“When you fall, the cult will fall. What, do you think they’ll follow you when you’re a wisp of energy trapped in this otherworld? There’s almost nothing you can do to affect the magicals in the human world when your body goes and you get stuck here. And I’ll make sure nobody summons you when that day comes. There’s a reason the Children of Chaos live apart from the human world and why they’re holed up in these otherworlds. Or didn’t you know that?”
I kept my cool. “Of course I know that. Why else would I be seeking a vessel?”
“It’s because of people like you that it happened in the first place,” Remington said. “And when you get trapped here, without a form, I wouldn’t be surprised if Chaos tightens its belt even further. And don’t think I haven’t guessed which vessel you’ve got your eye on. You won’t get her, Katherine. Harley’s not yours to use.”
I frowned. “Of course you’d know all about this, wouldn’t you? I’m sure you got some rare morsels out of that girlfriend of yours. Well, so did I, when I tortured her and cracked open her brain and let all the goodies spill out. How else would I know what Harley can do for me? I would be stumped if it wasn’t for dear, darling Odette and that incredible mind of hers. A shame I turned it to mulch when I was done getting what I wanted and made her into a babbling moron.”
“You’d better wipe that smirk off your face, or—” Remington snarled. Funny how savage people could get when it came to the people they loved.
“Or what, Remington?” I interrupted. “There’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t bring her back. She’s cold in the ground now, and she’s staying there. And I’ve earned the right to a bit of satisfaction.” His face had turned ashen with rage, but I just laughed. “Anyway, I did what was necessary. In the end, I’d call it a kindness that I had her killed; like putting down a sick dog. She wouldn’t have wanted to carry on like that, a complete halfwit whose days were filled with rocking back and forth. I’d have been surprised if she could even remember you by then, Remington.”
Remington fought against the cultists who held him back. “Your days of congratulating yourself are numbered, Katherine. You made the mistake of using Odette and casting her aside. You should have delved deeper; you should have kept her alive. But that’s your problem, isn’t it? You’re so fixated on one goal that you don’t see the rest. There might have been a simpler solution in her mind, but you didn’t bother to look. And now you’ve got no way of finding that out. You’ll fail. You’ll fail no matter what you do.”
“Simpler solutions? Like what?” I held Nomura’s blades at the neck of another security magical. “I suggest you start talking, or this guy gets it. In fact, I’ll just keep killing people until you decide you want to say something worthy enough to get me to stop.”
I killed the security magical there and then, just to let him know I was serious. A flicker of panic crossed Remington’s face. Good. If he thought he knew more than me, then this was his opportunity to shorten my kill list.
“Just stop!” Remington shouted hoarsely. “I don’t know anything. All I know is what you’re planning—I realized it as soon as I saw those cracks on your face. I said there might have been another solution, but you killed the only person who could’ve told you.”
“Do you have a nugget for me or not? Make it a good one, or I’ll keep going.” He seemed like he was telling the truth, which bugged me, but I wanted to be sure. And the threat of murder was a surefire way to get someone to speak.
I rested the blades on the shoulders of one of the SDC’s preceptors. Lasher Ickes, I believe his name was. He was trembling like a dog, his glasses slipping right down to the bridge of his hawkish nose. He was a beanpole of a man, with stringy blond hair and weak, watery blue eyes. You must be the historian. I didn’t go in for stereotypes, but there was no denying this one.
“The Children of Chaos used to roam the earth freely before, in ancient days,” Remington said in a low voice. “Some, like Erebus, tried to rule over the Primus Anglicus, but Chaos cut in and cast the Children from Earth and into their otherworlds. Ever since, the Children’s reach into the human world has been limited, even though Chaos flows through everything. Clearly, there are still loopholes, like the Challenge you completed, and Portal Openers who can reach these otherworlds… but the universe, as it is today, is different from the early days of Chaos, because of individuals like you who ruined it for everyone else.”
“I said I wanted information that I didn’t know.” I edged the blades closer to Lasher Ickes’s neck, and he began to sob uncontrollably. I wanted to shake him by the shoulders and tell him to man the heck up, but that would have been a waste of effort, since he was about to die.
“There could have been other loopholes, but you didn’t bother to look. You wanted it to be something from the Grimoire because you’re obsessed with it,” he replied more quickly. “You’re obsessed with punishing the Merlins and the Shiptons.”
“I can force you to—” I stopped mid-sentence as a blinding pain shot through me. Light seeped through the cracks in my skin, the oily black beneath my torn-up hands transforming into a bronzed glow.
“No, you can’t.” Remington smiled. “I don’t have Odette’s memories and thoughts. I don’t know what she would’ve known. But you should’ve been wiser. Now you’re doomed to fail because you won’t be able to find Harley in time!”
I gathered myself as the pain subsided just enough to let me continue. “I’d be doing you all a favor if I killed you right now, but I’m guessing that’s what you want: fuel to stoke the fires of all those who seek to resist me. Well, you can keep your kindling to yourselves.” I forced a grin onto my face. “Instead, you’re going to show everyone how glorious it is to be in my service. Waste not, want not, right? There’ll be no death for you today. No, I’m going to turn you into my obedient servants.”
“No!” Felicity shouted, as if that was going to stop me.
“Videte nunc mihi. Servite mihi aut putrefaciunt. Tantum audi vocem meam, sed credunt mihi caros pati. Erunt, et in ministerium, et exsultate in ea tranquillitas est in te. Obedientia postulavit.”
The curse rippled out of me and settled over the group of insurgents. They fell silent, their heads dipping forward, their eyes staring dead ahead like zombies. Lovely, obedient zombies.
“Look to me.” Their eyes all turned up, bloodshot, irises glimmering purple. Perfect.
However, Remington’s words nagged at the back of my mind. Had I missed something important? Had I missed another loophole that might have taken the need for Harley out of the equation? Or had he just been bluffing to annoy me? I didn’t know, but I supposed I didn’t care, really. I’d made my choice and I was sticking to it. I’d rather enjoy the bed I’d made once I had Harley’s body.
For now, however, I had a list as long as my arm to get through. And, as Remington had so kindly pointed out, not a whole lot of time in which to get it all done. I was barely holding myself together. But, as the British would say, I had to keep calm and carry on. Chin up, back straight, socks up, and all that weird stuff Davin came out with.