“Tatters.” Linus projected his voice from the top step. “I’d like to introduce you to Grier Woolworth, my fiancée.”
A round of cheers and applause moved through the small gathering.
“Grier, this is Bo, Jean, Jean Too, Lao, DeShawn, and Ringo.”
These people had come a long way to do us a favor, so I focused on that spark of gratefulness to find a genuine smile for them.
“Welcome to Savannah, and to Woolworth House.” I met them on the grass. “It’s great to meet you all.” I set out down the stone path leading to the carriage house and waved for them to follow. “I’ll show you to your rooms, and your temporary shop.”
The fit was tight for six people plus their customers, but I had overheard Linus and Mary Alice breaking them into shifts of three prior to their arrival. That would help cut down on the crush of bodies. Any spillover would have to end up at Woolworth House, which I wanted to avoid if at all possible, and so did Woolly.
“If there’s a piece of equipment you need but can’t find, or if you run low on supplies, just come to the main house. Someone is there at all times. Ask for Amelie, and she’ll get in touch with us.”
“I should supervise the initial stages.” Linus brushed his lips over mine. “I’ll also be instructing the artists on how to safely modify the insomnia tattoos. That might take some time.”
Unable to help myself, I ran my fingers through his hair. “Becky would appreciate you looking out for the other sentinels.”
“Coordinate with Hood and Boaz,” he said, never one to accept praise easily. “Once you decide on a plan of action, I’ll be ready to go.”
Breaking away from him, I located Boaz near the front gate. On my way, I chose the first two sentinels I came in contact with and handed them over to him. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” He glanced between them and me. “What am I supposed to do with them?”
“You’re out of your mind if you think you’re helping with the Lacroix situation without a tattoo.” I shoved him toward the carriage house. “Trust me. It’s saved my life, or at least my freedom, more times than I can count.”
Mouth tight, he led the others to get their tattoos, leaving me to respond to the jeweler in peace.
The attached image blurred until I had to blink my vision clear and focus on the details.
“Mom is sending her healer.” Lethe took the phone out of my hand. “What’s got you sniffly?”
“Give me that.” I grabbed for her, but she was gwyllgi-fast. “You can’t just butt into my texts.”
“Oh, wow.” Her eyes went glassy with emotion. “He doesn’t know?”
“He doesn’t know.” Using her distraction, I snatched it back. “Don’t tell him.”
“My lips are sealed.”
While I appreciated the sentiment, I highly doubted that was physically possible for Lethe’s food portal.
“Keep them that way.” I pointed a warning finger at her. “I’m going upstairs. I need to get started on a new sigil design.”
The spot between my shoulders itched as she watched me go. She wasn’t buying that was the reason, and she was right, but it was one of them.
Once I was alone, I shut the door and used privacy sigils to make sure no one disturbed me.
I had a plan, and claiming Eileen from her perch, I set about hammering out the details.
Nine
Linus found me an hour and a half later. Dawn was behind us, and I was fading. From the patient expression on his face, I suspected he had come to me much sooner, but if he knocked, I hadn’t heard. That was the point of the wards. But through them, there was a…I’m not sure how to describe it. I sensed him in the hall, like an invisible string wrapped around my heart had received a firm tug.
He noticed the grimoire first, smelled the blood ink in the air second. “You’ve been busy.”
“Just because you stopped giving me lessons doesn’t mean I’ve become a total slouch.”
Eileen kept drawing his interest, but he didn’t press me for details. “Did you speak to Boaz?”
“I got sidetracked.” I tucked my pen into my pocket. “Did you tattoo Boaz?”
“I did.”
“You’re really not going to ask?” I grasped his wrist, checking his pulse. “It’s killing you. I can tell.”
“You locked yourself away for a reason. I assumed if you wanted to share that reason, you would, when you were ready.”
“I wasn’t hiding from you.” It needed saying. “Anything you want to know, all you have to do is ask. I’m an open book for you.” I pressed my hand against his chest. “I hope you can tell me anything too.”
“Since you feel that way…” He eyed the grimoire. “What were you doing up here?”
“Putting all those hours of tutelage to good use.” I patted Eileen’s cover. “I’ve cobbled together a few sigils from my genetic memory to create a mental vault.”
The interest vanished, replaced by wariness. “Playing with minds is dangerous.”
