Shadowfever
Page 152

You think its me. Somehow that doesnt surprise me. As if some part of me always knew it was going to come down to this in the end: me against the Sinsar Dubh, winner take all. It smacks of fate. I hate fate. I dont believe in her. Unfortunately, I think the bitch believes in me.
He moves to a vault behind the painting Id been watching candlelight flicker over earlier and removes the amulet. Its dark in his hands. The moment he approaches me, it pulses faintly.
I reach for it. It blazes when I touch it. It feels right in my hands. Ive wanted it since the moment I first saw it.
Youre the wild card, Mac. Ive thought that since the beginning. This thing thinks youre epic. So do I.
Quite a compliment. I cup the amulet in my hands. I know this piece. I turn inward, hunting, searching. Ive learned so much tonight, about him, about myself. In this place, I feel fearless. Nothing can touch me, nothing can do too much damage to me. I feel calmer than Ive felt in a long time. If I can use this, I can find the spell to unmake his son. I can end their suffering.
Show me what is true, I say, and shake off my blinders. I quit trying to force myself on the truth to reshape it, and I let the truth force itself on me. What have I been hiding from? What monsters have been stalking me, waiting patiently for me to look at them?
I close my eyes and open my mind. Fragments of times forgotten flash past me so fast I see only blurs of color. I trust my heart to take me where I need to go and tell me when to stop.
The images slow, become static, and I am in another place, another time. Its so real, I can smell the scent of spiced roses nearby. I love the smell because it makes me think of her. I keep the roses everywhere. I look around.
I am in a laboratory.
Cruce is gone.
I watched him leave.
He loves me, but he loves himself more.
I finish the fourth amulet without him. The first three were imperfect. This one does what I want it to do.
Balances the scales between us.
She will shine as brilliantly in the night sky as do I. Giants mate with giants or not at all.
I will take it to my beloved myself.
I cannot make her Fae, but I will give her all our powers in other ways.
Perhaps I am a fool to give her an amulet capable of weaving illusion that could seduce even me, but my faith in my love knows no bounds.
My wings trail the floor as I turn. I am enormous. I am singular. I am eternal.
I am the Unseelie King.
44
Dusk comes hard-edged and violet.
Dancerd like that thought. Hes a poet, brilliant cool with words. Wrote a piece the other day bout murdering clocks cause they feck us up, keep us stuck in the past and keep us from living the day. Used to have this thing in my past riding me all the fecking time, but now she knows, and I say, fine, get the monkey off my back.
I shift, restless, staring down at BB&B. Theres a limo out front. Pulled up hours ago, aint movedsince. Couldnt see who got out. Somebody changed the sign. I think it musta been Mac, and it cracks me up but I dont laugh from the belly like I used to. Swallow it instead.
Aint like she aint gonna try to kill me.
And I aint gonna die, so.
There we are.
Guess somebodys gonna bite it.
Been watching the place off and on for days. Watching the watchers. Everybodys nervous. Chewing each others heads off.
Book went nuts the other day. Turned some guy into a suicide bomb, walked him right into Chesters. Lots o peeps died getting him outta there, blown up when it blew. Theyre paranoid out at the abbey. Think its gonna be next. Aint nobody can track the thing, cause Macs gone missing.
Sos Barrons.
Without em, were stuck. Aint nobody can sense the Book til its on top of us. Dancer thinks itll make a nuke one day. End us all. He says we gotta put it down fast.
I watch, knees up, arms around, perched on a water tower. Nobody looking this high.
I been shut out. Ro wont let me near none o the action. Kat and Jo keep me in the loop. They dont know I killed Alina. Mac dont know, cause I just found out, but theres a third prophecy. Something bout mirror images and sons and daughters and monsters within being monsters without. Jo wasnt done translating yet but she was worried big-time. Seems the longer the Books loose, the worse the odds get.
I heard Ry-O telling that white-haired dude with the freaky eyes that Macs gotta die. But not before the Book gets shut down. Pissed him off real bad that it came into his club and tried to blow it. You dont mess with Ry-O.
Hes got dudes on top of the bookstore. They move funny.
Jos hanging on a roof a few buildings over, with Kat and her trusty little group of sidhe-sheep. Baaaaa, I say under my breath. Theyre staring through binocs. Never look my way. Only see what they spect to see. What she tells em to see. Dickheads. Pull your heads out, I think. Smell the sheep shit.
The things I know.
The Scots are on top of a five-story in the Dark Zone. They got binocs, too.
These eyeballs of mine dont need no help seeing. Im supercharged, superwired, super-D! All-seeing, all-hearing, all-jamming, all the time.
I smell Vlane. Spice on the wind. Dunno where he is. Somewhere near.
Five days Mac and Barrons been gone. Since the night they tried to trap the Book.
Ros blaming it all on Mac. First, she was glad Mac was gone. Said we didnt need her, didnt want her. But she came to her senses when it strolled into Chesters. See, she was there when the Book paid its little visit wearing a corset of dynamite, and aint nothing Ro likes better than her own wrinkly ass. Gah. Thats a visual I coulda done without.