We had just redirected our course when the sea churned and rocked us back in the wake of a whirlpool. Water funneled up like a miniature hurricane, spewing mist into the sky. From the spinning depths emerged Caim’s ship, cutting off our line of sight to the yacht.

  A new demon manned the helm, and my blood ignited as I recognized her. She was the one who had put her hands on Beelzebub, claiming him on the roof of the resort. She pointed silently at us, and demons fell over themselves to do her bidding.

  I pulled my robe off and threw it to the deck floor, grasping my axe. Josie had her bow in hand, but she paled at the sight of the looming ship.

  “There are too many.” Her voice quaked.

  She dropped her bow and screamed as a cannon boomed. An iron cannonball crashed through the deck railing and lodged itself in the hatch door, splintering boards up in a nest around it.

  “Josie!” I shook her arm, pulling her hand away from her face. “I don’t care if there are a million demons on that boat. We’re not going down without a fight. Now pick up your bow and start flying arrows.”

  Josie regained a shred of resolve and retrieved her bow. Her hands still shook as she reached into her quiver, but they steadied as she took aim. She hadn’t loosed two arrows before Caim’s ship boomed again. Louder this time.

  We both held our breath, waiting to see where the cannonball would land, but there was no impact. Not even in the sea. Then demons began to scream. Something groaned and rumbled beneath the deck of Caim’s ship, and then fire and smoke blasted up through the floorboards, sending flaming splinters of wood everywhere.

  “Kevin.” Josie pointed to the stern deck of Caim’s ship as a robed figure leapt over the railing and into the sea. “No!”

  She ran over to one of the tender boats hanging off the side of our ship and clawed at the ropes, frantically digging her fingers into the knots. I untied the other side and we climbed in, quickly maneuvering the wench that lowered the boat into the water. Once down, Josie fired up the motor while I unhooked us from the rigging.

  Caim’s ship was spinning in circles, and at first I thought it might be sinking. I hoped it was sinking, and I hoped that Bub wouldn’t be there to rescue the vixen at the wheel. Unfortunately, it was just another vortex opening in the sea. The demons were retreating back to wherever they had come from, minus Kevin. He sloshed in the waves, ghostly souls stroking his face and shoulders as he clawed the water.

  “Faster!” Josie shouted over the roar of the currents.

  I lost sight of Kevin as the ship disappeared, and for a fleeting second I was sure he had been sucked down the rebel drain and spit out to drown elsewhere. Josie slapped my arm and pointed further out. The waves had rocked him away from us, but he was still afloat.

  I stopped the boat too late, and we almost passed right by Kevin, but Josie caught his arm, dragging him along until we came to a more complete stop. Once she’d hauled him onto the boat, her face flushed and her eyes brimmed with tears.

  “What’s wrong with you?” She hardly gave him the chance to catch his breath before she attacked him, slapping his chest and arms with both hands as she cried.

  Kevin shrank away from her, choking up water and bile. “I know where Hypnos is,” he said, slopping his hair back out of his eyes. “I know where the mobile base is. I know it all,” he rasped, smiling victoriously under Josie’s assault.

  He finally tucked her arms against his chest and pulled her into a suffocating hug, peppering her face with kisses as his breath returned to him.

  “We need to go,” I said, turning the tender boat around.

  The yacht was still bobbing along the coast. A few demon faces peered over the bow, assessing us like prey. Beelzebub was among them. He could have flown to Kevin’s aid, but he had been content to watch him drown. My heart reeled as I accelerated toward the ship, trying to put as much distance between us as possible.

  Chapter 23

  “No one can confidently say

  that he will still be living tomorrow.”

  —Euripides

  Back at Reapers Inc., we huddled in Grim’s office and listened to Kevin relay the information he had gathered during his sleepover with the enemy. I kept waiting to hear Bub’s name pop up, but as far as I could tell, Kevin never encountered him. There was disappointment and relief all tangled together, and I didn’t know what to make of any of it.

  Right away, Jenni was ready to plan a mission, and it sounded like the rest of us might be off the hook. Which was fine with me.

