courtyards. I keep wanting to get my sword back out.
Baz has worked himself up to a full-on strop by the time we get to our room. He slams the door shut behind us, sets the book on his bed, then crosses his arms. “Fine, Snow. We’re alone. Whatever you have to say—say it.”
I cross my arms, too. “All right,” I say, “just … sit down, okay?”
“Why should I sit down?”
“Because you’re making me uncomfortable.”
“Good,” he says. “You should be glad I’m not making you bleed.”
“For Christ’s sake,” I say. I only swear like a Normal when I’m at my wit’s end. “Could you just calm down? This is important.”
Baz shakes his head, exasperated, but sits at the end of his bed, frowning at me. He has these droopy dog eyes that always look like they’re peeking out from under his eyelids, even when his eyes are wide open. And his lips naturally turn down at the corners. It’s like his face was designed for pouting.
I walk over to my book bag and pull out a notebook. I wrote down as much as I could the day after Baz’s mum came to see me; I thought I was writing it all down to share with the Mage.
I sit on my bed, facing him, and he reluctantly shifts to sit across from me.
“All right,” I say, “look. I don’t want to tell you this. I don’t even know if I should. But it’s your mum, and I don’t think it’s right to keep it from you.”
“What about my mother?” His arms unfold, and he leans forward, grabbing at my notebook.
I whip the notebook away. “I’m telling you, okay? Just listen.”
His eyes narrow.
I’m stupidly flustered. “When you were gone—you were gone when the Veil lifted.”
He guesses it immediately—his nostrils flare, and his eyes go a little wild—he’s so fucking smart, I don’t know how I’m ever going to get the best of him.
“My mother…,” he says.
“She was looking for you. She kept coming back. Here. Where were you that she couldn’t find you?”
“My mother came through the Veil?”
“Yeah. She said she was called here, to our room, that this was your place. And she was pretty hacked off that you weren’t here. Wanted to know whether I’d hurt you.”
“She talked to you?”
“Yeah. I mean—yes.” I run my hands through my hair. “She came looking for you and scared the living shit out of me, asking if I’d hurt you. And then she said that the Veil was closing.…” I look down at my notebook.
Baz grabs it from me, scanning the page hungrily, then hurls it back at my chest. “You write like an animal. What did she say?”
“She said that…” My voice falters. “That her killer walks. That you should find Nicodemus and bring her peace.”
“Bring her peace?”
I don’t know what more to say. His face is in agony.
“But she killed the vampires,” he says.
“I know.”
“Does she mean the Humdrum?”
“I don’t know.”
“Tell me again.”
I look back down at my notes. “Her killer walks, but Nicodemus knows. Find Nicodemus and bring her peace.”
“Who’s Nicodemus?” Baz demands. Fierce and imperious, just like his mother.
“She didn’t say.”
“What else?” he asks. “Was there anything else?”
“Well … she kissed me.” My hand jerks up, and I brush my fingertips over my forehead. “She told me it was for you, to give to you.”
He clenches his fists at his sides. “Then what?”
“Then she left,” I say. “She came back one more time, that same night, the last night before the Veil fell”—Baz looks like he wants to choke me—“and she was different, sadder, like she was crying.” I look down at my notes. “And I couldn’t see her that time, but she said, ‘My son, my rosebud boy.’ She said that a few times, I think. And then she called me by my name and said she never would have left you. And then: ‘He said we were stars.’”
“Who said? Nicodemus?”
“I guess, I don’t know.”
Baz squeezes his fists tight, and his voice comes out of him in a tight roar. “Who. The fuck. Is Nicodemus.”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I thought you’d know.”
He gets off the bed and starts prowling about the room. “My mother came back. She came back to see me. And you talked to her instead. Unbelievable.”
“Well, where were you? Why couldn’t she find you?”
“I was indisposed! It’s none of your business!”
“Well, I hope your secret trip was worth it!” I shout. “Because your mother came for you! She came and she came and she came—and