Beyond Hyde, on the deck, Rory’s fingers twitched.
Hyde’s breath was hot on Arthur’s face. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
“You need a new routine,” Arthur bit out. “I’ve seen this song and dance before.”
Hyde’s fangs flashed as he growled, and his fingers tightened until black spots danced at the edges of Arthur’s vision. He fought for consciousness, forcing his eyes open, because once he passed out, whatever he woke to would be worse than this, and what would Rory do then?
He tried to raise his voice for Rory. “Come back. Please.”
But Hyde’s grip was too tight and Arthur’s eyes were shutting themselves. He tried to focus on Rory out on the deck. Had his fingers twitched again? Or was Arthur imagining what he wished was true?
Hyde pulled Arthur in. “Are you sorry you chased your paranormal into the darkness yet?”
Arthur gritted his teeth and forced his eyes open, not on Hyde, on Rory. “Per favore, Teddy. For me.”
Hyde scoffed. He opened his mouth—
Something burst across the deck, an invisible wave, as powerful as the wind but with an electric edge like a storm of tiny lightning bolts. Hyde’s inhuman roar echoed off the ship, off the riverbanks, and then Hyde’s hand was falling away from Arthur’s neck as he fell to the deck—
The lightning bolts sank into Arthur’s skin, and he gasped as they settled into his bones and blood like they were coming home.
He looked up.
Hyde had collapsed at Rory’s feet. Rory’s shoulders were heaving, and the fury on his face as he glared at Hyde’s unmoving body made him look about ten feet tall and every inch the dangerous paranormal he was.
Then his gaze landed on Arthur.
“Hi,” Arthur whispered.
And as quickly as he’d appeared, the dangerous paranormal vanished, Rory crumpling as he fell to his knees and wrapped both arms in a choke hold around Arthur’s neck. Arthur tried to put his arms around Rory only to jerk against the handcuffs. He cursed and pressed his face into Rory’s hair instead.
“Are you all right?” he asked hoarsely.
“Are you?” Rory was trembling all over, clutching Arthur so tightly it was almost painful. “I couldn’t get out of that pomander and then—I heard your voice. And I heard that monster say he was gonna hurt you—”
“I’m okay.” Arthur pulled back just enough to see him. Rory was worryingly pale, his face drawn like he hadn’t slept for days. Three yards away Hyde’s body remained still, his chest moving but his eyes as blank as Rory’s had been, as the entire ship’s staff was. What had Rory managed to do?
Arthur turned his head, enough to brush his lips over Rory’s temple. “Everything’s going to be fine,” he said, trying to make it sound strong, ignoring his own bleeding neck, aching arms, and bruised body, ignoring the wretched smell of the pomander and that they were trapped on a ship with an inexplicably unconscious Hyde and a bespelled crew.
Rory made a soft noise that said he wasn’t buying it, and turned his head enough to look over Arthur’s shoulder, out past the railing and the side of the boat. “Ace,” he said slowly, “are we...moving?”
“Yes.” The familiar London accent came from another set of stairs, the ones coming up from D deck, as a figure stepped up onto the deck. “But I’m the one to blame.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Gwen came toward them, Ellis right behind her on the stairs, while three armed mobsters thundered up the other set of stairs. Ellis wore his same navy coat and hunting cap, while Gwen’s long curls danced in the wind. Their mobsters had cloths tied over their noses and mouths. They’d clearly been warned about the relic, which still dangled from Rory’s suspender, filling the air with its rot.
Gwen’s eyes—no longer yellow, but the hazel-brown Arthur remembered—were glued to the pomander. “Heaven help us,” she whispered, putting her hand over her heart, over the familiar piece of jewelry dangling around her neck.
The Argonaut Amulet relic.
“You.”Rory shifted closer to Arthur, weak but unmistakably protective. “You’re the ones that stole the amulet from the Zhangs!”
“No,” Gwen said patiently, as her henchman aimed their guns at Rory and Arthur. “I’m the one who reclaimed my amulet from all the magic traps the Zhangs set around it.”
Ellis held up the Venom Dagger. “And I’m the one who cut it free for her,” he said, in his Southern drawl. “Nice to see you again, Ace.”
“Shut up,” said Arthur.
