23
We moved through reality in such a way that it felt ghostlike, moving at the speed of thought, ephemeral. Like I wasn’t wholly myself but just a spirit.
Lights and sounds flashed around and through us, making me feel cold and jittery. When she finally stopped, I knew immediately we were back in Mexico.
Asher’s eyes zoomed around the barren landscape with the gleam of a predator. The fine hairs on my arms stood on edge as my demons, in tune to my emotions, slithered to wakefulness.
The old woman stepped to the side, drawing out her arm and pointing to a large red rock off in the distance.
“There?” I asked, but she didn’t answer or move, just continued to point like a compass needle toward true north.
The world slept and white clouds in the indigo sky practically gleamed from the full moon, which hung like a bright, silvery orb. A shooting star flared past.
“What do you think, Priest? Is there treachery afoot?”
He didn’t laugh at my dumb joke. “If I say run, Pandora, you’d better do it this time.”
“Not a chance, Ash. So don’t even bother.”
Growling, he tugged me forward. I tried but failed to hide my smile.
Although, the second we walked into the cave I was no longer smiling. Both Ash and I took several sniffs of air. There was no smell of rot—this place smelled like walking into an almond factory must.
It was strong, but not overpowering.
Frowning, still clearly anxious, he kept ahead of me. It was so cute when he tried to protect me. I’d been alone for years. Being taken care of wasn’t something I was comfortable with, but I was learning to accept it.
Wall torches lit almost like magic whenever we passed one, lighting our way. A cool breeze caused their flame to flicker. The anticipation of being set upon made every creak and groan seem ten times louder and far more threatening than a couple of pebbles skidding across the stone floor should.
But there was nothing waiting for us at the end of the long tunnel. The pathway opened up into a medium-size room carved out of the rock, and standing in the middle of it was the girl with the blue dress from the other night.
Except this time she wasn’t dressed in blue, tonight she wore a brilliant gown of white that appeared to be threaded through with gems at the hem. Her feet were bare and her hair was plaited in an intricate mass of braids. Her face was painted with the skull mask.
“You’re the queen?” I gasped. The girl was young. Extraordinarily young to have to wear such a heavy mantle upon her slim shoulders.
She inclined her head. “Demon and consort, you are most welcome here.”
Her voice was strong and passionate, her English perfect. Keen eyes—one brown, one green—landed on me.
“It wasn’t you, was it?” I asked without preamble or even acknowledgement of her greeting, excited because I knew I was about to get some desperately needed answers. “Did you know what the hive did?”
Her chin inclined a fraction of an inch, and though her bearing was regal, she hadn’t been able to hide her quick flinch from me. “I barely escaped with my life.” She swallowed hard. “You must understand that as queen, I should have been able to save my hive. Lorena discovered the generators and was able to whisk me to safety.” Her eyes grew distant. “The men took my children and destroyed them.”
As she talked, I saw three figures emerge from shadows. It was the man from the bar, Juanita, and the young boy.
My skin crawled as I realized that they’d been very much dead last I’d seen them. Noticing my wide-eyed look, she nodded.
“I was able to save them because you buried them with such love.”
The three sets of eyes looked down at the ground. None of them were savaged as they’d last been; all three of them looked like real, solid flesh. Not dead at all. Their skin gleamed and their eyes were bright.
I shook my head. “But I saw him disappear at the taco stand, and you denied ever seeing him.”
Brilliant white teeth flashed at me. “I never denied it, I simply did not answer. I sensed the evil upon him, the touch of the Triad. I could not change him at the time; he was infected with something. So I took him. But before I had a chance to secure him, he vanished again. I believe the Triad returned for him. Whatever happened, he was next discovered dead among them.” She pointed at the other two.
“What do you mean that because of burying them with love you were able to bring them back?”
The flickering shadows of candlelight played across her macabre-looking face.
“To reanimate that which was killed with evil would bring back a fractured, broken mind, one I cannot control. There must be love present in order for my powers to work at their height. You cared enough to see them buried properly and that was enough to heal them.”
“What of the other zombies? They looked nothing like them,” I said, because these bodies in front of me looked fresh, not even dead. As did Lorena—none of them looked like horror-movie props.
She shrugged. “As I said, to bring someone back who wasn’t buried with the proper reverence would cause the mind to be fractured, destroyed. That is what you saw. Some of them were mine.”
