The Nightmare Charade (37 page)

I shrugged. “How am I supposed to know if I don't already know?”

“Good point.” The shape-changer sniffed. “But surely he told you how we claim the body and mind of others.”

“If you mean the bit about eating hearts, then yes.”

The shape-changer tsked. “It's not as disgusting or unfathomable as you make it sound. The true shift, as it's called, prolongs our life. It's the ability that got my kindred in trouble all those years ago. I mean, what would you do if you were sick and dying of old age and had the ability to take someone's life so you could continue living?”

I suppressed a shiver of horror. “You really want me to answer that?”

“No,” he said. “What value would your opinion have? You can't judge if you've never been in the situation, now can you? You are young and healthy, full of hopes and dreams about long life. You have no idea what it will be like for you in the end. But I have been there, and suffice it to say it's a decision I have never regretted.”

“Really?” I said shooting him a look over my shoulder. “I'm so surprised that you don't regret murdering people.” We'd been traveling ever downward, but the steepness of the slope seemed to be lessening. The smell of water had been growing steadily stronger. “But what you're really saying,” I continued when my sarcastic comment failed to get a response, “is that you've stolen so many lives that you don't remember your own?”

“Oh, I remember it,” he said. “I just don't choose to wear it anymore. It's like casting aside a pair of shoes. They served you well, and now you're ready for something new. But don't fret, Dusty Everhart. I do have a current true form, and it's one you're very familiar with.”

As he spoke, I felt icy fingers slide down my back. It was a voice I recognized. The voice of someone I trusted enough to have let him into my head over and over again in the
nousdesmos.
With my heart in my throat and my stomach drawing in on itself, I stopped and slowly turned around to face the shape-changer.

Mr. Deverell's handsome face grinned back at me. For a second, I refused to believe it. This had to be another trick.

But then I felt the brush of his mind against mine, the touch of it unmistakable.

The shape-changer, the man who'd freed Marrow from his tomb, was Mr. Deverell. It had been him all along.

 

27

Will of Its Own

I couldn't stop the tears. They came of their own will. I turned around and wiped them away before he could see. His betrayal stung deep, making each breath shaky and painful. I didn't understand it—he could've kidnapped me easily before this. So why had he waited? What did he want from me? I was afraid to find out.

Fortunately, our walk continued on for several more minutes, giving me a chance to regain my composure. I buried the hurt of his betrayal as deeply as I could. I told myself there had been a real Deverell once, the man whose memories and mannerisms had created the teacher I cared about so much. That man, that first Deverell, deserved vengeance against the creature that had stolen his life.

Hatred began to build steam inside of me. It gave me focus, driving away the fear. I needed to rescue my mom and Eli, and I needed to destroy this monster behind me.

Finally, the passageway we'd been following came to an end. Deverell's ball of light flew into the room ahead of us, and once it got there, it multiplied. Soon dozens of such lights hung over our heads, revealing a vast cavernous space. The ceiling was so tall that all I could see of it were the tips of stalactites pointed down at us like clawed, accusatory fingers.

Ahead stood a circular structure some four feet tall that at first appeared to be made of stone. I would've called it a wall but the description didn't fit. It wasn't made of sharp angles, but was perfectly round in shape, a cylinder lying on its side. I blinked, trying to make sense of it. But as I drew closer to it I realized that what I had taken for stone blocks were actually carvings in the wall … of
scales
.

“The Great Ouroboros,” I said, the words involuntary in the force of my astonishment.

Deverell made a noise of approval from behind me. “Yes, very good. It took me months to find it. But I knew it was down here somewhere. All the historical documents on the Iwatoke said so. I had to find it, of course. After you killed my master.”

I snorted, unable to help myself. “Your master? What is this, a
Star Wars
movie?”

Deverell narrowed his cool blue eyes on my face. He might be a monster, but he was no less handsome than before, a scary kind of handsome. “I am proud to call the Red Warlock master. He is worthy to be served.”

