I didn’t deny it because he was right. I wanted a guarantee that I wasn’t making a choice between Death’s life and his soul.
“And if you had to, which would you choose?”
I didn’t have to think about it. I already knew. “I’ll fight to save his life, but in the end I’ll choose to save his soul.”
“Even though you know your own death is inevitable with that path, but you might survive the other? That both of you might survive?”
I’d answered that question already. There was nothing more I could say. I wanted to think I wouldn’t damn Death’s soul to save myself, but nothing I said now would prove that I’d sacrifice myself.
Even if there is a chance we could still be together if I returned his essence?
I wrapped my arms across my chest, hugging myself. It was a deceitful thought, and a selfish one. I was going to lose Death, one way or another. If I convinced the mender to release him from his ultimatum, then once I returned Death’s essence, he would be a soul collector again—our relationship forbidden. And if the mender didn’t agree…then I’d fight the rider, but I wouldn’t condemn Death to eternity as a soul collector.
The mender watched me for several moments before nodding. “You may deny the names of your emotions, but nothing is wrong with that heart I put back in your chest. I will offer my oath on the condition that you promise me a boon. He has broken many of our covenants. Do you feel the weight of debt you will incur if I grant your request that I reverse my decision?”
The possibility of debt opened between us. The enormity of it crushed the air out of my lungs, threatening to smother my newly repaired heart—and the debt hadn’t even solidified yet. I gasped, trying to catch my breath. What could I possibly do for a being as powerful as the mender to pay off such a level of debt?
He took my hand, patting kindly. “Actions have consequences, and you’ve asked to take the cost of his consequences on yourself.”
And by actions, the mender meant Death saving my life. If he’d been willing to pay such a price for me, I could do the same for him.
I nodded, rolling my shoulders back as I accepted the weight of that debt. “I promise a boon in exchange for the freedom of his soul.”
“My oath then. If you both survive, he will be stripped of his ability to switch life essence but only until the time he is ready for his own soul to move on.”
I measured his words. “And if only one of us survives?”
“Then one way or another, it will no longer be an issue, will it?”
No, I guess not.
I was still adjusting to the debt weighing down on me when he lifted a hand and the raver joined us.
“Good luck, child. You’ll need it,” he said. Then the appearance of an elder was gone, and with a younger, much less comforting face, he said, “I’ll see you again.”
Chapter 40
An hour later I was whole and back at Tongues for the Dead. And at a complete loss of how to proceed. I could feel Death, could close my eyes and point in the direction he was because my soul craved its essence, which he carried in his body.
But even though I could find Death, I’d never get close enough to him to return his essence without the rider either making another attempt at killing me, or worse, harming Death’s body. We might be able to get close enough to douse him in the sleep tonic Rianna had created, but again, that took someone getting close.
The rider definitely knew me on sight. Rianna too. He hadn’t seen Holly or Caleb, but they’d still have to get close to splash the potion on him. We needed a delivery method like Briar’s foam bolts. Or Briar herself.
But asking her for help didn’t seem like my best option. After all, she’d cut me out completely with Martin, and her decision to go public had caused the rider to dump the body. I couldn’t let that happen with Death.
We also had to figure out what to do with the rider after I ejected it from Death. If I could get the rider into a circle it wouldn’t be able to jump into any more bodies, but could I go one-on-one with the thing? It had ripped into my soul the first time we fought. The second time I’d managed to siphon some of its energy, but I doubted I could drain it faster than it could tear me to pieces.
“I might be able to help drain it,” Rianna said from one of the armchairs in the lobby.
Holly and Caleb sat in the love seat, which left one chair for me, but I couldn’t stay still. The rider wasn’t only feeding on Death, he was sucking on my life essence, and I could feel the drain.
I shook my head at Rianna. “You can’t make Roy manifest, so you probably can’t drain the rider. Besides, if you were in the circle with me, you’d be a mortal body for it to jump into and I don’t know how we’d get it back out.”
Rianna frowned and Holly sat forward.
“Alex, that artifact the witch used when she was trying to merge the planes, do you still have it?”
“What’s she talking about?” Rianna asked.
