Page 66 of Reap the Night
Daisy shrugged. “I slipped out when the woman with the fake face put Ingrid inside. I watched her for a while. I don’t like herat all. But Ingrid…I like Ingrid. Ingrid was always kind. Ingrid shouldn’t be in the lost room.”
Wait a second. “Rubythrew the spirit trap in there?”
“I went to confront her about it,” Ordell said, “but she was gone. I’d left Matthew in charge of watching her, and she’d knocked him unconscious. Godor caught her on the bridge.”
Hemlock’s jaw tightened. “Where is she now?”
“Dead,” Daisy pouted. “Gone. Shame. If she’d died in the castle, then she would have stayed too. We could have played.” She tipped her head to the side, her eyes darkening into pits.
I suppressed a shiver. “How did she die?”
“Godor said she had a pill on her. She took it, and it killed her.”
“Fuck!” Hemlock raked a hand through his hair. “She duped us, and now we have no idea if anything she told us was true. What if she let the stuff about us being Ezekiel’s brothers slip on purpose? What if she knew he was in the room all along? Dammit, there is no way to make sense of it without the truth.”
“But we know where Ingrid is, and we have to get her out.”
“You care,” Daisy said. “You care for Ingrid.”
“Damn straight I do.”
Her dark eyes bored into me. “Then I’ll help you.”
“Excuse me if I don’t jump for joy. The last time you offered to help me, I was almost…” I trailed off and glanced at Ordell, who had twin spots of color high on his cheeks.
“I’m better now,” Daisy said.
She didn’t look better. “Oh?”
“I don’t want to hurt you. I want to…help. Help Ingrid. Help you help Ingrid.”
“Why would I need your help? I’ve been in the east wing before, in the lost room. I can go in and get the trap and…Wait…” I turned to Ordell. “Why haven’tyougotten the trap yet?”
Ordell cleared his throat. “We…Hemlock and I, we can’t access the room. It’s warded to us.”
“Wards don’t work in Dracul territory.”
“Not wards, silly,” Daisy said. “The lost. They let you in or they keep you out. The lost don’t want the brothers. They want the king, and they want the king’s playthings.”
So that’s why Ariella was able to open the door. But how did she even know about the lost? There was no answer to that question, not now that she was dead.
“And you?” I pointed at Daisy. “You know where it is? Why not get it for us?”
“I can’t touch it without being drawn in. No spirit can.”
“Only you can go in and get the trap,” Ordell said.
“But they will tear you up,” Daisy said. “Rip you open. Tangle your brain without my protection.”
Yeah, that did not sound like fun.“Fine. I’ll accept your help.”
“On one condition.”
“Oh, and here I was thinking you were doing this out of the goodness of your heart.”
She giggled. “You’re funny.” Her expression sobered, rendering the giggle creepy as fuck. “I want to be free. No more lost room. No more east wing.”
I looked to the guys for this one. I didn’t understand the dynamic of the castle and the specters well enough to make this call.
