“We don’t deserve to be down there.” Her voice was hoarse. “We failed her.”
My heart constricted in my chest, and the tears rose up over the wall I had blocked them with. They hung on the lashes, in the corners of my eyes, and threatened to fall onto the bright green grass.
“No,” I said. “This was my fault. Not yours.”
“I was supposed to watch over her. She seemed all right.” She gave a choking sound. “I should have seen it was all a lie.”
“And I was supposed to find this thing. I didn’t. Not in time, not even now.”
She ran a hand through her hair. “It never stops, does it?”
“What?”
“As much as we pretend we’re human.” She nodded to the mourners below. “Pretend to have a normal life, we can’t have it.”
I cleared my throat. “I don’t know. We did a good job for three years.”
“It’s all a lie. We’re more like him.” Serenity’s glared in Mercer’s direction. “Able to masquerade, but never able to really be a part of this world.”
She turned and marched down the concrete path toward a small group of mausoleums that probably belonged to some old, rich families. I doubled stepped and caught up with her, placing a hand on her arm. She jumped and pulled away.
“We may never be able to fit in with humans,” I said, “but we have each other, right?”
“Until he takes you from me.” She bent her head. “Like he did with my mother.”
“I thought he wasn’t around for your mother,” I said.
“He’s the whole reason she went crazy,” she murmured. “She kept waiting for him to come back, and he never did. Then, when I was three, she tried to kill both of us.”
My heart squeezed in my chest. “I never knew. I’m so sorry.”
“Save it. I don’t need the pity.” She shook her head. “All he ever does is bring misery to my life.”
“He’s trying to change, right?” I ventured in a tiny voice.
She scoffed. “He may say that, but here we are at our friend’s funeral. He may not have killed her, but his world did.”
“No one likes the keres, not even the gods. They are a plague,” I murmured. “I’ll find this thing. I’ll stop it.”
“Like you did in the parking lot?” Her angry gaze cut toward me. “Is this the only way it can end? Am I going to have to attend your funeral, too?”
“No.” I stood up straighter despite the queasiness of my stomach. Death was something that came along with my life. It was better than the alternative, but she didn’t have to know that. “I had the wrong information, but now that I know, I will beat it.”
She laughed bitterly and turned away from me and the funeral. “Yeah, well, your track record speaks differently. Sorry, but you seem too distracted.”
I opened my mouth and closed it, pressing my lips together. My aunt had warned me from when she first arrived. I’d ignored my duty and let the daimones have free run around me. I’d been fooled by a god. Now two people I knew had died, all because I wanted a normal life.
I bowed my head. “I know I haven’t done the best job before now, but my aunt and I will be able to take care of this.”
“I don’t see how that’s going to happen. You and your aunt don’t seem to be on the best of terms.” She shook her head and glanced back at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. “Leave me out of this one. I don’t think I have it in me to watch you die.”
“So, you’re just going to run? From me—from your dad?”
“Don’t call him that. We’re nothing alike.” She headed though the of row squat buildings and up the hill, deeper into the graveyard.
I dug my nails into the tree until they broke and pushed the sobs back down into my chest as she drove away. Her words ripped into me deeper than any ker’s jagged nails. My aunt had said some of the same things the other night and even before that.
I sighed and stared at the blood dripping from my fingers and the tiny crescent shaped cuts. We hadn’t spoken since the night in the parking lot. I loathed the thought of making the first apology, but she would wait me out for the next few days, and I needed her to get through this.
I shook my head and laughed. What was I thinking? Aunt Jo wouldn’t let others suffer from daimones because she was angry with me. I took a deep breath and headed back to the mourners. After the funeral, I would call her, make up, and get this hunt back on track. No one else would die because of my selfishness.
Hermes stood at the entrance to the mausoleum alley with his hand in his pockets and a concerned frown on his face. “Where’s Serenity?”
I cleared my throat. “I think she wants to be alone.”
His frown deepened. “This isn’t the best time for either of you to be alone. Go with your friends. I’ll find her.”
My chest heaved from the pressure building up inside. “I seem to be running out of friends.”
“Even more of a reason not to leave Serenity alone.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you, or me.”