Rianna knew about Edana and her reaper, but I didn’t talk about the artifact. It had been a set of panpipes when Edana had it, but once I’d picked it up, it had turned into a ring. As it was an artifact tied to the soul collectors and planeweaving, I hadn’t turned it over to the police but slipped it on my finger until we left the scene.
“It’s at the house, in my magic dampening box,” I said once I explained what the artifact did.
Rianna’s eyes brightened. “If it let the witch interact with collectors, it might let me interact with ghosts.”
“She was fueling it with souls. The artifact is bad news.”
“No, she was fueling her mega ritual with souls,” Rianna said. “She was clearly interacting at least partially with other planes with the artifact alone. I could at least try it, see if I can figure it out.”
I frowned. Working with magic you didn’t understand was always bad. Working with relics you didn’t understand? Worse.
“Just let me try.”
“It’s dangerous.”
Rianna huffed. “And walking into a fight you have no chance of winning isn’t?”
I had some chance, slim though it might be.
“It’s a shame you can’t shove the rider in a magic dampening box like you can an artifact,” Holly said, leaning forward to balance her elbows on her knees so she could prop her head in her hands.
“Yeah.” I stopped. “Wait. Can we?” I looked at Caleb. “You can build wards that can block grave essence and spirits. Could you put a ward like that on something as small as a box? A ward that would activate as soon as the lid closed and trap the rider inside?”
Caleb’s fingers twitched, as if he were working out the spells in his head. Slowly he nodded. “I think I know what would work, but how would you get the creature into the box?”
That was a problem.
We’d need some sort of spirit trap. Or a spell that could suck it inside. My hand moved to the shoulder where I’d once been infected with a soul sucking spell, and my thumb caught the thin chain of my necklace. I glanced at it and the thin glyph on the back that still showed specks of my blood.
Glyphs had been used in the soul sucking spell. And when I’d had them translated, one had been for a trap…
I looked at Rianna. “Do you know the glyphs Coleman used to trap souls in the body of his victims so his spell could consume them? Could some of those glyphs be modified to trap something from the land of the dead?”
She buried her hand in Desmond’s coat, which broadcast how uncomfortable the idea made her, but after a moment, she nodded. “I know a combination, but Al, I can’t activate the glyphs.”
I gripped my father’s charm. “I can.”
Or, at least, I hoped I could. It would take blood magic, but if my fae blood could save Death and stop the rider, it would be worth it.
“Okay, so Rianna, will you work with Caleb and carve the glyphs into the box so all I have to do is trace them?” I asked and they looked at each other before nodding.
“The box will have to be something sturdy,” Caleb said. “Something that once closed can be locked.”
Definitely.
“I still want to check out that artifact.” Rianna held up a hand. “You’re planning on walking in with an untested spelled box and glyphs you don’t understand. Don’t lecture me on using unknown magics. If I can’t interact with your pet ghost, I’ll give up on the idea.”
“Hey, I heard that,” Roy said, sticking his head through his office door. Not that Rianna could hear him—she wasn’t in touch with the grave.
Rianna and I stared at each other, neither blinking. Desmond looked between us and then walked across the room to sit beside my legs, clearly falling on the side against Rianna doing anything stupid. Holly and Caleb sat in silence, waiting for us to work it out ourselves.
“At least you’d have an ally in there,” Rianna said without looking away.
“It’s too risky.”
“You take risks for your friends. Let someone else take a risk for you.”
My eyes burned from not blinking. Finally I looked away. “Fine. But if it doesn’t work the way you think, you’ll stay outside the circle, right?”
She gave me a curt nod and Desmond growled his dissatisfaction.
“What about me?” Holly asked. “What can I do?”
“For now, will you give me a ride to the house to retrieve the ring. But when we go after this thing, will you maintain a circle?” Because if I went down or it infected Rianna, we needed a strong witch to hold the circle.
“And me?” Roy asked, sticking his head through his office door again.
The trap box was the best idea we’d hit on, but using it required me being alive. Which meant I had to survive regaining my mortality first. If I didn’t, a plan B, one that was actually planned for once, was a good idea.
“Those insatiable ghosts, would they be able to feed on the rider?”