Page 76 of Smoke & Ashes
I’d foolishly hoped that there wouldn’t be any more magic bullshit to wade through. “And you’re telling me this why?”
She cackled. She’d always been a bit of a cackler. “Because we’re connected now, you and me. I can’t keep nothing from you. Not since you stuck that spike in my heart. Besides, I like to watch you twist.”
“You think I’m twisting?”
“I think you’re spinning like a sparrow on a string, my dear. And how will it go, I wonder? Will you cut the girl open to save your friend? Will you cut down your friend to spare the girl’s blood and the queen’s suffering? Or will you walk away, make the choice that is no choice at all, crawl back into your hole and never come out?”
Those all sounded like shit options. “Man, I wish this was one of those kiss-the-princess type of curses instead of one of those bleed-a-person-into-a-bowl type of curses.”
“Be careful what you wish for. Kisses are promises, and promises can come back to haunt you.”
She had a point. On both counts. “Well, it’s been—something, talking to you. Although, no offence, but I was hoping you’d have been burning in hell by now.”
“That will come,” she replied. “For both of us.”
Great. Then again, shewasevil. She was probably trying to psych me out. I walked away.
“Fear death by water, Kate Kane. If you remember nothing else, remember that.”
I did my best to ignore her. I’d managed to avoid drowning so far, after all.
My path turned upwards, over scree and shale and something that might once have been the supports of a bridge across the river that now ran behind me, though I did not remember crossing it.
The green lady stood at the summit, staring past me at the water.
“You are close,” she said. “Very close.”
“An evil old woman told me I’d have to bleed out a child to get this finished.”
Her head tilted a little to one side and she fixed me with her jade-and-jasper eyes. “You get nothing in this world if you will not shed a little blood. And the girl will not be harmed.”
“Oh, good. I’m glad you’re asking me to perform a non-fatal bloodletting.”
“There is always a price to pay,” she replied. “My reflection was far too willing to pay that price herself, and see where it has left her.”
She had a point. Nim had been self-sacrificing to a fault. But the problem with being self-sacrificing is that eventually you wound up getting sacrificed. And that was kind of a crappy deal for the people you left behind. “In her defence, she did mostly manage to avoid carving up teenagers.”
“A small pain, for a great glory.” Words could not quite express how much I disliked the green lady. As a rule, I was very much not a fan of things wearing my friends’ faces, but things that wore my friends’ faces while also being able to make a coherent case for actually being the friend whose face they were wearing, while still also being basically evil, were a whole different level of suss.
I sighed. “You know, you should really learn to quit while you’re ahead. I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to do what you want me to do. All this preening is just making me uncomfortable about it.”
Moving forward with a graceful menace, she took my hands. “You’re right. But you need only be strong a little longer. Then all will be well.”
I wasn’t sure that was helping. I felt a touch on my arm, and as the city fell apart I realised that somebody was rocking me awake.
“Hurry up, please.” whispered Nimue’s voice as the world faded around me. “It’s time.”
34
Blood & Silver
Iwoke up in the back seat of Patrick’s Volvo S60R outside London Bridge hospital. It was well after midnight, which meant we were nowhere near visiting hours, but given how mysterious and misty it had got last time, I didn’t think that would be a major cause for concern.
For a weird moment I intensely wished that Tara was there. This was all beginning to feel final and it would have been nice to see her before whatever was about to go down went down. I could have texted, but she’d be unlikely to have her phone on her and, anyway, she was probably neck deep in werewolf bullshit by now.
Flick and Sofia were still asleep beside me, and I didn’t think it was fair to wake them, so I leaned over the front seat, whispered to Elaine that it was time, and slipped out of the car. She and Patrick followed me through the main doors of the hospital, and while we made a weird looking party I was hoping that the ambient magic would stop us getting too many awkward glances. Certainly it seemed to work on the receptionist—still on duty despite the hour—who when I told them who I was here to see, they got that same faraway look as they had last time and waved the three of us through without a thought.
Once we were in the hospital proper I decided I couldn’t put off the bleeding issue any longer. “So…” I began. “You know how I said that the Prince of Wands might want to drain your blood to turn himself into magic vampire King Arthur?”
