“She’s telling us about her birthday party,” Jax said. “Do you think we could wait that long for the takedown?”
“It’s a month away, Jax. Think of how many more souls might pledge during that time. Even worse, Jordan will be vulnerable to Eryx. It’s not like she can live in obscurity. He’s probably watching the news as we speak.” He saw fear leap into her eyes and cursed himself for saying that out loud.
“True,” Jax said, “but he has to operate within the same rules as we do, so he can’t just grab her. He’ll have to come up with another abduction scenario, and that’s going to take some time.”
A few minutes later, the police guard parted and Prime Minister Burton rushed through the front doors, trailed by a harried-looking female assistant and two solemn guys who were bound to be with Diplomatic Protection. “Jordan!” He reached out both hands and grasped hers, pulling her to her feet. “God be blessed, your father will be overjoyed! Are you well? Have those brutes hurt you?”
Jordan calmly repeated the lie, and the PM nodded as she spoke. “We’ll have questions to ask, to try to determine who was holding you, but for now, I’d like to take you to Number Ten. I’ve asked the U.S. ambassador, Mr. Simmons, to meet us there. As you and I are old friends, I thought you might be more comfortable at Downing, instead of in the embassy.”
Jordan looked genuinely glad to see the man. “Thank you, sir. I appreciate your help, and I know Dad will be glad to hear from us.”
“Yes, of course. We’ll call your father right away.” He nodded at Mr. Lamb. “Good work, sir.” He looked around at the others. “Most excellent, all of you.”
Linking Jordan’s arm in his, he led her out the doors to a waiting car, and just like that, she was gone.
“To Number Ten?” Jax asked.
“I’m going, but you go to the house and tell everyone what’s happened. Phoenix needs to begin planning something immediately.”
He was about to transport away from the station when Jax laid a hand on his arm. “They’re likely to send her back to Washington within twenty-four hours. You can’t stay on guard through all of this, Key. I’ll come back in a few hours, and we’ll make a rotation schedule.”
Key nodded, even though he had zero intention of leaving Jordan. No matter how long it took, he’d be with her until he could return her to the safety of the Mephisto Mountain.
Sitting in a chair at a small conference table in the prime minister’s office, Jordan waited for him to finish talking to Dad and hand her the phone. He was a nice man, if a little bit of an egomaniac. He made a lot out of her rescue, and assured her father the MI5 would find the people responsible for keeping her locked up.
She was thinking, Good luck with that, when he handed her the phone. “Dad?”
“Jordan! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Dad.” Other than being shot, dying, and coming back immortal.
“Oh, God, I can’t believe it! I’m so—” He began to cry, deep, hard sobs of relief and happiness. “We’ll get you back home as soon as possible. You just hang in there a little bit longer.”
His tears made her choke up, and she had a hard time saying, “I can’t wait to see you.”
“We’ll take a few days up at Camp David. Would you like that?”
“Sure, Dad.” Key appeared then, in a corner, and seeing him made her cry harder. Yes, she’d see her father, but it would be only for a short while. She’d be going back to the Mephisto Mountain as soon as Phoenix came up with a new plan.
“Let me talk to Burton again, and we’ll make arrangements to get you home.”
“I love you,” she whispered around the enormous lump in her throat.
“I love you, too, Jordan. I’ve never been this happy.”
He was happy, but it would last only until she had to go back to Colorado. She’d have to fake die again, and he’d have to go through all of this once more. Staring at Key while she handed the phone back to Prime Minister Burton, she couldn’t stop crying.
“Now you can say good-bye,” he said from the corner.
He was right, and she wouldn’t dwell on how this would end. She’d see Dad, and Matthew, and when she left next time, things would be settled. There’d be some closure, and she’d go back to the Mephisto without any regrets.
She hoped.
One of the prime minister’s assistants, Ms. Duplessis, bent low and said quietly, “If you like, Miss Ellis, I can show you to a room in the residence. You can freshen up and rest, and I’ll see that your clothes are laundered. We’ve also a fine kitchen if you’re hungry.”
Standing, she nodded and followed the woman out of the office, into a hallway, and toward the stairs, well aware that Key was trailing just behind.
On the third floor, in the prime minister’s personal residence, the room was beautiful, old-school London, with heavy brocade draperies and bedding. “There’s a water closet just there,” Ms. Duplessis said. “If you’d care to slip out of your clothes, I’ll take them to the laundry. There’s a robe hanging on the opposite side of the door, and a laundry bag just inside the cupboard beneath the basin.”
She couldn’t very well say no, so she did as the woman suggested and went in the bathroom to take off her clothes. When she came out, Key stood beside the window. She handed the bag to Ms. Duplessis, who offered food again.
“Yes, tea would be nice,” she said, “and whatever is on hand to eat. I am a little hungry.” She could eat a whole chicken, maybe two, she was so enormously hungry, but she was in the real world now, and eating enough to sustain Mephisto strength would cause questions she didn’t want to answer. She kept reminding herself to act normal, to react as if she’s been held hostage for two days. “Actually, I’m very hungry. The, uh, people who had me didn’t feed me. I had some bottles of water and a package of crackers, but that’s all.”
