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Authors: Melissa de La Cruz
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the gravel, trying not to get any vomit in their new car.
Rafe gave his brother a sympathetic pat on the back. “Let it out, let it out.”
“You’re killing him, you know,” said Edon from the passenger seat.
“Mac?” Lawson asked. “You sure you can do this? We don’t have to,” he said, although he knew it was a lie.
Malcolm knew it too. “I’m okay,” he said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He sat up straighter, regained his spirit. “Keep your eyes on the road, hotshot. Don’t worry about me.”
“Maybe put your seat belt on too while you’re at it,” Edon said. It was pitch black outside and Lawson was cruising at just over ninety, headlights off. “No one minds if you hurt yourself, but you might plow into one of us on your way out the windshield. We’d rather not pick glass out of our hair.”
Lawson grunted.He gazed at the endless black pavement, no streetlights, just the dark of the sky and the endless road. He drove fast because it was fun and he could always talk his way out of a ticket, and he drove without headlights because it was easier to see hellhounds in the dark.
The oculus couldn’t be too far now if Malcolm was so ill. The youngest could sense the hounds’ presence, they’d learned; his stomach acted as an alarm that the hounds were near. It had kept them one step ahead of their pursuers.
When they lost Tala, for a while it had seemed they had lost Lawson too. His brothers knew the reason—he and Tala hadn’t fooled anybody with their sneaking around. He had shut down, just like Edon had after their escape, if not worse. He did not speak, did not eat; he was barely functioning. His heart was shattered. It was torture not knowing what had befallen Tala, whether she had been killed immediately upon capture, or whether the hounds had let her live. Even if they had kept her alive, it was only a few weeks now to her eighteenth moon day, and he had seen what had happened to Ahramin.
Therewas little hope of executing a rescue operation. Hell was vast and infinite; Tala could be anywhere. He could spend the rest of his life looking and he would never find her. As the days went by, there was even less chance of finding her alive and unchanged.
She was gone, and that was it.
Until …
A few days earlier Malcolm had woken screaming from his sleep, sweat running down his face. “It’s
him
, I can see him!” The “him” was Romulus, of course. The Great Beast of Hell was ever in their minds.
“You saw Romulus? Where?” Edon demanded, his voice rising in panic.
“It looked like he was in the moon,” Malcolm said. “He was speaking to someone.”
“An oculus,” Edon said, wary. He explained that the
obscura luminis
were beacons that shone in the glom,
the dark lights
, which the wolves had used thousands of years earlier, during the days of the old empire, to communicate over vast distances. They were scattered all over the globe and the underworld, had been used by the Praetorian Guard to keep track of the packs as they roamed across the universe, but the oculi had been dark for centuries. Now one was lit, and possibly working.
“Where?” Lawson asked.
Malcolmshut his eyes, concentrating. “It looked like it was in that place we first appeared, when we arrived here. That open meadow, surrounded by hills in the valley.”
An oculus. Lawson felt the first flash of hope rise in his chest. “I can use it, I can use the oculus to find Tala. It can show me where she is, where they’re holding her.”
“No!”
Lawson looked at Edon as if he were a stranger. “No?”
Edon glared at him. “If you use the oculus, you could risk revealing our location to Romulus! Don’t you see that? You would put us all in danger.”
“I won’t—I can do it—I know I can. I’ll be quick, I promise. Nothing will happen.” He couldn’t give up on Tala, not yet. She might still be alive, and if she was, he couldn’t leave her to that dark fate; he owed her that much. He
Rafe gave his brother a sympathetic pat on the back. “Let it out, let it out.”
“You’re killing him, you know,” said Edon from the passenger seat.
“Mac?” Lawson asked. “You sure you can do this? We don’t have to,” he said, although he knew it was a lie.
Malcolm knew it too. “I’m okay,” he said, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He sat up straighter, regained his spirit. “Keep your eyes on the road, hotshot. Don’t worry about me.”
“Maybe put your seat belt on too while you’re at it,” Edon said. It was pitch black outside and Lawson was cruising at just over ninety, headlights off. “No one minds if you hurt yourself, but you might plow into one of us on your way out the windshield. We’d rather not pick glass out of our hair.”
Lawson grunted.He gazed at the endless black pavement, no streetlights, just the dark of the sky and the endless road. He drove fast because it was fun and he could always talk his way out of a ticket, and he drove without headlights because it was easier to see hellhounds in the dark.
The oculus couldn’t be too far now if Malcolm was so ill. The youngest could sense the hounds’ presence, they’d learned; his stomach acted as an alarm that the hounds were near. It had kept them one step ahead of their pursuers.
When they lost Tala, for a while it had seemed they had lost Lawson too. His brothers knew the reason—he and Tala hadn’t fooled anybody with their sneaking around. He had shut down, just like Edon had after their escape, if not worse. He did not speak, did not eat; he was barely functioning. His heart was shattered. It was torture not knowing what had befallen Tala, whether she had been killed immediately upon capture, or whether the hounds had let her live. Even if they had kept her alive, it was only a few weeks now to her eighteenth moon day, and he had seen what had happened to Ahramin.
Therewas little hope of executing a rescue operation. Hell was vast and infinite; Tala could be anywhere. He could spend the rest of his life looking and he would never find her. As the days went by, there was even less chance of finding her alive and unchanged.
She was gone, and that was it.
Until …
A few days earlier Malcolm had woken screaming from his sleep, sweat running down his face. “It’s
him
, I can see him!” The “him” was Romulus, of course. The Great Beast of Hell was ever in their minds.
“You saw Romulus? Where?” Edon demanded, his voice rising in panic.
“It looked like he was in the moon,” Malcolm said. “He was speaking to someone.”
“An oculus,” Edon said, wary. He explained that the
obscura luminis
were beacons that shone in the glom,
the dark lights
, which the wolves had used thousands of years earlier, during the days of the old empire, to communicate over vast distances. They were scattered all over the globe and the underworld, had been used by the Praetorian Guard to keep track of the packs as they roamed across the universe, but the oculi had been dark for centuries. Now one was lit, and possibly working.
“Where?” Lawson asked.
Malcolmshut his eyes, concentrating. “It looked like it was in that place we first appeared, when we arrived here. That open meadow, surrounded by hills in the valley.”
An oculus. Lawson felt the first flash of hope rise in his chest. “I can use it, I can use the oculus to find Tala. It can show me where she is, where they’re holding her.”
“No!”
Lawson looked at Edon as if he were a stranger. “No?”
Edon glared at him. “If you use the oculus, you could risk revealing our location to Romulus! Don’t you see that? You would put us all in danger.”
“I won’t—I can do it—I know I can. I’ll be quick, I promise. Nothing will happen.” He couldn’t give up on Tala, not yet. She might still be alive, and if she was, he couldn’t leave her to that dark fate; he owed her that much. He
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