Grave Intentions (Darkling Mage 3)

I honestly couldn’t think why I hadn’t considered to do exactly what Asher was recommending. He patted me on the shoulder, as if sensing my thoughts.

“Maybe your brains were jerked around more than you thought. It’s not a problem. Just call as soon as you can.”

“Right,” I said, still somewhat mystified. “Right.”

I reached for my phone as Asher strode out. I managed to mutter a belated “Thanks” just as he was shutting my bedroom door. My fingers moved on autopilot, typing out a message to Herald that roughly conveyed what Asher had suggested. “Should we tell them about Thea?” Send.

Don’t know about you, but that’s always the part I hate the most: waiting for a damn reply. I stared at my phone’s screen for a minute too long, willing Herald to respond, waiting for that little checkmark under my message to turn green so I knew that he’d read it. But nothing. Ugh.

I tossed my phone onto my bed, my head craning in the direction of my shelves as I did. Man. It always happened this way. I’d be alone in my room, and I’d do everything I could to pretend that he wasn’t there, but without fail my mind and my eyes would always wander to that one shelf in the corner by the standing lamp.

Once, when he was alive, that shelf was Vanitas’s place of honor. His own bed, to put it in different terms. It bothered me knowing that his body still sat broken on the stone shelf, a mess of shards and twisted, tarnished bronze, just shattered garnets mingled with bent bits of green-gold metal. It haunted me knowing I couldn’t do anything, that Herald and I hadn’t found some way we could bring him back.

But we still talked. It’s still considered a conversation when only one person does all the talking, right? Sad, I know, just a boy and his broken sword, going slowly crazy over the extended silence. Sometimes I wondered if it was easiest to pretend that Vanitas was never enchanted, that the talking had all been in my head.

“I dunno what to do, V.” I folded my arms behind my head and flopped down onto my pillow. “I mean, surely Thea isn’t that stupid. She wouldn’t be that bold about wearing my face and going around attracting attention to herself, right? That’s just ridiculous.”

In the silences, my mind filled in the blanks. What would Vanitas say? Probably something about how I was a dumb idiot, and he wouldn’t be wrong.

I chuckled, staring at a spot on the ceiling. “I talk about this whole doppelganger deal but I think we both know I’ve got something else on my mind.” I reached inside my jacket pocket, feeling around for the little scroll of paper I’d cracked out of Arachne’s gift.

Was it the right time? It’d been so long, and now that I had a lead – no, not just any lead, but my father’s actual, new home address – something was in the way. All those concerns from months back, from when I’d just been murdered came rushing in again. How would he react? What would he say? Would he even want to talk to his son’s walking corpse?

My phone vibrated, and my hand flew quickly to pick it up, but it wasn’t a text from Herald. It was a phone call from – Prudence? I frowned at my phone. Knowing her, she could have put the pieces of the puzzle together on her own without any prompting from Herald whatsoever. I swiped and picked up.

Not one word had left my mouth before her voice was already crackling out of my earpiece. “You’d better not be involved in this, Graves.”

“I – I’m sorry?”

“I don’t know what’s going on here, but this is just too creepy. I’m at my grandma’s antique shop, out in Little China, and her surveillance footage shows that you were just here.”

“That’s impossible. I’m – ” I stopped. What the hell was I supposed to say? No one outside of my roommates was supposed

to know about the Boneyard. “I’m far, far away from Little China right now.”

“Then get your ass here right now. We need to figure this out, and fast. Something funky is going on.”

“It’s Thea,” I said. “It has to be. Remember how she masqueraded as someone else last time we saw her?”

The line was silent. Thea had disguised herself as the assistant to Enrietta Boules, an agriculture magnate and a dryad businesswoman hiding in plain sight in the normal world. After weeks, maybe months of impersonating the dryad’s PA, Thea revealed herself and murdered her in cold blood, right in front of us.

“If that’s true,” Prudence said, slowly, “then this is bigger than we thought. In any case, come over. We need to talk. And you – you should really see the footage.” Another pause. “I’ll text you the address. Come quickly.”

I shoved my phone back in my pocket and practically vaulted off my bed, reaching for the stone shelf before stopping myself. That’s right. Vanitas was gone. I sighed, then rushed out of my room, down the corridor to the portal leading back into Valero.

Mama Rosa’s Finest Filipino Food was completely dark, the way it was supposed to be after closing time. Mama Rosa herself had gone home. The others had to deal with the triple-padlock system she had in place to protect the establishment, but I could simply shadowstep out.

And that was exactly what I did, shifting through the ethers and emerging almost instantly on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. I bit my tongue to stop the yelp from escaping my throat when a slender white hand landed square in the middle of my chest.

“And exactly where do you think you’re going?” Sterling asked.

“Somewhere. Out.” I tried to push my way past, but he stood firmly in my path. I frowned. Sterling was as solid as a brick wall, and just as dense and as stubborn.

“Don’t think so.”

“Dude. Out of my way. You know I can just shadowstep past you, right?”

Sterling sucked at his teeth, his eyes rolling. “Like I couldn’t catch you if you tried. I’m faster than you.” He loomed closer, eyes glinting with feral curiosity. “Where are you going, anyway? Tell me. I’m bored.”