“Oh, you poor girl! Yes, I’ll pop down to the kitchen and bring you something marvelous. If you like, bathe while I’m gone, and I’ll have the house steward come in and light the fire.”
As soon as she left the room, Key said over his shoulder, “Go ahead and take a shower. I’ll be right here.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Phoenix will come up with something, so until then, we’ll muddle through as best we can.”
“Should you go back to Colorado and help with a plan?”
He turned to face her and shook his head. “I’m not leaving you.”
She didn’t admit to him that she was relieved. She also didn’t suggest he come in the bathroom with her and face the other way while she took a shower, but she wanted to. She was scared, half expecting Eryx to show up at any minute. With one last look at Key, she went back into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
She was about to slip out of the robe and step into the tub when she heard her worst fear, just behind her. “Hello, Jordan.”
Spinning around, she wanted to scream but knew she couldn’t. Dizzy with panic, she clutched the robe against her body. “How did you find me?”
“All I had to do was find my brother.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the opposite wall. “No worries, Jordan. I’m not going to steal you away, although it’s tempting. I need you for one purpose, and until you agree to fulfill that purpose, there’s no point in taking you with me.”
The door opened abruptly, banged against the wall, and Key filled up the space. He looked straight at Eryx, and for one millisecond before his expression turned to rage, Jordan saw something in his eyes that blew her away. Instead of hate or anger, she saw something like joy. His instantaneous reaction on seeing Eryx was happiness, until he remembered in the next heartbeat that this was his sworn enemy.
Eryx never batted an eyelash. “Hello, brother. I was just telling your Anabo that I have no intention of taking her again. When she returns to Erinýes, and she definitely will, she’ll do it of her own free will.”
“You always were a smug son of a bitch. What makes you so s
ure of yourself?”
Eryx looked at her from his dead, flat eyes. “Her greatest quality will be her ultimate downfall, just like our mother. She could never accept that our father was irredeemable, and Jordan will never accept that you’re a lost cause. She’ll sacrifice herself for you, just as Mana did for Mephistopheles.” He pushed away from the wall and gave Key a patient look. “You can leave off guard duty. When I come back, it won’t be as a thief in the night but in the light of day, to take her away from you in plain sight.”
Before Key could say a word, Eryx disappeared.
TEN
SIX HOURS LATER, AT MIDNIGHT, JORDAN TOOK OFF ON a British government plane, accompanied by a small contingent from the prime minister’s office on board to ensure she made it back to Washington without any problems.
There was a bedroom in the back of the plane, and as soon as she was able to leave her seat, she excused herself and said she wanted to get some sleep. No one questioned her, considering she’d been unable to get any rest since arriving at Number Ten. She’d answered a thousand questions, lied about where she’d been, over and over, and tried not to feel bad that police and MI5 personnel would spend so many man-hours searching for a phantom kidnapper and a place that didn’t exist. She told them the last time she saw Smelly and Stinky was in Washington, after they left her on a plane. When it landed, she was blindfolded and gagged by a man in a ski mask who never spoke, but took her in a car on a very long drive that ended in a room where she was held until she was taken by the same man to Hyde Park. Key had said to keep it simple, and she did her best.
She didn’t worry about Smelly and Stinky refuting her story. What could they say without mentioning Eryx, and how he transported Jordan off of a plane?
It was over now, and she was going home. Amazing how everything had changed in one second. All because Kristen Ahrens had recognized her.
As soon as she opened the door to the bedroom, she saw Key sitting on the end of the bed. Torn between relief and guilt that she was this glad to see him, she stepped inside the cabin and shut the door behind her. She hadn’t seen him since he’d gone back to Colorado to meet with the Mephisto. After Eryx’s visit, he’d been agitated and kept touching her, as if he was afraid she’d disappear. When Ms. Duplessis came to get her to return to the prime minister’s office, he’d looked conflicted. He needed to go back to Colorado, but he didn’t want to leave her. She had said to Ms. Duplessis, “I’m really nervous about all this. Will you stay with me?”
“Of course!” She was all smiles. “And there are two men from Diplomatic Protection right out there in the hall, and they’ll stay with you until you board a plane for the United States. Don’t be afraid, Miss Ellis. I promise you’ll be safe.”
She’d glanced at Key and silently told him to go, that she’d be fine.
He’d said, “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” before he disappeared.
And here he was, as promised, waiting for her. He stood and came toward her. “I’m putting you under a cloak so we can talk and no one will hear.”
She felt an odd chill, then looked down and saw that her hand was not quite solid, like she was pixilated. Then he was sliding his arms around her, drawing her next to him where he held her for a long time. “Are you okay?”
With her head nestled in the nook between his shoulder and collarbone, she absorbed his warmth and inhaled the scent of him. “I’m fine. Just glad to be gone and on the way home.” She tightened her arms. “Did you cancel the Red Out takedown?”
He shook his head. “They decided to go ahead with it.”
“So you’ll be leaving soon?”
