eyes boring into hers.Everything she has.
“Whoa, there,” Marci said, jerking back. “We’re talking about becoming a Merlin, not overthrowing Algonquin.”
Why can’t they be the same?he asked.Everything I know about Merlins I got from your mind, and the picture you’ve always had is a mage powerful enough to stand up to giant spirits like Algonquin. Someone who can lift humanity out from under the claws of the monsters who returned with the magic. That’s a Merlin to you, Marci, and overthrowing Algonquin fits right into that picture.
“It does,” she said slowly. “But you’re skipping the part you mentioned earlier about vengeance for the dead. That doesn’t sound nice.”
The cat’s eyes narrowed.It isn’t.That’s my part of this bargain. You get to overthrow a spirit who’s caused you nothing but harm, I get to finally answer the cries of my darling dead. It’s a win-win for both of us. An equal partnership. Isn’t that what this Merlin thing are all about?
Marci didn’t know. It sounded right when he said it, but as he’d reminded her, Ghost lived in her head. He knew what she wanted better than she did, and right now, Marci wanted nothing more than to finally become a Merlin and kick Algonquin’s watery butt until she evaporated. The plan he’d laid out satisfied both of those urges, but Julius must have rubbed off on her more than she’d realized, because even though she knew Algonquin deserved no mercy, any scheme that involved murdering someone to get her way—even a spirit—just didn’t sit right. There was also the part where Marci had barely managed to get Ghost back under control the last time she’d let him run wild.
That was long ago.
“Not that long,” she reminded him. “Less than a week.”
Long enough for everything to change,he said firmly.We’re different now. Both of us. I don’t want to master you and take control anymore. I want a partner, someone who will stand beside me and help me do the work I was born to do.He looked at her.You said that was you.
“It is me,” Marci replied. “I’m just…”
Afraid, she finished to herself. Afraid she couldn’t control it. Afraid of making things worse. Everyone kept saying how Mortal Spirits were insanely powerful, but they didn’t have to tell her that. Marci had felt the Empty Wind’s strength for herself numerous times now. If she gave him access to the pulsing magic that ran through Reclamation Land like a deep-sea current—power that put even the magic she’d pulled out of Vann Jeger to shame—how much more would he become? More importantly, how would she ever manage to stay in control?
You won’t,he whispered.You’ll just have to trust me.
Marci breathed out a long, deep sigh. There it was. There was no clever trick this time, no brilliant, last-minute scheme to save the day. If they were going to do this, then she was just going to have to trust her spirit. And herself for that matter, because Marci was also gambling that she could control more magic than she’d ever known could exist in one place. There was zero way of knowing how things would shake out, either. So far as she knew, no one had ever tried anything like this before. She could very well fry them both the second she tapped into the crazy magical engine that was Reclamation Land. If she didn’t try, though, they’d be stuck on this stupid mountain until Algonquin decided to let them out, which could meanforever.
That was the deciding factor. Worried as she was over all the unknowns, Marci hated dead ends even more. “Screw it,” she said, standing up and putting out her hand. “Let’s do this.”
A cold breeze whipped up around her, and the Empty Wind appeared where the cat had been, his blue eyes gleaming excitedly inside his empty helmet. “Together,” he said, his deep voice chilling her ears just as his fingers chilled her skin when he grabbed her offered hand.Master.
Marci jerked in surprise. He hadn’t called her that since right after Vann Jeger had died. Now as then, the word rang through them both like a gong, putting Marci firmly on top as she turned and plunged her hand—not into the barrier that had been her nemesis for the last several hours, but into the magic that flowed in and around it. The strange, thick magic she’d been steadfastly avoiding touching since they arrived. The magic of Reclamation Land itself.
The result was immediate.
The moment her mental touch brushed it, magic burst into her body like a fire hose, instantly filling her to the brim. It happened so fast, Marci was sure she was going to pop, but the Empty Wind got there first, sucking the magic down as fast as she could pull it in. And as he ate and ate and ate, Marci’s world began to change.
The cliff grew dimmer, the unnaturally bright moonlight fading to a dull gray then vanishing altogether. It was like what had happened when Ghost had protected her from Gregory, only this time it wasn’t just a few feet in a parking lot that changed. It was everything, a wave of bitterly-cold darkness that covered the land as far as Marci could see. But when she turned to ask the Empty Wind what it meant, she saw he’d changed, too.
He was still clearly not human. His face was still nothing but shadows beneath his helmet, but his body was no longer transparent, and his hand was now the same temperature as hers. She was opening her mouth to ask how that could be when she heard the voices.
They were soft to begin with, frustrating whispers on the edge of her hearing, but the more she listened, the clearer and louder they became. Hundreds, thousands,millionsof voices calling out in every language imaginable, but while she couldn’t always understand what they said, their meaning was unmistakable. They were crying for help. Begging not to be forgotten.
“You hear them.”