“Whoa, somebody's been drinking the Marrow Kool-Aid real hard.”

To my surprise Deverell smiled. “Soon the whole world will feel as I do.” His smile widened, revealing perfectly white, straight teeth. “And those who don't will be silenced forever.”

I gulped, the idea of his brainwashing no longer funny. Not when it had such real consequences. I pulled my gaze away from him and surveyed the rest of the area. My breath hitched as I spotted a distant shoreline. Black water glistened beneath the balls of light overhead. Floating in the water was an ancient-looking boat. It wasn't the same as the barge in Eli's dreams, but close enough to set my heart to racing.

I turned back to Deverell. “Where's my mom? Where's Eli?” I kept glancing at the boat, fearing his answer would involve a trip down that black river.

To my relief Deverell turned toward the Great Ouroboros and pointed. “In there, along with the Red Warlock.”

I turned my gaze to the dragon statue again, wondering what horrors awaited me inside.

“Go on,” Deverell prodded. “I'll help you climb over.”

Dread began to beat a steady tattoo against my skull. True to its mythology, the Great Ouroboros was a singular object, with no beginning or end. There was no secret door through it, no passageway beneath it. The only way inside was to climb over, it seemed.

As Deverell had guessed, I needed help. It was too tall for me to jump and the top too high and round for me to hoist myself up. If only I'd been born a siren like Selene. Then it would've been easy.

For a moment, after Deverell helped me up and over it, I was alone. It would've been the perfect time to prepare an attack—if I'd had access to my magic, and if I hadn't been completely shocked by the scene inside the large stone ring.

There were five low stone altars—one in the middle with the others set around it like the four points of a compass. A body lay on top of each one. On the center stone, which sat higher than the others, was Marrow. I recognized him easily—his face the same as it had ever been, the only difference the longer, unkempt beard. He was lying on his back, his eyes closed and his arms crossed over his chest. The Death's Heart had been placed between his hands. It gave off a faint red glow that pulsated like a real heart. Sitting on the wall directly across from the altar was the black phoenix. Its red eyes were fixed on me, but it made no move to attack.

With terror twisting in my gut, I pulled my eyes away to look at the other altars. My spirits lifted as I saw Eli on the nearest one. He appeared to be asleep, but otherwise okay. Not at all like my mother lying on the next one. She was noticeably thinner and sickly pale. I rushed over to her. Dark bruises rimmed her cheekbones and the blue-black lines of veins were visible in her forehead.

I put my hand on her bare arm and flinched at the iciness of her skin. “Mom!” I shook her.

“Don't waste the effort,” Deverell said, walking over to me. “She will not wake up so long as she is under the spell of the Death's Heart.”

I glared up at him, tears hot in my eyes. “Take it off.” It was a stupid demand, but desperation clouded my reason.

“All in good time,” Deverell said. “And assuming you do your part.”

I dropped my gaze back to my mother. If I only knew how to break the spell myself. I tried to reach out to Bellanax with my mind, but it was hopeless without my magic. Somehow I needed to break free of Deverell's spell and get the sword back.

With despair pressing down on me, I turned away from my mother. My eyes fell on the next altar, the one directly above Marrow. For a moment, I had no idea who was lying there, but then slowly I realized it was Bethany Grey.

She was utterly changed. The woman I'd known before had been large and strong, with mounds of extra flesh on her body, the kind of woman who would've looked at home in a powerlifting contest. But now, Bethany Grey had been reduced to a shell of a person. There was still extra flesh, but it hung off her bones in loose folds, as if all the muscle and fat beneath had been sucked out. Wrinkles covered her ashen skin in a thousand spiderweb cracks. Like the vision of my dead body in Eli's dream, her eyes were sunken into her head, her face skeletal.

I covered my mouth against my revolting stomach.

Seeing my alarm, Deverell turned his attention to Bethany. He let out a long, low sigh. “It's tragic, isn't it? She was once such a fearsome creature.”

