Ava clung to Kallie, sobbing against her. “Marcus, if you can’t bring her back, summon her spirit! You’ve done it before. We need to know who killed her! I want whoever did this to pay!”
“I’ve summoned spirits while the realms were in balance, but our connection to the afterlife is broken now,” Marcus insisted. “If I bring her back, I risk trapping her here like I did to Thaddeus, and I’m not making that mistake again. The best I can do is use the dagger that killed her to try and look into the past, to see what happened here.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Do it!” Ava screeched.
Marcus came to my side and knelt next to Hemlock’s corpse. Her flesh gave a sickening squishing sound as Marcus drew the dagger out of her abdomen. He held it, attempting to create visions from the blade.
“I see Hemlock reaching for the dagger in her robes,” Marcus started. “The weapon is hers. She has a terrified look on her face. Don’t do this, she’s begging. They trusted you. She’s driving the dagger down and… and…”
Marcus scrambled backward, and the blade clattered to the floor.
“And what!?” Ava bellowed. “Who was she talking to?”
“I couldn’t see,” Marcus admitted. “Even as a demigod, my visions aren’t clear. I only saw it from one angle. All I know is someone forced her to stab herself.”
“No shit,” Danny sneered as he shoved Marcus aside. “She told us so herself. Let me try.”
“What are you doing?” Kallie asked.
“Blood magic,” Danny stated. “Blood holds memories, so I should be able to see the last few moments of her life before she died.”
Danny reached over me to smear a finger through the puddle of blood. I heard a slick sound as he spread the blood across his tongue. Marcus nearly gagged, but no one else reacted.
Danny sucked the blood off his fingers. “Oh… not him.”
“Who?” Ava demanded. “Whoever it is, I want them executed right away!”
“No you don’t, Ava,” Danny said sadly. “You heard Marcus. It was someone we trusted, and there’s only one person we know who can puppeteer people.”
Hatred flared through every part of me. Of fucking course. It’d been so obvious. His need for power, his desperation for revenge. We should’ve seen this coming, but he was our friend, so we’d looked the other way.
Everyone turned to Eddie, like we expected him to have answers.
“This… this can’t be right. You don’t think Alistair did this, do you?” Eddie demanded.
“We haven’t seen Alistair all day,” Kallie replied. “He must’ve overheard Hemlock tell Danny she found the spy, and killed her before she could reveal the truth.”
“He underestimated us, though, because he didn’t think he’d get caught,” Danny added.
“That doesn’t mean he’s guilty,” Eddie insisted. “Do you really think he’s capable of this?”
“Yes,” we all answered in unison.
I’d trusted Alistair to always have my back, but when it came down to it, I knew he was capable of this crime and so much more. Alistair had used his warlock powers to control the minds of others in sick ways. It wasn’t at all a stretch to consider he’d kill Hemlock, too. I never thought he’d take the Warden’s side, but if Alistair believed funneling information back to the enemy would save his own ass— and Eddie’s life as well— he’d make a deal with the Warden in a heartbeat. Ophio Taurus had plenty of time to get Alistair alone back at the Institute to strike a deal with him before we’d ever escaped.
He’d been playing us for so long… and it took no effort at all, because Alistair was an excellent liar.
I recalled what Alistair had said back in the throne room after I’d locked Ava up. “Why not use our powers to take over the world? I’m tired of getting kicked around all my life. It’s time to rub everyone’s face in the dirt like they did me. They showed me no mercy, so I won’t give them any.”
I figured I could trust him because he was an outcast like the rest of us. But Alistair had only been on one side this whole time, and that was his own. He was always going to ally himself with whoever was the most powerful, and that was clearly the Warden. I regretted ever extending him grace.
“Alistair isn’t sneaking around the castle looking to kill someone,” Eddie pressed. “You haven’t seen him around because he said some unforgivable things to me at Cassiel’s funeral. We sort of… broke up.”
“What he said that day was inexcusable, and further proof of who he really is,” I snapped.
“You… heard that?” Eddie asked, stunned.
“Yes, so don’t give me bullshit excuses and continue to defend him,” I growled. “Alistair was here, and he needs to be questioned. Danny’s blood magic proved that, so where’d he go?”
