Rituals (Cainsville 5)

"In the basement. We fell through the floor and seem to be trapped."

"What broke the windows?" I called.

"What?" Patrick answered.

"The windows. They're all broken. What happened?"

"We don't know," Patrick said. "A tremor? I thought it might be fae, but we didn't find any evidence of that. The building shook, and we heard glass breaking, and then the floor gave way."

I glanced at Ricky and then called, "Gabriel?"

"Hmm?"

"What did we have for lunch?"

"This isn't the time for games, Liv," Patrick said. "We're trapped in this basement, and the building keeps creaking and groaning. Gabriel fell three stories. He needs a doctor."

"We found a pen in the car, Patrick," I said. "One of your homemade jobs. What kind of ink do you use?"

Silence. Then a woman's voice said, "Oh, but you're clever, aren't you, Eden?"

It was the voice from Todd's memory. The one that plucked at my own memory but wove through Todd's until I wasn't sure if I'd really heard it elsewhere or just remembered it from him.

"Not so much clever as capable of learning," I said. "The fae like their tricks. Sluagh may not consider themselves fae, but they pull the same stunts. Where's Gabriel?"

"So you consider us fae? That will make this conversation so much easier."

"No, our conversation will be easier if Gabriel's standing beside me. It's the only way I'm talking to you."

"You have a high opinion of your worth, don't you, child? You think you're a player, but you are just a pawn. One we own."

"Because you're the ones who healed me. Yeah, I've figured that out. You set up the whole thing--giving Todd the idea, answering Ioan's summons, and then making the deal. Which you think means I owe you. It doesn't. My mother paid for my cure in full."

"Do you really think we'd go through all the trouble of arranging your cure simply to add a few mortal souls to our flock?"

"If you're trying to say I'm marked, I'm not. Nor did Ioan or Pamela bind me to you in any way."

"You're certain of that? Absolutely certain?"

"Certain that they weren't stupid enough to repeat some mystical incantation to bind me? Yeah. There was no part of those deaths..."

I trailed off as I remembered James's body, Gabriel turning him over for me to see what had been done.

"Liv?" Ricky moved up behind me.

"Oh, the mighty Arawn speaks. Of the three, you certainly got the worst of the deal, didn't you? The great lord of the Otherworld...reborn as a pretty biker. Even more a child than the others. Are you out of school yet, boy?"

Ricky ignored the voice and murmured to me, "You were thinking about something. What was it?"

"You always stand behind her, don't you, boy? Walk at her heels. Whisper your thoughts in her ear. The loyal hound, grateful for whatever scraps his huntress might offer."

"I want Gabriel," I said.

She gave a soft laugh. "Of course you do. And you say it right in front of poor Ricky. Thrown over again, Arawn. One might think you'd have the self-respect to walk away."

"I mean that I want you to return the guy you're holding hostage. Which is obviously not Ricky."

"Ignore her," Ricky said. "She thinks she can punch my buttons and I'll stalk off in a snit. Arawn might have. I am not Arawn. You heard Liv, bitch. If you want to speak to her, bring Gabriel."