"So it overflows the banks," I murmured, "or bursts past the dam."
"When's he set to explode?" Sawyer asked.
In answer, Jimmy snarled again, and this time, when he hit the door, the outline of a fist expanded outward.
"I'd say right about now," I murmured.
Sawyer frowned. "Maybe you should wait before going inside."
"Not."
"Tomorrow would be better," Summer agreed.
If she wanted me to wait, I knew I had to get in there. "What happens tomorrow?"
Sawyer stared at Summer, his expression considering, "Plenus luna malum," he murmured, and her eyes narrowed as her fingers clenched. She really wanted to zap him and couldn't. \
"Something Latin about the moon," I guessed.
"Translates to 'full moon evil,'" Sawyer explained. "She channeled his vampire tendencies into the night of the full moon. Every other night, he's normal. Or as normal as Sanducci gets. But when the moon is whole, he goes—"
Jimmy slammed into the door again.
"Batshit," I muttered. "I take it the full moon's tonight."
"You think?" Sawyer asked.
I hated it when he repeated my sarcasm back at me, but as Ruthie always said, you get what you pay for, and I'd definitely paid for that.
There were times when nothing went right, one incident right after the other making me think I was cursed. And then there were times, like now, when serendipity made me believe that everything did happen for a reason, and in the end the forces of good would win.
Could it be a coincidence that Jimmy was only a vampire under the full moon, and we'd just happened to show up on that particular night?
Perhaps. But I didn't think so.
I contemplated the door again, biting my lip, trying to figure out a way to get in.
"He'll tear you apart," Summer said.
I wasn't certain tearing me apart would actually kill me, though I wasn't wild about finding out. "I'm fast and I'm strong."
"Not like he is when he's—" Summer drew back her lips from her teeth, hooked her fingers into claws, and hissed to illustrate.
"I'll be all right."
"He'll drain you."
I shrugged. I'd been drained before. I hadn't died; all I'd done was dream walk.
"Once he finds out what I want," I said, "he'll be game. The thought of making me. the leader of the light, into a dark force .. . When he's in vamp mode, he won't be able to resist."
"And when he comes back to himself," Summer whispered, "he'll be in agony."
"If I've spoiled Doomsday, he'll be thrilled."
"Even if you win, you'll still be a vampire. That isn't going to go away."
I paused, imagining what I would become. Could I do it?
I remembered the woman of smoke, what she'd done to Sawyer, his father, and so many others. I thought of all I'd seen in the short month I'd been aware that there was another world that existed parallel to our own—an evil world full of evil things—and I knew the truth.
"It doesn't matter what happens to me." I looked into Sawyer's eyes, and he nodded. He'd do what had to be done when all of this was through.
"Any ideas?" I flicked a finger at the golden prison door.
Summer started forward. Sawyer lifted his hand and flung her back. His eerie gray eyes shone on her like the full silver light of the moon. "If you continue," he murmured, "I will bind you with rowan."
"Rowan kills a fairy," I said.
"Eventually." Sawyer didn't sound concerned.
"I don't think that's necessary." In the past, I'd wished Summer dead on several occasions, but now ... not so much.
"Don't do me any favors, Phoenix," Summer said. "I've sold my soul to protect him—"
"You what?" I said softly.
"Figure of speech," she muttered. "If I'd gone to the dark side, don't you think you'd have heard about it by now?"
Hard to say. Ruthie'd been suspiciously silent. Was I unconsciously blocking her voice now that I'd learned of her betrayal? I didn't think so. I wasn't even certain I could.
"Don't kill her," I ordered Sawyer.
"If you do this," Summer murmured, "you'll devastate him. You think I'll care if I'm dead once that happens?"
Guilt beckoned, but I pushed it aside. Guilt was a weakness I couldn't afford.
"How do I get in?"
Sawyer still held one arm up to keep Summer back. He held the other out to me, the index finger of that hand pointing toward a thin gap between the floor and the bottom of the door.
At first I didn't understand, then my gaze caught on the tarantula creeping across his forearm.
"Be careful," he murmured.
Summer shrieked and tried to get off the floor. He smacked her back with a twitch of his thumb.
"No matter what you hear, no matter what I say, don't open the door."
"Phoenix," Sawyer said, his voice exasperated, "if I could open the door, there'd be no reason for this." He lifted his arm encouragingly. "And we both know that you'd cut out your own tongue before you'd admit you shouldn't have gone in there."
"Don't follow me," I said.
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"I mean it."
"So do I."