“I’m dying, Saphera.”
“I’m aware. Ransom called, and my work told me.”
“Your work?” He sounded surprised.
“Yes. They’ve kept tabs on you since I joined the department. A consequence of being the daughter of a cop killer.”
“I’m sorry if I’ve made your life difficult.”
“No, you’re not. I thought they were treating you.”
“They tried, but the disease won’t respond. I’m afraid my body already looks like a corpse.”
I’d heard he had some form of flesh-eating disease.
To anyone else, I might have said, “I’m sorry.” To Elias, I asked, “What do you want?”
“I haven’t been strong enough to detach on my own in quite some time. I’m using extreme measures to accomplish it now because it’s imperative that I speak with you and your brother.”
“Well, Ransom is about five minutes that way.” I pointed behind my car. “Go talk to him.”
“I plan to, but this directly affects you as well. Have you found the hypnox yet?”
I gritted my teeth. “I knew this whole thing reeked of you.”
“You also know those three humans were killed by a nightwalker tonight.”
“Elias, what did you do?”
“Nothing. When I got to the fire, you were already there.”
“You sure you didn’t cause that explosion? Because hypnox, fire, and dead people all sound a hell of a lot like you.”
“Saphera—”
“Did you start it?”
“I did not.”
“Then who did?”
“It might have been Orion, but there hasn’t been time for me to find him to ask.”
“Who’s Orion?”
“Someone I hope will help you when I’m gone. He left a letter in my cell stating he found a woman, Norina Grumley, detached inside the Boundary in Seneca Park. He confirmed she’d used hypnox. She didn’t die, nor was her body breached, because he returned her spirit in time.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
He looked away. “Hypnox grows in Earth’s fertile soil when magical blood is spilled within the Boundary.”
“So this is your fault.”
Guilt flashed across Teek’s face. “I fear it was my blood that created this danger.”
I faced ahead. “I knew it.” Gripping the steering wheel, my knuckles turned white.
“I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t answer my calls or my letters.”
My eyes darted toward the mirror. “Warn me about what?”
“The necrosis began when I was attacked inside the Boundary. I was stabbed in the back with a shadow blade. It was a miracle I didn’t die then, but it’s clear now I won’t survive it.”
“So what is this? Some kind of deathbed confession?”
“No. I’m here to impress upon you the danger the whole world now faces.”
“The whole world,” I repeated with an eye roll so hard it hurt my head.
“Yes. The nightwalkers know there’s vulnerability here. One was killed in the fire tonight. And I have plans to kill another.”
“Nightwalkers,” I muttered.
He leaned toward my seat. “You may not believe me, but soon, I promise you’ll know the nightmares are real.”
If he was to be believed, Elias was a primordial scion, the direct descendant of the Goddess of Night, Nyx. Hence our unusual—and, it should be noted, legally fabricated—last name.
He said our bloodline was meant to protect the Boundary, the space between dreams and reality where nightmares were tangible, bloodsucking monsters called nightwalkers.
Elias had probably told me other things too, but I was just a kid when his wild stories were part of my life. To my young ears, the horror of nightwalkers had overshadowed anything else.
Now, despite my grown-up disbelief, goose bumps still rippled my skin.
“I’m no longer strong enough to fight this war. When I’m gone, you will have to—”
“I will have nothing to do with it,” I snapped.
Frustrated, he huffed. “Fine. Your brother will be thrown into this war soon. He’ll need your help. You must promise me you’ll take care of him.”
“I must do nothing for you. Ransom is a grown man, fully capable of looking out for himself.”
Elias snorted.
“Well, Ransom is a grown man, anyway. And he knows a hell of a lot more about your shit than I do.”
“That was your choice.”
“I’m sorry, did I give the impression I was upset about it? I can’t wait until all this is no longer part of my life.”
“You can’t wait for me to die.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Watching him in the rearview mirror, I saw him look out the window. “Soon, I won’t be around to bother you ever again.”
Somehow, I doubted that. Elias Nyx seemed to own permanent real estate in my mind. I wasn’t even sure that his death would free me of him completely. As if to illustrate the certainty, my heart gave an unwelcome tug.
I shifted uneasily in my seat, gripping the steering wheel with both hands. “You think it will be fast?”
“I will be dead by morning.”
My heartstrings danced, despite how desperately I wished not to care.
“Listen, please,” he begged. “For Ransom and Amelia.”
I swore under my breath. Elias knew there wasn’t much I wouldn’t do for my brother. Even less that I wouldn’t do for my niece, Milly. “Fine. How am I supposed to help him?”
“First, don’t forget the basics. Never detach at night.”
“It’s nighttime right now,” I reminded him.
I expected him to launch into a “do as I say, not as I do” speech, but he didn’t. “I am well aware. May I continue?”
I shut my mouth.
“The detached must assimilate, rejoin the body, before sundown. Those two things are absolutely essential.”
“Right. So essential you would choose to ignore them yourself.”
“Saphera, please!”
I flinched, but I shut my mouth.
“Any vacant body, including my own, is an open door to the dangers of the Boundary. I’m aware of that risk, which is why I would hope you might take me seriously.” He took a deep breath and calmly continued. “Finally, remind Ransom to keep his mouth shut.”
I smirked. “Are you afraid people will think he’s crazy? That they won’t believe him?”
“No. I’m afraid they will.” For the first time I could ever remember, fear filled Elias’s voice. “In the wrong hands, this gift—”
“You mean this curse.”
His tone of concern shifted to annoyance. “It can be very dangerous.”
“I know. Maximum security kind of dangerous.”
In the rearview mirror, I saw him hang his head. “Saphera, I won’t ask you to ever forgive me. God knows I’ll never forgive myself. But for Ransom’s sake—for your sake—please don’t let your hatred for me dismiss the very real threat of this power. Every day is a battle, a constant choice between good and evil.”