Poison Fruit

“We’ll retreat if we have to.” It was Dawn Evans who spoke—Dawn Evans, who I realized had been driving the behemoth. She lifted her chin as I shifted my stare to her. “Ah told you ah drive a mean Humvee.”

I shook my head in dismay. “I don’t understand. Why?”

Dawn exchanged a glance with her husband, Scott, who had a hunting rifle slung over his shoulder. “What your mom said about bearing witness? She’s right,” he said simply. “And at least there’s two of us here know what we’re doing when it comes to a war zone.” Lurine gave him a significant look and he flushed. “Or, um, three, I guess.”

“Daisy, I have a feeling it’s important,” Sinclair said soberly to me. “I don’t know how or why, but you need us here.”

I turned around and walked away. My co-commanders Stefan and Cody—the latter back in human form—fell in beside me.

“It’s your call, Daise,” Cody said. “But if it were up to me, I’d send them away.”

“I heard that!” Stacey shouted behind us. “You can’t send us away. This is my family’s property!”

Ignoring her, I walked farther down the path to the basin until I could see Yggdrasil II’s immense trunk looming through the trees. El Arbol, the Tree.

“Do you think the young sorcerer may be right?” Stefan asked me in a quiet voice. “That their presence serves a purpose?”

I gazed at Yggdrasil II. “I don’t know. But down in Little Niflheim, the dead have gathered to bear witness. Maybe it’s fitting that the living should bear witness above. Especially if . . .” I glanced at Cody. “Did you catch that whole possible-unraveling-of-existence bit last night?”

“Yeah.” He blew out his breath. “We understand things differently as wolves, but I understood it, all right.”

I came to a decision and returned to the campsite to address my friends and family. “There’s something you should know—” I began.

A snowdrop fairy burst into our midst, hovering on quivering wings, her head crowned with delicate, drooping white petals. “The invading goddess approaches!” she shrilled, pointing toward the north, just as we’d expected. “Half a league yonder! Her forces come in haste bearing cold iron!” The fairy shuddered with profound distaste. “Many vehicles and many men!”

Shit.

Cody and his relatives were already stripping in preparation to shift and take to the wooded dunes where they had their weapons cached. Belatedly, I hoped they’d remembered to cache spare clothes, too.

“Daisy!” Cooper called to me, straddling his dirt bike. “If you’re going to get into position to meet Persephone, we’ve got to move now!”

“Never mind,” I said to everyone. “I don’t have time to explain. Stefan will do it if he can. Just know . . .” My voice caught in my throat. “Just know I love you all a lot, okay?” In that moment, I didn’t even care that I’d included Stacey Brooks in my declaration.

“Daisy—” Mom began.

I shook my head at her. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.”

Stopping briefly at the cozy nest Mrs. Browne had made me, I snatched the pillowcase I’d brought from home and shoved it in the pocket of my black leather jacket, then climbed onto the back of Cooper’s bike.

We roared around the rim of the massive basin, fishtailing in the loose sand. It would have been a spectacular view if I hadn’t been in a state of near shock. The lean forms of wolves streamed ahead of us, vanishing into the trees.

I was on my way to beg a demented Greek goddess for mercy, try to avert a war, and possibly the end of the entirety of existence.

And I was scared out of my fucking wits.

      Fifty-three

Cooper dropped me off on the far side of the rim. In the vastness of that space, he and his bike looked small as he made his way back to camp. Across the basin, our forces looked insubstantial as they spread out along the crest. Even the hellhound Garm didn’t look that big from this vantage point.

Hell, everything looked small in the shadow of Yggdrasil II, standing as tall as a skyscraper. It seemed impossible that anything could possibly threaten it with serious harm.

Then again, a lot of people had felt that way about the World Trade Center. I shivered in the dank March chill, feeling very small and very alone.

I didn’t feel alone for long or chilled, for that matter. A gust of warm wind carrying all the lush green and rich golden promise of summer with it announced Persephone’s arrival. It soon mingled with the stink of diesel fumes as a long line of armored SUVs emerged from the crude access road that cut across Hel’s territory. The snowdrop fairy hadn’t been kidding. There were a lot of them.

I turned my back on the basin and Yggdrasil, facing the vehicles and raising my pillowcase over my head, holding it taut with both hands.

And yes, I felt pretty damn stupid doing it.

The SUVs fanned out and halted, disgorging dozens and dozens of men in high-tech black body armor, helmets and face masks rendering them anonymous. As one of them opened the passenger door of the lead vehicle and assisted Persephone out of it, the clouds parted overhead, sunlight spilling over the dunes.

Somewhere in the basin below, Garm let loose an uneasy howl.

“My lady Persephone!” I shouted, my arms trembling. “I’m here under a flag of truce. Can we talk?”