  “No,” Grim said, silencing Jenni’s spiel about careful planning. “No. We move now. No more waiting. They’ll move their base again if we hesitate.”

  Jenni gave the rest of us a cautious frown. “Sir, are you sure you’re not letting your emotional attachment to this mission cloud your judgment?”

  The throbbing vein in Grim’s forehead did double-time as he glared up at Jenni. “And I’m coming with you all.”

  “What?” I croaked. “You all? As in, all of us?”

  Jenni’s brows knit together. “Are you sure that’s wise, sir?”

  Grim snarled at her. “He’s my brother, and I’m coming with you,” he repeated, biting out each syllable.

  Jenni took a step away from him. “Fine. But I’m calling in Maalik and Gabriel. If we’re going to be battling over the sea, we can’t do this without them.”

  Grim stood, pushing his chair across the room. It smacked into the windowed wall behind his desk. “Do it. In fact, call in the Nephilim Guard while you’re at it. Anyone they can spare, have them report to the harbor at once. We leave at noon.”

  I stood and curled my fingers at Kevin and Josie. “I think I have some extra holy water and such in my office.” I needed to be away from Grim. My head was about to explode, and his delirium was only making it worse.

  Ellen looked up from her desk as we exited Grim’s office. She opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it when Jenni walked out behind us. Her eyes darted back to her computer monitor and her brow crinkled as she went back to her typing.

  Jenni tapped her fingers on the front desk. “I need phone numbers for Gabriel, Maalik, and the captain of the Nephilim Guard, right away.”

  Ellen’s jaw tightened, but she quickly skimmed through her directory and scribbled the information down on a legal pad, silently sliding it across the desk to Jenni.

  Jenni didn’t even thank her before turning back to us. “I’ll come get you once everyone has arrived and Grim is ready to go over whatever half-baked plan he comes up with.”

  I nodded and led Josie and Kevin down the opposite hall toward my office.

  Kevin had seemed proud, almost arrogant about his little stunt. After Grim jumped on the new insight with reckless abandon, we were all oddly downcast. We’d undertaken our fair share of dangerous missions, but we usually weren’t working so blind, and for so little. I could appreciate that Hypnos was Grim’s brother, but the whole situation felt wrong.

  Josie’s wrath resumed course when we reached my office.

  “What if they’d figured out you weren’t really interested in joining them? What if they asked you to do something unforgivable to prove yourself? What then?”

  “And what about you?” Kevin snapped at her, dropping into one of my crummy guest chairs. “I know what Jenni’s secret missions entail. I read the papers. Am I supposed to just sit around and hope you’re not out there getting yourself killed? And for what? Some worthless god?”

  “You told him the truth about the missions?” I gaped at Josie. Then I turned back to Kevin. “And weren’t you just lecturing me on our psychopomp purpose and how we’re not cut out to be soldiers?”

  “So what?” Josie groaned and ran both hands over her face. “None of that matters now. We’re all together, and we’re all in this, whether we like it or not.”

  I sighed. “You’re right. Time to saddle up.”

  I opened my desk drawers and invited them to fill their pockets with all the ammunition they could manage. It wouldn’t do us any good if we couldn’t locate Caim’s ship, but at least Grim couldn’t fault us for being unprepared.

  Half an hour later, Jenni came to usher us back into Grim’s office. He had changed into a black robe, much like the one he wore for the Oracle Ball. It seemed too formal for battle, but for all I knew he planned on watching from the sidelines.

  Gabriel, Maalik, and Ross stood side by side before Grim’s desk, their winged backs to us. As a half-blooded angel, Ross looked like the runt of the litter, even in his golden armor and crested helmet. He stole a glance behind the other two men, taking in the swell of their minor coverts and the length of their primaries. When he noticed me watching, he blushed and rustled his feathers, like checking out at an angel’s plumage was somehow a breach of etiquette.

  Grim waited until we were circled around his desk, taking each of us in with a severe intensity in his eyes. “The rebels are getting brave. We clearly have not dealt them a blow punishing enough for them to take notice of.”

