Return of the Hunters (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 4) (23 page)

Then I opened my eyes in Congo Square.

C
HAPTER 41

I
was flat on my back, staring up at a ring of concerned faces. When I blinked and stirred, Zoba grabbed me and hauled me off the ground in a crushing embrace.

And I mean crushing.

“Okay,” I wheezed. “Hooray, I’m alive. Gonna need my ribs to stay that way.”

The pressure eased. Zoba clapped my shoulder and grinned wide enough to show every one of his pointed teeth.

“Yeah. Me too, buddy.” I was getting a lot better at reading him. “So, what happened?” I said. “I mean, I know what happened to
me
, but what happened here?”

Reun had to reel his jaw back in before he spoke. “You collapsed,” he said. “The portal closed, and then you…faded. But not completely.”

“You went ghost on us,” Bastien put in. “Look like you died right there, and yo’ spirit kinda hung around. Only that was dead, too.”

Denei smirked. “We tryin’ to wake you up, and you jes’ plumped right back out and came around.”

“So you not a ghost now?” Isalie said carefully.

“Nope. Not a ghost.” I offered a tired smile. “I was in the Mists,” I said. “Turns out, the Mists are Kelwyyn—or he’s the Mists, or something. He wasn’t sure.”

“Who in the hell’s Kelwyyn?” Denei said.

“The DeathSpeaker.” Reun’s eyes widened. “At least he was, before Gideon.”

“Yeah, and he’s not as dead as everyone thought,” I said. “He’s stuck in the Mists. That’s why I was headed for them in Arcadia. He was calling me.”

Reun frowned. “Why?”

“He had something important to tell me.” I really didn’t want to get into the great gathering evil, the destruction of Creation, or the killing Word just yet. “I’ll try to explain it all later,” I said. “Right now…I think there’s one more thing we have to do here.”

Denei went stiff as a board. “You tellin’ me we
still
ain’t rid of that monster?”

“No, he’s gone for good.” I tried to smile. What I had in mind was a kind of bittersweet victory, but I felt like it needed to be done—here, while we were still close. “You guys never got to say goodbye to Rex and Senobia,” I said. “I can bring them out here so you can.”

“You…” Tears sprang to her eyes. “You mean, we can talk to them?”

I nodded. “And they can talk to you. I just need something to glamour.”

“What do you mean, glamour?” Reun stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Only you can speak with the dead.”

I was confused, until I remembered that Reun hadn’t seen the whole projection thing yet. I’d done it a few times in Arcadia, but Reun was imprisoned in the Unseelie Palace most of that time. “It’s easier to show than tell, here,” I said, looking around for something I could use. Then I spotted the two baskets they’d stored the spell ingredients in. “Those’ll work.”

The rest of them followed me as I placed the baskets side by side. The moon was still up, and I was starting to get my spark back, but I could do this without burning through magic. It was a lot easier when the dead were willing to participate, and I knew they would be. “All right,” I said. “Senobia, Rex…you guys are still around, right?”

Senobia spoke first, in a puzzled tone.
Yeah, cher. You need somethin’ else?

Ain’t we won yet?
Rex joined in, almost laughing.

“Yeah, we won,” I said. “Thanks to you two.”

Hey, we was jes’ talkin’
, Senobia said.
Y’all done all the work. Can you tell our kin thank you from us, and we love ’em?

This time I managed a genuine smile. “How about you tell them yourself?”

The silence was heavy.
How we gonna do that?
Rex said.

“I can project you out here, and they’ll be able to see you and hear you. And vice versa.”

You shittin’ us
. That was Senobia.

“Not at all.”

Well, let’s do it!

“Okay. Bear with me, because I’ve never done two at a time,” I said.

It was even easier than I thought. They both came willingly, and they were only in my head for a few seconds. One slight push and they practically flew out. The baskets in front of me appeared to stretch and fade at the same time.

And there they stood.

“My babies,” Denei whispered roughly behind me. “Dear Lord…”

“
Hot damn. We really can see them, cain’t we?
” The ghost of Rex grinned. “
And y’all can hear us, too?
”

“Yes. We hear you, honey.” With a hitching breath, Denei stumbled toward them, and the others were close behind. “You free now,” she said shakily. “We all free. But I cain’t believe you’re gone from me…”

“
We ain’t goin’ nowhere jes’ yet.
” Senobia’s voice shook just as hard as her sister’s. “
Don’t you worry. Me and Rex, we always gonna be wit’ you. All of you.
”

Zoba’s hands shook as he tried to reach for them. The motion passed right through, and he shuddered hard. He made a terrible, desolate sound.

Senobia smiled at him. “
It never was your fault, Papa Bear
,” she said. “
You done gave everything to free us, and now we are. He cain’t never touch us again.
”

“
Ain’t all bad, bein’ dead,
” Rex said. “
Now we get to go wherever we want, and y’all cain’t tell us what to do no more.
”

A few faint sobs rolled around between them. Then the four living Duchenes and the two dead ones came together in a tight embrace.

