“Shut up!” Ridley shouted.
“Therefore sail on, and stop your comrades’ ears with sweet wax, kneaded soft, so none may hear.”
“I’m not like that.” Tears prickled Ridley’s eyes.
Nox looked up at her. “But Odysseus was only a man, and we all know how that ends. Just ask Homer.”
“You don’t have to quote The Odyssey to me. I’m not going to destroy you. I’m not a monster,” Ridley said.
Nox stared back at her, his expression unreadable.
“No. I don’t think you are. But I am.”
CHAPTER 30
Some Kind of Monster
A monster?” Ridley shrugged. She couldn’t take her eyes off Abraham Ravenwood’s face in the picture frame. “Like father, like son, I guess.” She wasn’t cutting Lennox Gates any slack. Not after he’d sprung something like this on her. No wonder I never trust anyone.
“Don’t say that!” Nox was furious. He pulled the picture from the wall, throwing it to the ground. Shattered glass flew everywhere. “I told you. He’s not my father.”
“Right. And because you’ve proven yourself to be so trustworthy, Nox, I’ll just take your word for that.”
Nox walked to the window and stared out at the Manhattan skyline. “There isn’t a Caster category for what I am. I can’t just check the Siren box on some Underground passport.”
“Why not? You’ve been as manipulative as any Siren. You’re Siren-born, no matter who your father is. And aren’t you the one behind the Power of Persuasion at Sirene?”
“Ridley.” He was pacing.
“Come on, Nox. Let’s at least be honest with each other now.”
Now that we have nothing left to lose, Ridley thought. Now that I know you’re in league with Abraham Ravenwood.
She kept going. “Aren’t you the reason Sirensong is doing so well, bringing in all the crowds, all the fans?”
Nox shrugged. “It’s the name of the band. That should have been your first clue.”
“How did you do it? A drink? Was it in the Nectar of the Gods?” It wasn’t unthinkable.
He shook his head.
“No Siren can affect that many people that strongly all at once. The ventilation system? Amplified by some kind of Cast?” She’d heard of such a thing.
“No.”
Ridley twisted a strand of blond hair around her finger. “Come on. It’s tricks of the trade time. Tell me how you did it.”
Nox was silent for a long time.
“The music,” he said finally.
“What?”
“It’s Sampson’s guitar. It’s actually more of a lyre. It belonged to my mother. I tweaked a few things, and there you go. Instant success.”
Ridley shook her head. “Well, I knew it wasn’t the lyrics. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Why else would you name your club after a Siren unless you were planning on working a little mojo?”
“Trust me. The specifics aren’t important. In fact, the less you know about me, the safer you are.”
“And the Turkish Delight? The disappearing club? How do you explain the rest of it?” How do you explain the way you make me feel sometimes? This war that is not a war? She wanted answers.
“Liar’s Trade.” He looked at her. “What, you think yours are the only markers I have? What do you think happens to all those lost talents, favors, and powers?”
“Of course. The TFPs. You’re a thief. All your power is stolen.” It was so clear now. She couldn’t believe she had missed it.
“Not all of it. You know my mother was a Siren. My father—my real father—was a Seer. Their blood runs in my veins.”
“If you say so,” Ridley said. She couldn’t help twisting the knife. Especially when the knife was Abraham Ravenwood.
Nox stopped pacing. He was livid. “My family is my family. It wasn’t perfect. In fact, it was hell.”
Ridley nodded. “I’m beginning to get that.”
“Exactly. But you know what else it was? My own damn business.”
Ridley stepped in front of him. “Nox, calm down. What’s going on? Why won’t you tell me? One minute you’re trying to scare me, and the next you’re treating me to a New York City dream day. You’re either a complete nutbag or a huge jerk.”
“Thanks.”
“Either way, I’d help you if you told me what was happening. I really would.”
“No,” Nox said. “You’re in enough trouble already. You don’t need me to drag you into any more. It seems to find you on its own, the same way it finds me.” Nox looked more nervous than Ridley had ever seen him.
“So we’re back to monsters again?” she asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“You don’t know what it’s like. I’m Darker than you.” He shook his head. His voice was low and trembling. “When I think about what they wanted me to do to you…”
“Stop it,” Ridley said. “You’re a lot of things, Nox, but a monster isn’t one of them. Trust me. I’ve seen my share.”
“Like Abraham Ravenwood?” Nox asked. His tone was even darker now.
“I won’t argue that one.”
“He stole my father’s Sight and used it for his own Dark purposes. Until one day, my father saw his own death at my mother’s hand.”
The man you hope is your father, Ridley thought.
“He couldn’t handle it. He threw himself off a cliff in Barbados to keep the only woman he’d ever loved from having to live with that guilt.”
“Nox.” She didn’t know what to say. He was every bit as broken as she was, just as she had suspected.
Maybe even more.
“I was raised by my grandparents, just like you. Abraham drove my mother to madness, and he made sure that my life was as pathetic as his twisted little Incubus science experiments.”
Ridley knew all too well what Nox was saying. “No one has a run-in with Abraham Ravenwood without walking away with a scar.”
Nox nodded. “Maybe that’s why I hate the sight of your hybrid Incubus boyfriend so much. I hate anything that reminds me of Abraham, or his labs.”
Ridley reached for Nox’s hand. She couldn’t help it. He looked like a little boy, incapable of being consoled. “Not to state the obvious, but Abraham’s dead. I should know. I was there.”
Nox remained glum. “So I’ve heard. Gardening shears, right?”
Ridley nodded. “He took a pair through the heart. He’s as dead as a doornail.” She squeezed his hand. “What is it that you’re not telling me, Nox?”
“I’ve been trying to tell you.” He looked away. “The complicated side of the story.”
“I’m listening.”
“Little Siren,” Nox said, “I’d give anything in the world to have met you some other way.”
“I know.” She held his hand even more tightly.
He looked at her sadly. “And I would give more than that to change the nightmares that I see coming in your future.”
Ridley’s heart beat faster. “What?”
“You have to remember. Just because I saw it doesn’t mean there’s no hope.” He touched her cheek, suddenly tender.
She pulled away from him. “Nox, what did you see?”
“I saw our future. Mine, and yours.”
“And?” She didn’t know if she wanted to hear anything more, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from asking.
“And I’m saying there’s still got to be hope for both of us. And for this.” He leaned forward, as if he meant to kiss her.
She held her breath, but it never happened.
Because the Ripping sound came first.
Then came the inevitable crash that followed when furniture met size thirteen Doc Martens.
Wesley Lincoln, one-quarter Incubus and three-quarters heart, stepped out of the wall between the bedroom and the living room. He straightened a painting and pulled his foot out of a wastebasket, but aside from that, even Ridley had to admit his Traveling skills had seriously improved.
H
is fighting skills, even more so.
Link didn’t waste any time. He barreled right into Nox and pinned him against the wall.
“I didn’t see that one coming,” Nox said, trying to shove him away.
Link wouldn’t budge. “Tell me it’s him and not you, Rid,” he shouted, without taking his eyes off Nox.
Ridley grabbed Link’s arm. “Stop it. What are you doing here?”
“Apparently, trying to kick my ass,” Nox said.
Link turned to look at her. “Someone deserves a beatdown, and I’m really hopin’ it’s him, because I’ve been waitin’ to pound him since the day we got here.”
“Don’t hold back.” Nox closed his eyes. “Go ahead. Take your best shot.”
Ridley tried to pull Link away. “Are you out of your mind?” She yanked as hard as she could, but Link still didn’t budge. “I’m sorry about what happened. I don’t know what I was thinking, but you can’t just come barging in here and threaten me—or him—like that.”