“The idea is to form a temporary short-term memory pocket where I can store things until I can write them down.”
Understanding struck him, but he couldn’t erase the proud glint in his eyes. “Clever.”
“Necessity being the mother of all invention and whatnot.” I shrugged. “We get one shot at the Marchand collection. One shot before Savannah runs out of time. If I can do this, if it works, it’s the best chance we’re going to get to nail Lacroix.”
For Lacroix to wear a medallion as protection, I must be able to take him down with my magic just as easily as I killed other vampires. Or maybe I could break his compulsion over his minions. But, and it was a big but, we had to get past its magic before I could work my own.
There was no time to read and absorb every word on every page in every book.
This one time, hopefully with Linus’s blessing, I was going to cheat on my homework.
But for now, I was ready to trade sigils for snuggles and get some shut-eye.
That night we received our special dispensation via Boaz, who had been approved to act as our guide through the bowels of Atramentous, and while I was grateful for a friendly face to show us the way, I couldn’t deny part of me was hurt he had been stationed there and never told me. I’m not sure why when he had kept so many secrets.
Adelaide, for instance.
On our way out the front door, I noticed the carriage house was full to bursting with sentinels wearing Saniderm patches over their fresh tattoos to quicken the healing process. I was sure, in a day or two, a sigil would finish the process, but for now the clear material kept out dirt, germs, and pretty much everything else.
The usual joking was absent. So was the horseplay I expected to see when so many of them gathered. A tension thrummed through the crowd, and more than one face wore an expression that made it clear they considered the tattoos as memorials.
Given the fact our all-access pass only covered three, I expected Hood to stay behind.
I really should have known better.
“Boaz, you’re with me,” Hood called, jangling the van keys. “We’re all playing so nice together, I don’t want to jinx it.”
Woolly flapped her shutters before I climbed off the porch, a summoning I couldn’t ignore.
The others went ahead while I lingered with an arm wrapped around the nearest column. “What’s up?”
A stack of photos flipped through my mind: a starless night, a dripping sink, mold on the caulk in the shower.
“Trust me, if there was another way, I would take it. I don’t want to go back, but I have to do this.”
“I’m with Woolly,” Amelie said softly from behind me. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“It’s the only one we’ve got that stands any chance of working.” I shifted to face her. “Linus will be there. Boaz too. They’ll get me out again, and all in one piece.”
Twisting the fabric of her tee, she asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“You’re already doing it. You’re keeping an eye on Woolly, and you’re working your butt off to make sure supplies get where they’re needed most.”
“It doesn’t feel big enough.” She smoothed her hands down the wrinkled material, shut her eyes. “Big is what gets me in trouble.” She squared her shoulders. “I can do small.”
Proud she was learning to rein in her ambition, I clamped a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you.”
“I owe you.” Her smile was fleeting. “I’m still paying that debt.”
Aware the others were waiting, I had to let it go. “Call if anything happens.”
Woolly’s senses trailed over me as I took the stairs, and she waved her door as I climbed in the van.
Despite the years I had spent in Atramentous, I had no clue where it was located. Grief had blinded me after my sentencing. I had gone numb, unable to believe I was alone again, and unable to fathom what awaited me. The exit hadn’t gone any better. The lingering drugs in my system kept the edges too hazy for me to recall much of anything. In some ways, it was like I stepped out of the medical ward and onto my lawn. But there was a flight in there somewhere, and a taxi home.
“I handled all the arrangements.” Linus studied my face. “We’ll be there and back within nine hours.”
“Four hours with the collection?” Through the buzzing in my skull, I thought I remembered hearing that number somewhere. “Any idea how many titles?”
“Forty-eight individual volumes, plus thirty-two journals and assorted notes indexed for reference.”
“We’re going to need more than one extra vault to hold that.” I couldn’t imagine it all fitting in my head. “I wonder if one person can wear more than one sigil. Compartmentalize, I mean.”
“Using the sigil once is dangerous enough.” Linus gave me his best professorial look. “It’s untested, and its origins are a genetic database of memory we have no means of validating except as you rediscover each design. There’s so much we don’t know about the goddess-touched condition.” A smile got the best of him, and he indulged. “The sigils in your head connect and reconnect in organic ways as unique as your individual thought process, and you have proven time and time again your instincts are solid.”