Tell Matteo I’m going to be joining his thoughts, Adriana ordered. I did, then watched as she began concentrating. On the other end of the line, I heard Matty swear yet again. A moment later, Okalani gave an abrupt nod and vanished. The call cut off.
It seemed like the longest few minutes of my life, waiting for Okalani to reappear. Hiwahiwa had come back with my food.
I felt the familiar lurch and Okalani and Matty were in front of me.
A Catholic priest from the Order of St. Michael, Matty is one of God’s own warriors. He’d be impressive under any circumstances—the DeLuca boys aren’t small and Matty works out hard. He was even more impressive than usual at that moment, having come prepared. He was carrying a black bag that looked like a doctor’s bag; a large water cannon filled with what was probably a quart of holy water; a silver tube on a sling that I knew from past experience held communion wafers; and a sawed-off shotgun whose shells were undoubtedly filled with silver shot. Even the queen raised her eyebrows before putting one hand to her chest and bowing her head in a gesture of respect.
Matty opened the black bag, pulled out a small jar of oil, and stepped in front of me.
“All right. This is a short-term solution only. As soon as this is all over, you and I are going to the nearest church and doing the full exorcism. Understood?”
He sounded so much like his uncle Sal it was uncanny. Absolute authority. Wow. Little Matty had grown up.
“Yes, sir.”
“All right.” He took a deep breath, made the sign of the cross, and began murmuring a prayer in Latin. I felt movement in the air; it coalesced into heat. He poured a tiny amount of oil onto his fingers and anointed my head with the sign of the cross.
It burned. I screamed and dropped to my knees, blinded and gasping with pain, my eyes streaming tears. Seconds later, I could see again. People began to rush to my side, but Matty held out his hand for them to stop. His cross was glowing with a white light so bright it was like a tiny dwarf star.
Everyone stood still, but it was obvious they didn’t like it. He continued to chant and I screamed as fast as I could draw breath. For long seconds I thought I might die, almost hoped I would, just to end the agony. And then, as abruptly as if a switch had been hit, it was over.
“You okay?” Creede was on his knees beside me instantly. He gently smoothed my hair back from my face and looked down at me with worried eyes. I was still too shaken to speak easily, but I nodded and managed to gasp out the word, “Peachy.”
Matty snorted while Okalani gave a nervous giggle. But Creede just looked at me. After a long moment when he did nothing but clench and unclench one fist, he shook his head and pulled back. “I think this is a bad idea. You should stay here, rest, and recover.”
I managed to half sit up. I didn’t vomit. Yay, progress! “Would you, if the situation was reversed?”
“Yeah, I would.”
“Liar.” I smiled when I said it, to take the sting from the words. He didn’t smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
Queen Lopaka shifted in her seat. She was still in her ruined clothing but, to my amazement, managed to look regal despite it. If you are going to do this, you will need to go to the staging area.
Do you think this is a bad idea?
She paused for a long moment before responding, I think it is foolish but necessary.
I blinked a little. Maybe it was the shock, but that didn’t make a bit of sense to me. Lopaka gave me a gentle smile and explained, Eirene must be stopped before she sets loose great evil on the world. The prophets told us there was a tainted child of our line who would destroy all traitors among the sirens and save the world from evil. When you were a child, Stefania’s prophet must have told her that the savior would be you or your sister.
That’s why she cursed us and why she was willing to run a suicide mission to take me out in the conference room.
Precisely. So, foolish or not, you must go. This must end. When the time comes, you must not hesitate.
I won’t.
She rose from her chair. Then she did something that shocked all of us. She hugged me. She let me go very abruptly and turned to her daughter. “I would speak to you for a moment.” She drew Adriana to the far side of the room. She spoke softly—aloud rather than mind-to-mind. I didn’t know why. Still, no one without vampire hearing would be able to overhear. I pretended I couldn’t, either, gathering up my things as noisily as I could to make it harder for everyone else to hear what they said.
“I really wish you wouldn’t do this, Adriana. I don’t want to risk losing you.”
“I’ll never rule, Mother.”
Queen Lopaka gave a gusty sigh, as if her daughter was being particularly dense. “I’m not worried about losing you as a princess. I’m worried about losing my daughter. I love you. It would kill me to lose you.”
Adriana smiled. “You won’t die, because I’ll be careful.”
“I could order you to stay.”
The daughter and subject acknowledged that with a nod. But then she touched her mother’s cheek softly. “Please don’t. I want to do this. It’s important. I need to be . . . to do . . . something important.”
I didn’t miss the change in wording. Neither did Lopaka.
Creede checked his watch, his voice all business again. “If we’re doing this we need to get going.” He strode toward the door. Okalani was right behind him. I followed her, stopping to hold the door for Adriana.
She gave her mother a fierce hug. “I love you, too. Try not to worry.” She hurried past me and down the hall.
Hiwahiwa looked at me for a long moment, her brows furrowed and her face intent as she looked after Okalani. Take care of the child. I’m no prophet, but I believe she’s important. More important than we know.
I’ll do my best.
“Five minutes. Take your positions.” The commander’s voice cut through the confusion like a razor. King Dahlmar rose from his seat at the table where a group of us had settled in to wait, moving to take up a position in the center of the group. Creede rose next and reached his hand down to me. Normally I wouldn’t need the help, but I really did feel like I’d been hit by a truck. Whatever Matty had done hadn’t killed me, yay. But it had done me some damage. What remained to be seen was whether or not it was worth it.
“I’m coming with you,” Matty said in a tone that brooked no argument. “You need me in case she summons that demon.”
Creede looked at King Dahlmar, who gave a curt nod. Matty had blessed each and every person in our group. Those who weren’t Christian weren’t really sure what to think about the man in black with the cross, but a holy man is a holy man in pretty much every religion. It also surprised me that Matty was able to switch between languages easily and that the prayer he offered was slightly different for each person.
Creede stood directly in front of the king, Matty and I immediately behind Dahlmar; the four of us and Adriana were surrounded by a thick ring of soldiers. I felt my stomach tighten with nerves as a deep voice in the far corner began to count down from ten. At “one” I felt the familiar lurch, as if the world were moving sideways. I barely heard the word “now” and we were there.
23
It’s one thing to see a plan play out in a clairvoyant’s bowl. It is another to have it happen in real life. I’d half-expected Okalani to run into a magical shield like the one we’d erected earlier around the conference room. Whether Kristoff was too arrogant, didn’t have mages with enough oompf, or there were too many people going in and out of the room, he hadn’t bothered.