It was Macon who finally answered. “Yes. Well. These things are difficulties, not impossibilities.”
Link sat up. “The whole death thing, yeah, I’d say that’s pretty difficult, sir. I mean, no offense, Mr. Ravenwood.”
“Finding The Book of Moons is not out of the question, Mr. Lincoln. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you where we last saw it and who last had it.”
“Abraham.” We all knew who he was talking about, but it was Liv who said it. “He had it with him at the Seventeenth Moon, in the cave. And he used it to bring up the Vexes, right before—”
“The Eighteenth Moon,” John said quietly. None of us ever wanted to talk about the night at the water tower.
All of which just set Link off more. “Oh well. That’s easy. Find the Book. How about we just find our way over to whatever backwoods swamp hole Colonel Sanders has been livin’ in for the last two hundred years, and ask him real nice if he wouldn’t mind handin’ over his creepy book? So our dead friend can use it for who knows what, over in who knows where.”
I flicked my wrist at Link, annoyed. A spark flew from the fire grating, singeing his leg.
He jerked away. “Cut it out!”
“Uncle Macon’s right. It’s not impossible,” I said.
Liv played with the rubber band holding her red notebook closed—an anxious habit that meant she was thinking. “And this time Sarafine’s dead. He won’t have her backing him up.”
Uncle Macon shook his head. “He never needed her, I’m afraid. Not really. You can’t rely on him being any weaker now than he ever was. Don’t underestimate Abraham.”
Liv looked somber. “What about Hunting and his pack?”
Macon stared into the fire. I watched the flames grow taller, deepening into purple and red and orange. I couldn’t tell if my uncle really believed me or not. I didn’t know if he thought for a minute there was a way to bring Ethan back.
I didn’t care what he thought, as long as he was willing to help me.
He looked at me as if he knew what I was thinking. “Hunting, though stupid, is a powerful Incubus. But Abraham alone is a formidable threat. If fear is going to stop us, we should concede failure right now.”
Link huffed from the floor behind him.
Macon looked at him over his shoulder. “That is, if you’re frightened.”
“Who said anything about that?” Link was indignant. “I just like a better set a odds when I throw mys
elf into a snake pit.”
“It’s me.” John sat up and announced it, as if he’d just figured out the answer to all our problems.
“What?” Liv pulled away from him.
“I’m the one thing Abraham wants. And the only thing he can’t have.”
“Don’t be stupid.” Link groaned. “You sound like his girlfriend.”
“I’m not stupid. I’m right. I thought I was the One Who Is Two, and I thought it was up to me to do… what Ethan did. But that wasn’t about me. This is.”
“Shut up,” Link snapped.
Macon’s face twisted into a frown, his green eyes darkening. I knew that expression too well.
Liv nodded. “I agree. Do as your brilliant Incubus brother says. Shut up.”
John put his arm gently around her, as if he was speaking only to Liv. But I was hanging on his every word, because everything he was saying was starting to make sense. “I can’t. Not this time. I’m not going to sit around and let Ethan take all the punches. For once, I’m going to get what’s coming to me. Or who.”
“And that is?” Liv wouldn’t look at him.
“Abraham. If you tell him you’ll make a trade, he’ll come for me. He’ll swap me for The Book of Moons.” John looked at Macon, who nodded.