Page 40 of Endless Terrors
“I’ve worked around the clock to get better,” Savannah said, probably mistaking my silence for refusal. “Why do you think I accepted the Tongue’s offer to be his apprentice? He comes from a long line of fae who magically served the Unseelie King. He has centuries of knowledge that Mercy and other witches don’t. He’s been teaching me how to control my power. Last week, I raised a zombie and put it back to rest in less than a minute. I can even show you, if you want.”
There was a tinge of pride in how she said this. I forced myself to meet Savannah’s gaze. She really had changed—the Savannah I’d known was afraid and ashamed. Not this clear-eyed, quietly determined creature. I hadn’t met a lot of people who faced the fears inside them. Most were content to stay frightened.
“I’m glad you’re learning,” I said. “That you’re getting better.”
It wasn’t an answer, and we both knew it. Savannah’s eyes filled with pleading, but there was defiance in them, too. “He’s my son, Fortuna.”
“I know.” I looked at her steadily. I didn’t say anything else, because I still wasn’t sure what to say. Something had shifted, though—for the first time since Fred’s death, the tiny flame of hatred in my heart was snuffed out.
Unaware of my thoughts, Savannah turned back to Damon, and I watched her lips press together.
“It was a soul removing spell, by the way,” she said softly, touching his hand through the covers. “What the Dark Prince’s witches did. Damon is still connected to his body, but barely. The threads are weakening. They can’t hold him here forever.”
Emma had warned me Damon’s state was temporary, but hearing confirmation from Savannah only increased the agitation constantly simmering in my stomach. Then I replayed her words, and my mind latched onto them. Still connected. “Wait, if his soul is still here, does that mean he can hear us?”
Savannah shook her head. “I don’t know.”
As quickly as it had come, the hope dimmed. I couldn’t help noticing them again, all those cruel changes in my brother’s appearance. It hadn’t even been two days. Maybe there had been more to Lucifer’s three-day deadline than he’d let on.
“Why Damon?” I asked. My voice was hollow now. “Why did he choose Damon to take, of all the people who mean something to me?”
Savannah smoothed his hair back. The tenderness in the gesture startled me. I kept forgetting, somehow, that she loved my brother, too. “No matter how much you care about the rest of us, he’s the last of your family. Blood will always call to blood,” Savannah said.
“And there’s power in blood,” I murmured, thinking of all the rituals and spells I’d witnessed.
She made an absent sound of agreement. “That’s how the Tongue does most of his spells.”
All at once, it felt like a flare went off inside me. My gaze slowly rose back to Savannah’s. “I have an idea, and I want to know if it’s possible,” I said.
Urgent, nearly breathless, I outlined what I’d read in Goody Baldwin’s journal.
Savannah was already shaking her head by the time I finished. “You can’t go to Hell, Fortuna,” she said. “You wouldn’t survive it. Damon is being kept alive by the life forces of at least a dozen witches. I can feel their power in this room. All you’d have is me, and maybe Mercy, if I can convince her to come. It would take us weeks—probably months—to find more.”
Witches. The word made a mental image flash. A memory of the drawing Goody had done. All those threads. All that energy.
“Where does it say that anchors need to be witches? Why can’t it be any powerful life force?” I asked Savannah. My heart pounded in my ears. But it wasn’t excitement roaring through me … it was fear.
Her response was slow with unease. “What are you thinking, Fortuna?”
“When I was bonded to the Unseelie Court, I was the most powerful I’d ever been,” I said, more to myself than Savannah. I’d half-forgotten she was there. I was looking at Damon again and accepting my fate. Coming to the same conclusion I’d come to earlier, when Emma had sat in that other chair.
My brother was dying, and there was no price I wouldn’t pay to stop it from happening.
As I made my choice, I remembered the conversation I’d had on the bench with Seth.
There is no Court here.
Are you sure about that?
I swallowed, and then refocused on the necromancer who loved my brother. I stared at her for a moment, and she stared back with the same worried expression I’d seen on Emma’s face. Then I lifted my phone and began to type.
“What are you doing?” Savannah asked. Her phone went off a moment later, and she glanced at the screen. I already knew what the new text said, since I’d been the one to send it.
“I’m calling a family meeting,” I said.
CHAPTER NINE
On the morning of the third day, I was awake before the sun.
