safe as ours.” He took a drink from his flask and tucked it back into his inner jacket pocket. “My hope is we’ve gained some ground on your target—maybe even beaten her to Edis. If we can reach the Erinyes before her, the likelihood of your success increases dramatically.”
I wondered if Torryn had told him of her prophecy that I wouldn’t succeed in my goals of preventing Mariela from unleashing the Furies, reclaiming the scroll, or bringing Mariela back to face justice. I still intended to do all those things, because prophecies were far from set in stone, and because no way in hell would I accept that Malcolm and I wouldn’t get home. No matter what happened down here, I would never accept that fate. I’d fight to get back home to Sean and my life until the end.
Without warning, the train suddenly plunged into total darkness. We jolted, bounced, and shuddered violently again, as with our previous passage between realms. I left one hand on Esme’s soft fur and gripped my seat with the other.
A ball of silver-blue light formed across from us. Ronan held up his hand and the light brightened enough for us to see. To my surprise and horror, solid rock zipped by outside the train as if we were passing underground or through a mountain via a very long, very narrow tunnel. In fact, there didn’t seem to be any tunnel per se—just the train going through the rock. My mouth suddenly became very dry.
The ball of light brightened, revealing a tall figure in a hooded black robe looming at the front of the car.
I gasped. My earth magic whip spiraled out of my hand. Esme arched her back and hissed. Daisy leaped in front of me and snarled. Lucy jumped up, sword raised.
Ronan, however, stayed in his seat, his legs stretched out. “Hello, old friend,” he said with a nod. “Our deepest thanks for the transportation.”
“I did not expect to see you again so soon, Ronan.” Charon’s voice was deep and resonant with old, old magic. The hood of his robe hid his face.
Ronan stood. He was very tall, but Charon was even taller. “We’re near Edis, I presume? This darkness seems familiar.”
“Quite close. We have only to cross the plains beyond these mountains.” Charon glided forward. “You will not be welcome in the city. She has placed a bounty on your head.”
Ronan sighed. “So I heard. A couple of hunters with lots of blades but no brains even tried to collect it.”
Lucy chuckled. “The bounty hunter has a bounty on his own head? That’s delightful. Who did you piss off, Ronan?”
He ignored her. “Will you take us through the gate?”
“I cannot,” Charon said. “I do not believe the guards would grant you passage. Instead, I will deliver you and your companions to a place in the wall where you may find a way in.” His head moved slightly, still hidden by the hood. I caught a glint of something under the hood, like the shimmer of magic in dark eyes. I got the impression he was studying the rest of us. “I have heard a rumor of another mortal, seen near Edis in recent days.”
Damn it. “Did she get inside the city?” I asked, before I remembered I was addressing a being possibly as old as the universe. “Sir,” I amended.
Charon said nothing for a long moment, during which I tried to imagine what he was thinking of me and my impudence. “I do not know,” he said finally. “I have sensed great and old powers rising. Many are disturbed by these events. Such darkness has not walked these lands for some time.”
Well, crap. That didn’t sound good.
“This other mortal may attempt to unleash the Erinyes,” Ronan said.
“That would be most inadvisable,” Charon replied. “And very difficult to accomplish. They are ministers of justice, and have served in that capacity for a very long time. For them to take up their swords again would require most extraordinary circumstances, or very powerful magic.”
His words elicited a rollercoaster of emotions—among them, hope. If the Furies were in semi-retirement, that meant Mariela wouldn’t have an easy time invoking them. I doubted she could wield the kind of magic Charon deemed very powerful.
Ronan clearly didn’t share my optimism. “If she succeeds, though, can the Furies be prevented from leaving Edis? Or this realm?”
“I do not believe anyone has ever attempted to do so,” Charon told us. “I would not say it was impossible, but I know