"Dave," the real Luis said. His voice was even, calm, just like Val's had been after she'd seen her mother with Tom. It was a voice so full of emotion that it sounded like no emotion at all.
Lolli looked at Luis, and then at his twin. "Wha—what's happening?"
"You couldn't tell the difference, could you?" the disguised Luis said to Lolli. His face changed, features subtly shifting to become Dave's. The blackened mouth and eyes remained, as did the sheen on his skin.
Lolli gasped.
He laughed like a maniac, his voice raspy. "You couldn't even tell the difference, but you would never give me a chance."
"You fucking shit." Lolli slapped Dave. She hit him again, blows raining against the hands he threw up to ward her off.
Luis grabbed her arms, but Dave laughed again. "You think you know me? I'm Sketchy Dave? Dave the Coward? Dave the Idiot? Dave who needs his brother's protection? I don't need nothing." He looked Luis in the face. "You're so smart, right? So smart you didn't see any of this coming. Who's the moron, huh? You got some fancy fucking word for how stupid you are?"
"What have you done?" Luis asked.
"He made a deal with Mabry," Val said. "Didn't you?"
Dave smiled, but it looked like a rictus grin, the skin of his mouth too tight. When he spoke, Val saw only blackness beyond his teeth, as though she were looking into a dark tunnel. "Yeah, I did a deal. I don't need the Sight to know when I have something somebody wants." He wiped his forehead, eyes increasingly wide. "I wanted—"
He collapsed, his body shaking. Luis sank to his knees next to Dave and reached out to smooth his dreads back from his face, then abruptly pulled his hand back. "He's way too hot. It's like his skin is on fire."
"Never," Val said. "He's been using Never much more than once a day. He had to take it this whole time to keep that shape."
"In the movies they put people with crazy fevers in a bathtub with ice," Ruth said.
"What, when they O.D. on faerie drugs?" Lolli snapped.
"Grab him," Val said. "The lake should be cold enough."
Luis slid his hands under his brother's shoulders. "Be careful. His body is really warm."
"Take my gloves." Ruth pulled a pair out of her coat pocket and handed them to Val.
Pulling them on quickly, she grabbed Dave's ankles. Touching his skin was like grabbing the handle of a pot of boiling water. She lifted. He was so light, he might have been hollow.
Together she and Luis hurried down the steps, down the paths of the Ramble to the edge of the water. The heat of Dave's body scorched her skin through the gloves and he twitched and writhed as if he were fighting some unseen force. Val gritted her teeth and held on.
Luis waded into the water and Val followed, the frigid cold at her calves a terrible contrast to the burn of her hands.
"Okay, down," Luis said.
They lowered Dave into the water, his body steaming as it touched the lake. Val let go and started back to the shore, but Luis held on, keeping his brother's head above water, like a preacher performing a terrible baptism.
"Is it helping?" Ruth called.
Luis nodded, rubbing his brother's floating face. Val could see that Luis's hand was bright pink, but whether he was burned or just cold she wasn't sure. "Better, but we have to get him to a hospital."
Lolli waded in, staring down at Dave. "You fucking moron," she shouted. "How could you be so stupid?" She looked suddenly lost. "Why would he do this for me?"
"You can't feel responsible," Val said. "If I were you, I think I'd want to kill him."
"I don't know what to feel," Lolli said.
"Val," said Luis. "We have to go ask Ravus for help."
"Ravus?" Ruth demanded.
"He saved his life before," Luis said.
Val thought of Ravus's face, closed, his eyes dark with fury. She thought of the things she knew about Mabry and the things she just guessed about the currency Dave had used to pay for her help. "I don't know if he'll be willing to now."
"I'll take Dave to the hospital," Lolli said.
"Go with her, okay?" Val asked Ruth. "Please."
"Me?" Ruth looked disbelieving. "I don't even know him."
Val leaned close to her. "But I know you."
Ruth rolled her eyes. "Fine. But you owe me. You owe me like a month of mute servitude."
"I owe you like a year of mute servitude," Val said and waded into the water to help Luis lift his brother's body once more. Slowly they made their way to the street. The first cab they hailed pulled up and then, seeing Dave's body, drove off before Lolli could grab hold of the door. The next one stopped, seemingly indifferent as the two girls got in and Luis draped his writhing brother across their laps.
"Here," Ruth said, handing over the harp.
"We'll take care of him," Lolli said.
"I'll be there as soon as I can." Luis hesitated shutting the door.
The taxi started to move and Val saw Ruth's pale face staring from the back window, her lips mouthing something Val couldn't make out as the car got farther and farther away.
Chapter 12
And her sweet red lips on these lips of mine Burned like the ruby fire set In the swinging lamp of a crimson shrine, Or the bleeding wounds of the pomegranate, Or the heart of the lotus drenched and wet With the spilt-out blood of the rose-red wine.
—Oscar Wilde, "In the Gold Room: A Harmony"
A horse-drawn carriage had stopped beneath the arch of the bridge support. It was a long way from the park or anywhere else that a carriage should be and the dun horse looked restless in the pale, dawn light. There was no driver.
"Do you think someone took a ride to the supermarket?" Val asked.
"That's no horse," Luis said, pulling Val wide of it. His eyes were bloodshot, his lips cracked with cold. "Be glad you can't see what it really is."
It looked like any other city horse, with its big sagging back and fat hooves. Val squinted at it until the image blurred, but she still didn't know what Luis saw and she decided not to ask. "Come on."
Sticking near the opposite wall, she crept beneath the overpass, Luis right behind her. She knocked on the stump, but as they slipped through the doorway, Val heard someone banging down the bridge stairs.
It was too late for them to do anything but gape at Greyan. His hands were covered in blood, blood that dripped off the tips of his fingers and clotted on the dusty steps, too bright to seem real. He held his bronze knives together in one hand. They, too, glistened with gore.
"It is done," the ogre said. He looked tired. "Little humans, let me lesson you to intrude no more in the dealings of the fey."
"Where's Ravus?" Val demanded. "What happened?"
"Would you fight me again, mortal? Your loyalty is commendable, if misplaced. Save your courage for a more worthy foe." He pushed past her and walked down the remaining steps. "I have no lust for dealing more death today."
Everything narrowed to that moment, that word. Death. Surely not, Val told herself, touching the cold stone wall for support. For a moment, she didn't think she could walk the rest of the way up the stairs. She couldn't bear it.
Luis walked slowly up the steps, up to the landing, and then back down. He brought his finger to his lips. "She's in there."
Val started moving, too fast, and Luis's hand clamped down on her arm. "Quiet," he hissed.
Val nodded, not daring to ask about Ravus. Together, they inched up the steps, each footfall causing a little puff of dust, the creak of the iron frame, the jangle of the harp strings, things that Val hoped were hidden by the steady rumble of traffic overhead. As they neared the landing, she heard Mabry's voice, full of anxiety. "Where do you keep it? I know you have to have some poison somewhere. Come now, do me one last service."