I’d give them all the time they wanted.

“Incredible,” Reun said softly. “I’d no idea you could do that.”

“Me neither, until Nyantha told me about it.”

He raised an eyebrow. “The Sluagh witch of the wood?”

“Uh, yeah. Her.” I didn’t know she had such a reputation.

“Well, however you’ve managed this…it is miraculous.” Reun bowed his head. “
Is féider leis an éirí an bother leat.
”

“May the road rise to meet you,” I echoed.

I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last I heard from Rex and Senobia. And for once, it was a good feeling.

C
HAPTER 42

T
he train station was the last place any of us wanted to be. The prospect of two days on a train, after everything we’d been through, felt like a sentence we had to serve. But unless someone could pull a few thousand dollars out of their ass for plane tickets, or we all suddenly learned to fly, we’d have to get on the goddamned train.

I was glad I’d been able to bring the Duchenes together, but now I was truly exhausted. We’d grabbed some bad pizza from a twenty-four-hour place in the station. No one had much of an appetite—it was purely a defensive move against starving to death.

And now we had a few hours before the train left. The round-trip tickets they bought were actually scheduled for a return trip later this evening, but one of the clerks took pity on us and transferred the tickets to a train departing at 4:45. It was 2:30 in the morning now, and the waiting room was nearly deserted. Just the six of us, one older man watching the news on the overhead televisions, and a younger couple watching something on an iPad.

Zoba sat on a bench by the window that looked out over the tracks. Reun and Denei had taken side-by-side chairs and held hands without speaking, and both Isalie and Bastien were fast asleep sitting up.

I couldn’t quite get there. The metal mesh chairs weren’t the most comfortable seats in the world. I’d just stood to go in search of a cup of coffee, to keep me going until the train arrived, when a breathless voice behind me called, “Gideon! What the
hell
are you doing in New Orleans?”

The voice was extremely familiar, but my brain refused to believe it. Even when I turned around and saw her. Both of them.

All three of them.

“Sadie?” I finally blurted.

That got everyone’s attention in a hurry.

Sadie and Taeral stood at the far end of the waiting area, looking like they’d just gotten hit by the train we were waiting for. And Daoin was with them.

Taeral started toward me first, with the other two close behind. I was way too stunned to meet him halfway, or even move. “How did you find us?” I managed.

He froze. “What do you mean,
us?
” he said, looking around slowly. The shock on his face when he spotted the rest of them was almost comical. “Reun? Denei?” he sputtered. “What in the worlds…
Zoba?
”

“Yeah.” I could sense an impending explosion, and I really didn’t want it to happen in the middle of a train station. “How about we all go outside and figure this out, okay?”

“Fine.” But instead of turning around, Taeral walked briskly over and grabbed me. I couldn’t do anything but hug him back. “Do not ever disappear on me again, brother,” he said in rough tones. “You’ve frightened the life out of me. If anything had happened to you…”

My eyes stung a little. “Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ve had more than enough adventure for the rest of my life.”

The nine of us gathered under the railroad bridge by the boarding platform, where no one but the woods could see us. “Okay,” I said. “So…who gets to start?”

No one volunteered.

After a minute, Daoin cleared his throat. “Well, I returned from Arcadia to find neither of my sons where I’d left them,” he said. “Your golem friend, Grygg, informed me that Taeral had gone to the mountains, and that he’d no idea where you were. So I tracked Taeral—who also had no idea where you could be. And together we tracked you here.”

“Oh.” That explained how they’d all gotten here. Daoin could teleport—or something. I wasn’t quite sure what that particular power was. But he could move instantly from place to place over long distances, and he could take quite a few people with him. He must have zapped himself to Pennsylvania, found Taeral and Sadie, then zapped them all here. “Sorry about that,” I finally said.

“
Sorry?
That’s all you’ve got?” Sadie had vacillated between happy to see me and ready to kill me at least four times already. Apparently it was ‘ready to kill me’ time again. “You’d better start talking,” she said. “One of you guys, anyway. What happened?”

Denei started to say something, but I held her off with a gesture. Taeral would be less furious if I told them—if she did, he might actually try to kill her. And Sadie just wanted answers. “Remember that guy you told me not to go after?” I said.

Sadie looked lost. But Taeral got it right away. “Legba,” he spat. “Tell me you did not attempt to fight that monster. If you’ve angered him, he’ll not cease in his pursuit of vengeance. He
will
destroy you.” He turned a furious expression on Denei. “
You
brought him into this, Duchene,” he seethed.

“Taeral, it’s over,” I said as calmly as I could. “He’s gone.”

“Do you not understand? He will return!”

“Not from the Mists.”

His anger melted into sheer astonishment. “The Mists?” he said slowly. “Of Arcadia?”

“Yeah. Those Mists.” I let out a long breath. “Look, there isn’t enough time in the world to tell you the whole story,” I said. “But I promise, when we get home and I’m less than half dead on my feet, I’ll give you the highlights. Okay?”