“You're disgusting. You did this to her.” Bethany Grey had been a horrible person, who'd done horrible things, but she didn't deserve this. No one did. This was the very worst suffering I'd ever seen anyone endure. She'd been wasted away to nothing by the Death's Heart.

“Wrong,” Deverell said, placing his hands on his hips. “Bethany did this to herself. Oh, I put the spell on her, to be sure, but she earned her place. In fact, when I helped her escape the Rush, she surrendered to the Death's Heart's magic willingly. She failed the Red Warlock. You and your mother should never have been able to defeat him. Bethany understood she was the weak link. She failed him in life, but has repaid him in her death. She has made the ultimate sacrifice to our master.”

“That's sick.” I pointed at Marrow. “He's already lived dozens of lives. He didn't even deserve the first one.”

“You're wrong. He deserves all we have to give him.”

I shook my head. “So is that why you killed Titus? Did he fail Marrow in some way?”

“Not exactly. Titus's sin was that he presumed himself to be as great as Marrow. I couldn't allow him to continue.” Deverell turned and motioned to the fourth altar. “But like Bethany, Paul was also there when you defeated my master. He, too, owes a death, but he is so young still. I decided to give him a second chance, but sadly he failed once more.”

My head buzzed with alarm, and I jerked my gaze toward the last altar. Paul was lying there in the same unconscious pose as the others. I hurried over to him, afraid that he wouldn't be far behind Bethany. But when my eyes fell on him fully, I saw that he was hardly more drained than Eli.

“How long has he been like this?” I turned to Deverell.

He thought about it a moment, doing a mental calculation. “Six days. He's been working for me all along, you know. From the moment he first revealed himself to you in the infirmary. I needed your help, you see. Or more specifically, what you call the Dream Team's help. I'd been trying to take out Corvus for months now. I've been able to stay ahead of him, but he was closing in. I couldn't risk going to his house on my own. If he'd discovered me, I would've had to find a new disguise, and that takes planning and more time than I could afford. But the investigation you launched against him proved the perfect cover.”

I felt the color leach from my face. Paul had been involved in all the evidence we discovered. He'd hacked Valentine's files. He could have altered the contents before handing them over. It was Paul's idea for us to go to Corvus's house. It was Paul who gave me the shape-change necklace and insisted only I could go to Corvus's house with him.

But no, I refused to just take this man's word on it. Deverell was a master of deception. “Why would Paul have helped you? He turned his back on Marrow after he learned that Titus was one of his supporters.”

“Did he now?” Deverell arched a single eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

I wanted to rip the mocking expression from his face.

“The thing about Paul,” Deverell said, crossing his arms over his chest, “is that he craves freedom and acceptance above all else. These are the two things his uncle denied him for so long. But Paul is not stupid. He knows that given his history the only way he will ever be free is when Marrow is in control. The Magi Senate will never trust him enough to leave him unattended. He found that out quite well in the months after Marrow's defeat.”

The room seemed to spin around me. I remembered how sincere Paul had been when he told me he would do anything to avoid being imprisoned once more. At the time, I'd thought he meant that he was on the straight and narrow path. Except with his Will Guard monitors and the need for the shape-change necklace, he was more a prisoner than ever.

The realization turned my blood to ice water. “If Paul is working for you, then why is he like this?” I motioned to his unconscious body, tears threatening again, angry ones this time.

“He had a last minute change of heart,” Deverell said. “He started questioning me at every turn, doubting my decisions. I knew it was only a matter of time before he weakened. It all started when he and I brought your mother down here. I think it was because the two of you look so much alike.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Deverell rolled his eyes. “As if you don't know. Paul is in love with you. You might be the one thing he wants almost as much as his freedom and autonomy. Of course, again, he's not stupid. He knows you don't love him in return, but feelings like that are a sort of sickness. The heart has a way of corrupting the mind. I knew it was just a matter of time before he was tempted to tell you the truth, so I took the option away from him.”

I gritted my teeth. “So now you are the one denying him his freedom.”