Jode was feeling heavier by the minute, but I had to deal. I’d knocked him out. He was my responsibility. “So what’s your typical kind of work?”
She shrugged. “There really is no typical. It’s all kinds of stuff. Always different.” She pulled her hair from beneath the strap of my backpack and twisted it into a knot. She was carrying both my pack and hers. “But for example, I’ve found lost hikers and helped them back to trails. I’ve kept a couple of kids from running into the streets. I’ve made dozens of emergency calls. I kept a scared woman company when her car was stranded on the side of the road in the Oregon wilderness. I’ve stopped four suicides. All amazing experiences. I’ve been to a lot of parties—high school and college—where I’ve prevented rape. Those make me sick. Physically, I feel ill after those. So … it’s things like that. Smaller, you could say, compared to what we’re doing. But still really important.” She frowned. “Why do I tell you so much?”
“I don’t know. Do you resent it?”
“Telling you stuff?” She smiled. “Yes. Every word.”
“That hurts, Martin,” I said, but I knew she liked talking to me. Probably not as much as I liked it. Everything she said only made her more incredible. And she was helping me forget Ra’om. “I meant being a Seeker.”
“No, I don’t resent it. It’s not always easy but it’s a privilege. It was harder in the beginning, before I got used to it. There was one point when I felt so lonely, I wasn’t sure I could take it anymore. I ended up working with another Seeker, this really great woman named Isabel. She helped so much. She’s the one who told me to start keeping a journal, which helps a lot, too. I see her once in a while, whenever I need her. She’s become like an aunt to me. And there are people all over the world who open their homes to me. Good people who will feed me and give me a room to sleep for as long as I need it without asking any questions. I get to see so much kindness because of this. And I’m helping people. I can’t think of anything I’d want to do more than that. What about you? Do you resent it?”
“Being a horseman?” I shifted Jode onto my left shoulder. “Undecided.”
My gut was telling me that no, I didn’t. I’d met her because of it. I’d seen some incredible things. I knew the answer to humankind’s most fundamental question. I couldn’t look at the stars without feeling like God was right there watching over me. Over everything. A lot of hugely positive aspects. The parts I didn’t love were the Kindred. And Marcus. My horse. Maybe the rage powers. Dropping out of RASP had sucked. Making my mom worry did, too. And leaving the Jeep at LAX. But other than that, being a horseman was cool.
“I bet you’ve been wondering why this happened to you,” Daryn said.
“You bet right.”
“I wondered that a lot too in the beginning.” She glanced at me. “But what if it’s happening for you? I’m not saying it is. I’m just putting it forward as a possibility. But what would you think then?”
“That’s deep, Martin. I need a second to think about that.” I actually needed a rest. I set Jode down beneath one of the angel statues lining the bridge. A cold whip of air rushed across my sweaty back as I straightened.
“Blake,” Marcus said, turning to me. “You feel that?”
“What is it?” Daryn asked.
“Not sure,” I said. I scanned the streets in the distance. They were still. It was the quietest part of night, on the verge of morning. Then I saw a shadow slipping along the far banks of the river. It could have been Alevar but the cuff was sending me—and Marcus, apparently—undeniable Sebastian signals. As the shadow drew closer, zipping up the same bridge where we stood, I could see it more clearly. It looked like long smoky threads, dark and fluttering.
I thought I knew what this was, but I had to play it safe. I focused on the feeling I’d tapped into just an hour ago—a combination of protect, defend, serve—and connected with a thread of power inside me. A jolt ran through my hand and I saw a flash of fire, then the sword was mine.
Yes, yes, yes.
Marcus came over to us. He looked at me like, oh, so we’re doing that? A moment later, a scythe-sized tornado of pale dust flowed from his hand down to the street, forming into his weapon.
The flurry of black smoke drew nearer and slowed a few feet away. From that moving darkness, a black hoof appeared, then another, then legs, shoulders, haunches, and on up. I’d seen Shadow materialize twice now, and I was no less amazed.
This time was different, though. Sebastian formed up right along with her. One moment I was looking at ribbons of smoke. The next, there he was. Mounted on Shadow. Sitting in a black saddle I’d never seen before. Wearing black clothes and light armor I had also never seen before.
He looked nothing like himself.
He looked impressive. And terrifying.
The only recognizable part of him was his gigantic grin, which disappeared when he saw Jode slumped under the statue.
“Whoa,” Bas said. “What happened to him?”