He shrugs. “I doubt it. That bond’s tied to your dark energy, so unless you can burn every single speck of it away, the bond will remain. If you do burn every speck away, then she dies. So your two goals are diametrically opposed.”
Izzy whimpers.
Leonid asks, “Could we break it just enough that Xolotl goes back to sleep?”
Thanatos steps closer, and then he snaps his head toward Izzy. “You’re mine, too.”
Izzy startles.
He smiles. “What a treat to see two of you.”
“Do you even care?” I ask.
“I haven’t had the luxury of caring. Any attention of energy I send your way makes you a target.” His laughter’s dark and bitter. “But because I never allowed myself to care, to keep you safe, you’re nothing more than works of art to me. You’re creatures that should never have existed in the first place, but here you are, swimming against the current of the world. But if your lives end. . .” He shrugs. “Not my problem. You know what is my problem?”
I shake my head.
“Pissing off Xolotl. Did you hear what he threatened?”
“You’re afraid of your own brother?” Lechuza scoffs. “Pathetic.”
“We exist because he grew lonely,” he says. “You four witches are all balanced, more or less, but we horsemen aren’t. Xolotl was the first of us, and he petitioned for more. Our existence is why he sleeps. Did you never ask about that?”
Baba Yaga shakes her head. “I don’t recall that.”
“It’s the deal he made so he wouldn’t be alone. More horsemen, less time awake.” Thanatos sneers. “He was the first, and he’s the strongest. He could return us to dust, and he will if I try to take his toy.” He sniffs me, then. “But I don’t like any of this. I don’t like him having a toy, and I like it even less that she’s somehow linked to me.” He strikes out then, hitting me with lightning, fire, and earth at the same time. I sense all three distinctly.
The magic punches into me and. . .disappears just like the knife.
“Even now, even separated from her, he’s actively protecting her with his magic.” Thanatos swears loudly. “I think it’s all very ill-advised. When he finds you, he’ll destroy you all for taking her.” He doesn’t even leave the house before cutting out. He dives through the floor, leaving a disgusting, dirty hole.
“You’re better without that loser,” Baba Yaga says.
Lechuza sighs. “Can you really blame him? He could die if he upsets Xolotl.”
Baba Yaga rolls her eyes. “With the lack of personality he has, who would miss him?”
It’s obvious that Lechuza would.
She hasn’t so much as greeted me, but I’m supposedly the product of the love or affection between her and Thanatos. Motherly, she is not. Even creating life doesn’t turn everyone into a mother, with humans either, I guess.
Shortly after, bolstered by Lechuza’s presence and aid, we make another jump. Then we make two more. Baba Yaga’s panting after that, and I know we’re close to the end of her ability. The occupants are put soundly to sleep, and then we gather in the family room. “It’s time,” Baba Yaga says. “He’s drawing closer, and I’m too tired to continue.”
Lechuza nods. “Very well.”
“You still want to try this?” Leonid asks.
Izzy nods. “It’s still her best chance of surviving him, right?”
Leonid shrugs. “It seems so, but say the word, and I’ll fight him with everything I’ve got.”
Izzy’s eyes well with tears.
“No way,” I say. “That would be suicide. You didn’t watch him take out the entire military force in California.”
Leonid rolls his eyes. “I could do that, too.”
“He was created to offset all four of us,” Lechuza says. “We couldn’t defeat him, so there’s no way you could.”