“No, I’m going all the way to D.C. with you. We gain five hours, so we should arrive sometime around three a.m. As soon as you’re with your father, I’ll leave.”
“Has Phoenix dreamed up a new plan for taking out the Washington people?”
He pulled her toward the bed, and when she was sitting down, he sat next to her and leaned forward to rest his elbows against his thighs. “It went to a vote, and they all decided to wait for your birthday party.”
“You voted against that, didn’t you?”
Staring at the carpet, royal blue with little golden jets woven into a pattern, he nodded. “I think it’s too long for you to be in the real world; I don’t trust Eryx; and so many more may pledge between now and then.”
“Why did the others want it this way?”
He turned his head and met her gaze. “They think you’ll be better adjusted when you come back if you have this time with your dad and your friends. Even the Luminas, before they cross over, have a month or so to prepare for leaving the real world behind. The way you came to us was so abrupt, they think it’s only fair, since things happened the way they did, that you have the same concession as the Luminas.”
“And you don’t agree?”
He sat up and turned so he was facing her. “It’s not the same for you, Jordan. People who become Luminas don’t change until they cross over, so they’re never in the world as a Lumina. You’re well on your way to being Mephisto, and it’s going to be difficult for you to live among humans. You’ll have to continue lying about what happened to you, which is against your nature, and living alongside the lost souls and Skia without killing them will take an incredible amount of restraint. It’s our instinct to take them out, and I’d like it if you didn’t have to do this any longer than necessary.”
She still couldn’t wrap her head around the idea of wanting to kill someone. “I think I’ll be okay.”
“Maybe so, but you can’t do this alone, which is why I’m going to stay as close as possible to you, especially when you’re at school.”
Here was something else she couldn’t wrap her head around. She thought of Oates, and of the kids who went there, most of them preppy overachiever children of preppy overachiever parents. There was an emo contingent, but Key wouldn’t fit there. There were the jocks, but Key grew flowers. And there were the potheads, who were into alternative literature and deep discussions about existentialism; Key would probably give them a lecture.
“You’re thinking real hard about this, Jordan. Will it bother you if I’m at school with you?”
“No, I just think you’re going to hate it. A lot.”
“It’s only for a month. I’ll manage.”
She eyed his black leather trench coat. “You’re gonna have to get some new clothes, or everyone will think you’re a Matrix wannabe.”
“I want to be as inconspicuous as possible, so yeah, I’ll find something that doesn’t stand out.”
“No matter what you wear, you’re never going to be inconspicuous.”
“Why not?”
“You’re over six feet tall, you’re built like … well, you’re not average, that’s for sure. And you have long hair. Nobody at Oates has long hair, except Ted the janitor.”
He reached up and fiddled with his ponytail. “Nothing I can do about that, because cutting it isn’t an option. I’ve done everything Lucifer told me to do, and so far, so good. I’m sure as hell not going to be a rebel so some kids with acne won’t make fun of my hair.”
“What would happen if you didn’t do everything he told you to do?”
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it matters. Would you be sent to Hell?”
“No. Well, probably, but his trump card isn’t what happens to me.” He was so serious, staring at her. “I’ve never told anyone what he told me, and it’s become a habit. Just know that I’m never going to step out of line.”
Her curiosity went off the charts. “I won’t tell anyone else. I think I should know.”
“Why? It’s not like it has anything to do with you.”
“It has everything to do with me. Did you forget we’re supposed to be together?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“If you expect us to build something beyond friendship, you’re going to have to open up, Kyros. No secrets.”
Frownin
g, he turned so he faced the bathroom again, then fell back on the bed and stared up at the sloped ceiling. “I keep my own counsel, Jordan, and have for over a thousand years, since I became immortal.”
She stretched out next to him and rested her head in her hand. “What about before, when you were a regular guy? Did you talk about stuff with your brothers?”
“Just one brother.”
She understood then. No wonder he had looked glad to see Eryx for that nanosecond. “He was your best friend, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Nothing else. Just, yes.
Sasha was so right. Key had built a wall around himself, and it was so tall, Jordan couldn’t see the top. But she was compelled to try.
Reaching over, she traced one of the buttons on his coat with her finger. “When he died and came back as someone totally different, it must have been worse than if he’d actually died and gone away forever.”
No answer. Just a slow blink.
“What was it like on Kyanos?”
The seven-hour flight stretched before him, and he knew she’d never stop asking questions. His only hope was to talk long enough that she would become bored and go to sleep.
The Mephisto’s gift of total recall was a blessing and a curse. Some things he’d just as well not remember. Like the day Eryx killed their mitera. She who was everything to them, murdered when Denys was just ten years old, killed by her firstborn and, arguably, favorite son. Eryx had come back from the cliffs, and they all knew what had happened. His eyes were like their father’s, but darker, without a spark of life, of humanity. Their eyes changed when they became immortal, but not like Eryx’s. The eyes were windows to the soul, and his were darker than the deepest pit of Hell.
It was the worst day of Key’s life. At sixteen, he had lost his mother; and his beloved older brother, his best friend, had become his greatest enemy.