I remembered the corpses that seemed as alive as myself— I’d wondered at the time at how different they were from the others.
“But many were not.” She stopped talking as if taking a moment to regain her composure. “They were slain by evil hands and brought back with corrupt magic. I tried to warn you, but I couldn’t get too close. The eyes watch me constantly.”
Licking my lips, I took a step closer. At this the zombies lifted their heads and circled their queen in a protective circle.
Holding up her hand, she nodded. “It is okay, my children. You may relax.”
The girl before me acted far more mature than her years.
Making sure to keep a safe distance from her, I spread my arms. “Why are you telling me all this? I was sent here to kill you. You shouldn’t trust me.”
“And yet I do.” She smiled. “I’ve been waiting a long time for you, Pandora. You must understand. Unlike other monsters of this world, I am completely mortal. I live the lifespan of a human.”
“I had no idea.” As I’d mentioned before, zombies were a mystery to many of us, but certainly knowing a queen to be mortal would be a secret she’d desperately wish to keep concealed. So why was she telling me this?
“And why should you?” she continued. “To be queen isn’t an easy job. It is why the hive is so loyal, going as far as to lay down their lives down for mine. They are strong where I am not. But within me”—she tapped her fist to her chest—“lies the beginning of my line. Our oral tradition means that in a sense, we are as immortal as you.”
“So why have you been waiting for me? And if you know about the Triad, do you know about their prophecy concerning me?”
She nodded, causing the mum in her hair to float gracefully to her feet. “Yes. I’ve heard of the prophecy. Once I determined that it was you they sought, I tried to gain access to you.”
“How do you know so much?” Asher finally spoke up.
Her eyes zeroed in on him immediately. “Because we too have a prophecy. It was taught to me by my mother and grandmother both.” She pointed to Lorena and I suddenly realized the old woman had to be her grandmother, but not only that, she was also a zombie now. So clearly a queen didn’t truly die, she simply became one of the next queen’s children when the succession passed on. It was a creepy thought.
Pulse racing with anticipation, I leaned forward on balls of my feet, wanting to shake the truth out of her. “And?”
“You are not alone in this fight, demon. My numbers are decimated right now, but once they recover, we shall be your right hand.”
“Why? Because of your prophecy?” I was so sick of everything coming back to superstition, but in this, I couldn’t deny that having such a powerful ally wasn’t the best thing I’d heard in weeks.
She inclined her head. “You are the key.”
“Key to what?” I almost growled. “To releasing Wrath? How?”
Asher’s palm pressed into the center of my back and I leaned into his touch.
“The Triad is evil, it is why we never joined with the Order. Because of who controls them. You are the key to destroying the three.”
I shook my head. “So now I’m going to destroy the Triad too? This just keeps getting better.”
“Understand we all have a capacity for evil and good. The choices you make, those you align yourself with, that is the side that will win. You can bring about the end of ages or you can usher us into an era of peace.” She held out her hand. “Join me, demon, let us defeat the darkness.”
“How are you so certain that I’m the right woman? How can you know for sure?”
She shrugged and for a second I saw the flash of youth that betrayed her mortality. “Because I know you ingested Pestilence. You were born with Lust. You proved to me that night that you are the sin eater spoken of in our legends.”
“Sin eater?” Asher’s lips turned down. It surprised me a little that he genuinely seemed shocked by that.
I was constantly feeling a step behind in everything, but that he now seemed surprised worried me for reasons I couldn’t put my finger on.
She reminded me of a bird in the way she stared at us—stutter-stop movements interspersed with blinks.
“Did you know that to consume an LCD soul as you have would naturally make the host turn gradually insane?” she asked.
She looked dead at me and I felt compelled to tell her the truth. “To be honest, I don’t know much about possession since this was my first time.”
Her teeth looked sharp when she smiled. “But not your last. To become the key, you most become powerful. Incredibly so. By the time you are through, Pandora, you’ll be Legion. We start in Tennessee—it is their home.”
Finally, a tangible clue. It wasn’t much, but it was enough.
And this time when she extended her hand again, I took it. In that moment, I really believed it. That we’d be a shining beacon of good against the gates of Hell, that because I chose to fight for light, that fate and destiny would make it so, that even the angels would sing my praise.
God, I was so na?ve.