  The sting of his words squared my shoulders, and the angels’ spines straightened, but the brunt of the insult fell on Jenni. Her face hardened and her knuckles paled as she tightened her grasp on the sheath of her katana. Killing Caim had been a worthy victory. He couldn’t take that away from us.

  Grim pointed a finger at the window behind him, toward the harbor and sea in the distance. “They are out there laughing at us.” His fist slammed on his desk, sending his stapler and a stack of files to the floor. “No more. Today, we will find their mobile base and destroy it. And we will bring Hypnos home.”

  His battle speech left a lot to be desired. The new recruits to Grim’s slapdash mission traded uneasy glances. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and followed everyone out into the lobby. Ellen stood up from her desk as we passed, circling around to grab my sleeve as I brought up the tail end of our merry band of aimless warriors.

  “Warren said you had a bat problem and that this would help,” she whispered, shooting a resentful look at Jenni as she pressed a small compact in my hand.

  “What am I supposed to do with this?”

  Ellen shrugged. “Open it I guess. I had no idea Holly had problems with bats. Little weird if you ask me. Nasty, flying rodents.”

  I grinned. “I’d take that kind any day over what we’re up against.”

  Ellen’s lips pursed, but then her questioning gaze dispelled as she shook her head. “Anyway, I’d really like to talk to you when you get back.” She cast another sour look at Jenni. “But not at the office or Holly House.”

  “Sure.” I gave her a half-hearted smile as the elevators opened and I went to join the others.

  Grim directed us to the travel booth across the street and we took it to the harbor. The dock was quiet. The pounding of our boots echoed out over the sea, making us sound more like a legion, not just a handful of reapers and two angels. Near the end of the pier where Jenni’s vessels were docked, a dozen nephilim guards stood at attention, spears firmly at their sides, the plume of their blue crested helmets perfectly parallel.

  The nephilim piled into Jenni’s dragon boat, dropping their spears along the floorboards. They looked less anxious about the vessel than I had upon first seeing it. Of course, they could take flight if the boat was compromised.

  Grim handed Ross a slip of paper. “I hope your Latin is sharp. Recite this at the specified coordinates to open a portal. We’ll meet you on the other side.”

  Ross nodded, but the skin around his eyes wrinkled. We were rushing into battle blind, on the whim of a mad deity. Everyone knew this was a terrible idea, but no one was ready to go head to head with Grim to talk him down.

  I wondered at my own lack of concern. My sense of self-preservation was not at its best. The thought of running into Bub weighed on me more than anything. I couldn’t understand why Grim would risk bringing me along. Maybe he was hoping it would throw Bub. Maybe he just didn’t want to share the personal details of the situation with any more allies than necessary.

  Ross gave the signal and the small fleet of nephilim opened their wings wide, letting the wind fill them. They staggered evenly, every first guard reaching higher and every third guard kneeling, until a feathery halo formed around the boat. They thrust forward, cutting through the sea like a torpedo.

  Grim turned to the rest of us and gave Jenni an uneasy look. “You’re sure the submarine is our best option?”

  She nodded sharply. “If we go in with nothing else, the least we should have is decent cover.”

  Josie didn’t look as surprised about the submarine, but Kevin gaped as he squinted over the water, trying to locate the submerged vessel.

  Gabriel’s wings flapped sharply. “No paint this time,” he growled.

  Maalik folded his arms, silently agreeing.

  Jenni shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. The Nephilim Guard’s presence will thwart any disguise efforts we could manage with so little time to prepare.” She shot Grim an accusing glare.

  “Let’s move,” he said, ignoring her jab.

  Gabriel scooped me up and flew to the trunk of the submarine, quickly circling back to grab Josie, while Maalik took care of Grim and Jenni. When the six of us were secure in the belly of the machine, Grim looked around the observation room, a doubtful assessment creasing his face.

  “How thick is this glass?” he asked.

  “I’ve taken the sub out plenty of times. This is an infallible design,” Jenni snapped.

