Dumbfounded, Cherise couldn’t speak as she sputtered.
Savitar narrowed his gaze on Nick while he turned Nick’s head from side to side to study him. “And whoever did this to you, boy, knew exactly what they were doing. There’s no sign of your bloodline. I didn’t even know it was possible to hide a Malachai so completely.”
Kody folded her arms over her chest. “You should be with him in our world. He has stood next to Acheron Parthenopaeus many times, and not even Ash can tell.”
Savitar finally released him and stepped back. “You’re sure he’s a Malachai?”
Kody lowered the neck of her sweater to show a vicious scar over her heart. “I was looking him in the eyes when he killed me. It’s him.” She paused before she continued. “Well, not him, but it will be one day.” Biting her lip, she faced Cherise, who was still struggling with the unbelievable reality. “Have no fear for your Nick, Mrs. Burdette. Your son is safe in my world. He couldn’t be more protected. I promise you I left him with two powerful men who would die before they allow him to be harmed.”
Finally, Cherise found her voice again. “How do we swap them back?”
Kody sighed. “I wish I knew.”
Savitar moved to a window to check on the location and activities of their demons. “We have to find the one responsible. It’s our only hope to undo this and get him back to your world before it’s too late.”
“Well, I can tell you it’s not Thorn. He had no idea the Malachai was here until I accidentally told him.”
Too grateful that she’d survived the attack to mind her slip to their enemies, Nick took Kody’s hand. “How did you escape Karma?”
Savitar glanced back at them. “She summoned me.”
That surprised him. Especially given the trap they’d both walked into with the Devereaux sisters. “How did you know to call for Savitar?”
“I took a wild guess and bet our lives on it. I was hoping he’d be strong enough to be on our side, even in this world. So glad I wasn’t wrong.”
Nick, too. Still, it didn’t answer what he was really asking. “But how do you know him?”
She hesitated like she normally did whenever he asked her a point-blank question. Instead of her usual hedge, for once she answered it. “He’s my godfather.”
Savitar held his hands up as if those words offended him. “Yeah, I had a hard time with that one myself. I’m not exactly a people person and I have never met her before, but she told me things no one else could possibly know. Things my own family doesn’t know about me … yet. I apparently get a looser tongue in the future. Like you becoming the Malachai, I can’t imagine what damage I’ll live through that would allow that to happen. Guess we’re all future fools for something.”
Kody swung Nick’s hand between their bodies. “I’m just glad those events happened in both worlds. Otherwise, he’d have left me to die under torture.”
“Savitar!” Nick reprimanded.
“Don’t take that tone to me, kid. I’m not that fond of you. As for your girlfriend … I learned the hard way not to put my butt in a sling for anyone. It’s a debt they seldom repay.”
Something began striking the walls around them.
Nick growled in frustration that he couldn’t have a minute’s peace. “Can’t you teleport us somewhere?” he asked Savitar.
His eyes burning with regret, he shook his head. “I’m not the Chthonian I used to be.”
“Meaning what?”
Kody answered Nick’s question. “With every god a Chthonian kills, it weakens them.…”
Savitar nodded. “A few centuries ago, I had a really bad day.”
When he didn’t elaborate, Nick prompted him. “And what did you do?”
“I. Had. A. Bad. Day.” He enunciated each word slowly and with great irritation. After a second, he calmed. “Let’s just say I did some things I seriously regret. The biggest of which being the powers I lost as a result of my tantrum. Some of them definitely weren’t worth it.”
Nick hated hearing that. For many reasons. “Are there any other Chthonians left?”
“Just Zebulon, and he’s even weaker than I am.”
Great. Raking his hand through his hair, Nick took a mental inventory of possible allies.
“What about the Charonte?” Kody asked Savitar.
“All enslaved.”
“Even Simi?”
Savitar winced as if that question sucker-punched him. “Simi died a long time ago.”
“Nuh-uh,” Nick said, denying it immediately. “She was at school with me. I saw her.”
Savitar shook his head. “I know Simi and I was there when she was killed. I burned her remains myself. She’s gone, kid. Long gone.”
Then who’d been in his school with him? She’d even answered to Simi’s name. That was just weird.
“What about Menyara?” Kody asked.
“Imprisoned.”
Scowling, Kody let go of Nick’s hand. “Wait … what month and year is this?”
His mom was the one who answered her. “April 2002, why?”
Kody let out her own sound of gross frustration as she started pacing. “I was hoping we could get to my father, but he would still be imprisoned in the Greek Underworld.”
“If he’s alive here,” Nick reminded her.
She disregarded his warning. “If the Harbinger lives, he lives.”
Savitar snorted. “And the Harbinger is definitely alive, but mentally unwell.”
Neither knowing nor caring who this Harbinger was, Nick sighed as he continued to think through an escape route. “What about your mother?” he asked Kody.
“Imprisoned, too. Only my oldest brother would be free and grown right now, and trust me, he won’t help us. He’s knee-deep in Daimon drama.”
That was a serious and most unexpected kick in his stones. “Excuse me? Your brother is with Daimons even in our world? Who are your parents?”
“Long story, Nick.”
Okay, he put that in the to-be-pursued-later bank. “But maybe he’s not evil. I mean, Tabitha and Thorn switched sides. It’s possible your brother did, too. Right?”
Savitar rubbed his hand down the line of his jaw. “Who’s your brother?”
“Urian.”
Savitar choked on the name. “The head general of the Spathi Daimons?”
She nodded.
“Yeah, that’s a lost cause. He’s evil to the core of his rotten heart. I don’t care if you are his sister, he’d still rip your head off and use it for a basketball.”
Kody bit her lip. “Unless…”
“What?” Nick asked her hopefully.
Shaking her head, she paused in her pacing. “Phoebe. He should be married to her.”
“And that helps us, how?”
Raking her hand through her hair, Kody groaned in frustration. “You’re right. It doesn’t. I keep thinking everyone is the same here as they are in our world. For all I know, Phoebe’s gone Daimon, too, and is helping him.”
“Or she’s dead,” Savitar mumbled.
And still the something pounded on the building for entry.
Bubba’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and moved away from them to answer it while they continued to futilely explore the path of lost causes.
Kody paused again as she faced Savitar. “If Nick brought me over, do you think we could do that to someone else?”
“What are you thinking?”
“Maybe I could summon a Charonte. Do you think I’d be able to bring our Simi here?”
Savitar shrugged. “You can always try.”
Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back with the most peaceful of expressions on her beautiful face. The storm outside picked up fervor while they waited.
Nick held his breath, praying this worked. They needed backup in the worst way imaginable. But more than that, he’d sell his soul for just a tiny bit of his powers to work.