“How? How can you help us?”
“Not us. You. Look, I took a draw before I left. You couldn’t really afford it, but I needed it to help you burn through one of these guys’ shields—”
“What?”
“—and once I get him, once we’re in charge, we’re gonna push our way to the front of the line when they take the shop—”
“What? Billy, what are you—”
“Listen to me, okay? You and me, we’re gonna get your body out of there. I’m not in it right now, so it looks like you’re already dead. We say we want the corpse for a souvenir or—or that we got orders to take it to one of their leaders, or—”
“No!”
“—or something, anything, to get you out of this building—”
“I’m not leaving them!”
“Then you’re gonna die with them!” He grabbed me. “Look at yourself! It’s gonna be touch-and-go to see that you don’t fade as it is! And there’s nothing else I can do for you, okay? This isn’t London—”
“London?”
“—there’s no more tricks up my sleeve! We’ve got to move, and move now—”
“What about London?”
“Cassie—”
“Billy! What about London?”
“Damn it!” He stared at me, exasperated. “I just meant that you’ve won against some crazy odds, like when we were at Agnes’ old court a couple days ago. I thought we were goners, but I took out those two mages, and then you pulled that stunt with the golem—”
“Golem.” I stared at him.
“—but that won’t help us now. Even if you possessed one, it’s one guy—”
He cut off, probably because I was shaking him. “Have you seen one? Billy—do they have one here?”
“They got three, but what difference does it make? I told you— Oh, shit!”
That last was in response to my zooming off, up near the top of the ceiling. And desperately scanning the crowd. And spotting not one, not two, but three of the creatures, just like Billy had said, their bright orange clay standing out even in the gloom.
And even better, they were all together, clustered over in a clump at the edge of the fighting, along with their owners.
I tore off after them, with Billy on my heels.
A second later, I was hovering in front of a seven-foot colossus. Who should be able to see me, because it was a spirit, too. One of the incorporeal types of demons Rosier had talked about, who had been tricked and trapped by a mage.
And it looked like I was right. Because I’d no sooner landed than the huge head tilted slightly, and the clay eyes seemed to focus on mine. I swallowed, really hoping I was right on this.
“Billy,” I said quietly, “possess a mage.”
“Which one?”
“Any one.”
“About time! I didn’t think you were gonna come to your senses!”
He moved off and I looked up at the golem.
“Hello,” I said nervously, and smiled. I don’t know why.
It didn’t smile back.
Of course, I wasn’t sure it could; I’d never actually seen one of those faces move.
“Uh, look. I . . . kind of have a problem here,” I said, trying not to sound as desperate as I felt. “And I was wondering—you’re a demon, right? A powerful one? I was told that’s the only kind the mages bother to, uh, to trap in one of these things, and—”
It just looked at me.
But it hadn’t looked away, so I floundered on.
“Look, I kind of have an alliance with—” I stopped suddenly, because it occurred to me that maybe mentioning the demon high council wasn’t a great idea. Some demons didn’t seem to like them much, and what if this was one of those? It’s not like I could tell. “I just meant that I, uh, respect your kind a lot, and I was wondering if maybe, if I release you—”
Nothing. Not even a nod. I started wondering if it spoke English.
“Look, if I release you, will you help me?” I asked in a rush. “These people, they’re in trouble because of me, but I—I can’t help them right now, and—” And that had probably been a mistake, too, because demons admire strength, and I’d just admitted that I didn’t have any. But I thought that was pretty obvious anyway, and . . . and what had I been saying?
I stared at him, desperate and despairing, and tried to think up an argument that might work. But whatever connection I had to my brain wasn’t functioning too well, or maybe it was my brain that wasn’t. Because my body currently had no soul in residence, so it was in a state we call dying, and—
And—
And—
“Cass!” A stranger’s voice shocked me enough that I jumped and whirled. And saw a dark mage standing behind me, grinning. “Got one!”
It took me a second, but the smile was the same.
Billy, I thought. Gun, I thought, because he had one in his hand. “Shoot,” I said, because that one idea was still clear, clear like crystal.
Billy frowned. “Shoot what?”
“Him!” I pulled back out of the way, pointing not at the golem, but at the guy standing next to it.
“That guy?” Billy said.
“Yes!”
“That guy right there?” he repeated, now pointing with his gun—
In the face of a startled mage, who nonetheless got a hand on his weapon—
“Yes! Shoot him. Shoot him!”
And Billy did.
The blast echoed in my ears, the mage fell over, a look of surprise still on his features, and the man next to him shot Billy—or, rather, Billy’s purloined body.
“Well, shit,” Billy said, looking down at his chest.
I didn’t say anything. Because I was too busy watching the golem. And the little energy crystal in its forehead, which had just cracked, turned gray, and started smoking.
The golem pulled it out and looked at it for a moment. And then dropped it on the floor, crushing it under a big orange heel. And turned those expressionless eyes on me.
“You are Cassandra Palmer?” a deep, gravelly voice asked.
“Yes.”
“The one who killed Apollo?”
I swallowed, trying to decide if that was a trick question, but my brain wasn’t up to it. I could only hope the truth was something he wanted to hear. “Yes?”
The shotgun slung across his back was suddenly in his hand, and ratcheting. “What can I do for you?”
I stared at him, so relieved I could barely speak. “Fuck shit up?”
He looked at me silently for a second, and then turned and shot the two mages nearest him, who were still firing at Billy. And who I guessed were the owners of the other golems. Because their control crystals shattered and burned as soon as the men hit the floor.
“One moment,” the first golem said to them as their eyes began to glow. “We have a small job to do first.”
“Oh yes. Oh yes, indeed,” a sibilant voice whispered, from inside the nearest one.
The other just nodded.
The first golem looked at me. “Consider it fucked.”
His body started to vibrate, and chunks of clay began cracking and falling off. But not as fast as the second guy, the one with the creepy voice. Who erupted from his shell in a glowing nimbus of power and then spread out across the space above us, like a massive, iridescent jellyfish.
I stared at it, mesmerized. It was beautiful. The silvery white strands glimmered, shot through with every color of the rainbow, riding on currents only it could see. . . .