  “Even against water sirens?” I raised an eyebrow.

  Jenni hesitated. “I don’t know.”

  “I’ve seen them on Caim’s ship, and they’re more capable in the mortal seas, without the tangled bodies of lethargic souls to slow them.”

  We all looked to Grim and waited while he worked through some inner debate.

  “Once we make it through to the mortal sea, we’ll be able to travel by coin back to the harbor, should this vessel fail,” he said.

  Jenni nodded. “Just to be clear though. My transport is covered under company liability insurance if anything does happen. Right?”

  Grim sighed. “Of course. Now let’s go. We’re wasting time.”

  Jenni ducked into the navigation chamber, and we were soon on our way. The Nephilim Guard had a head start, but the submarine was faster. We would reach the coordinates first. The true test of Grim’s sanity would be whether or not he waited for the guard or demanded that we forge ahead without them, on to the mortal realm and the unknown horrors waiting within it. On to Bub, so he could have another go at destroying what was left of me.

  As the submarine sank deeper into the heart of the sea, the outlines of the souls became more pronounced beyond the bubbled viewing window.

  Kevin pressed his hands and face against the glass, staring wide-eyed in wonder. “They nearly drowned me when I jumped from Caim’s ship,” he said calmly, as if it hadn’t been intentional and he didn’t hold it against them.

  Josie frowned and reached for his shoulder, pulling him back a step, away from the fate she had almost lost him to.

  When we arrived at the coordinates, Jenni used the periscope to check for rebel vessels along the coast. It bothered me that Seth was recruiting more heavily from Summerland. It had been my favorite afterlife to vacation in, but they did have more reason than most to jump the fence.

  The mashup of extinct faiths that crowded together in the pagan territory seemed to get along well enough, but their sliver of land was eroding away more each year. Faith was not as diverse as it had once been, and the new gods in charge did not share well. It was the reason so many of the older deities had left their homeland. Most had settled in Limbo City, like Athena, Artemis, and the Muses, looking for work in the new world. And some had done the unthinkable and allowed the Fates to recycle their essence back into the mortal realm they had spawned from.

  “The guards are approaching.” Josie joined us in the observation room.

  “Good.” Grim stood and walked up to the window, rubbing his hands together as he closed his eyes. Apparently he didn’t require a spelled slip of paper to get to the other side from the middle of the sea. It made me wonder if Khadija had instilled that same ability in me.

  Grim’s aura seemed to thicken, like it was reaching out to encompass the entire submarine. The dusty computers along the ledge of the viewing room buzzed, their screens crackling from the buildup of static electricity. The souls outside the window arched away, their ghostly mouths drawing open in silent screams. We were left alone in the dark water.

  Grim’s voice came out in a steady chant. “Patefacio porta in mortalis altum.”

  The spell was different from the one he’d given me over the summer to harvest a tsunami boating accident. I repeated the words in my mind, trying to retain the spell so I could look it up and experiment with it later.

  Beyond the viewing glass, a green halo of light spread open. It widened and wrapped itself around the sub, swallowing us in darkness.

  The mortal sea was full of life. A bloom of jellyfish moved out of our path, and a squid darted past the window, seizing a fish with its tentacles. It dug its beak into the scaly flesh, watching us with keen eyes.

  I’d seen the mortal sea from the surface, but I’d only had a glimpse from below, when a siren had tried to drown me. The memory sent a jolt of panic through me and I looked deeper into the water, trying to sense any perilous movement.

  Grim’s eyes narrowed suspiciously too. “Take us to the surface,” he ordered Jenni.

  A tense silence filled the submarine. This battle had more on the line than those before it. Grim had left his shining tower. If he lived to tell about this day, it would be spit in Seth’s face. The Egyptian leader of the rebel forces had not been seen since I’d outed him, forcing him to forfeit his position on the council.

  Gloating privileges aside, Grim’s actions could also be seen as recognition of the rebels’ progress, as confirmation that we were, indeed, at war with them. Even if we were victorious today, we were losing something greater. The illusion of peace. The comfort of our denial.