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CHAPTER 29

Mimi

Mimi felt someone come up behind her, but when she turned around, it was not the handsoure A walking corpse with sockets for eyes and a slash for a ured, but soly alive

"You" The wraith pointed a bony finger at Mi, raspy whisper re dead leaves "You dare"

That voice Even in its present, eerie iteration, Minized that voice It had once roups of guests to a particularly spectacular Park Avenue co-op

"Warden Cutler?" Mimi whispered "But I I killed you"

It sounded absurd even as she said it But she had cut Nan Cutler in two, had left her to burn in the black fire in the Almeida villa How could the warden have survived? It was ridiculous And it was equally absurd of Mi death wraith

"One more step and I’ll have your blood," the faceless horror croaked What was not charred or blistered on her body was bone, a sickening sight

Mimi’s hand twitched a little She should not have put her blade away Did she have tisley heard her? Where were the boys when she needed theht that you always stayed in twos How stupid of her to have followed those footprints It had trap written all over it

Would she have enough time to arm up before Nan made a move on her? No time to think’she unsheathed it?but even as she did, in that sarip with the half-dead Silver Blood

The ht-after hostess in New York was ferociously strong, and as much as Mimi kicked and clawed, the demon would not release her hold Mimi could feel its foul breath on her neck, kneould not be long before its fangs would puncture skin and draw her blood

No!

She slaht But Nan had gotten the upper hand and knocked Miainst the concrete floor It would have felled her substance Still, it made her dizzy, and she could feel a crack in her skull and the wound bleeding out She was losing consciousness

At that ht she had never been so happy to see anyone in her life

"Croatan?" he ordered "Absed! Absed abysso!" Go back to Hell! With a h the heart

There was a hissing sound, like the wheel of a tire deflating, soure suddenly burst into a bright silver flaht, and the temperature in the room rose to solar levels, as the spirit collapsed into itself in a supernova Miht the warden would have disappeared, but the corpse was still there

Only now there was nothing sley wrenched out his sword from the pile, and it transformed back into the short jackknife he carried in his pocket "Are you all right?" he asked, kneeling beside Mientle as he held his thued the, but you’ll be okay It’s already starting to heal"

"How did she live? I cut her in two," Mih the heart It’s the only way It was sley sighed "Lawrence was right The Conclave doesn’t bother to teach anything anyotten too ht that was just a myth you know, like in the h the heart," she said

"There is always sosley said kindly ’the Conspiracy saw to that So that the Red Bloods feel no need to look for the actual truth"

"Well, someone should have toldanyway?"

"We found two dead Silver Bloods out back," he said "But those had been taken care of properly What did you find?"

In answer, Mi Someone In the bathtub" She led hisley saw the sure in the flannel pajauish and sorrow

"Do it," he said Mimi nodded

Slowly she turned the body over

It was Jordan Llewellyn Miray eyes They were open and staring at the ceiling In death she looked even younger than her eleven years She earing a grubby pair of pajaht she was abducted Fro to be told: every drop of Jordan’s blood had been drained Full consu to throw up Nothing had prepared her for this This was sotaken by the half-dead warden She had joined the Venators to find adventure, to get out of New York She had never once thought they would fail in their search Never And to know they had come so close, only to be so very far She was not prepared to see the dead body of a child It was an ie that she would carry with her forever

Mimi was a confident person She had an unshakable belief in herself and in her abilities, and she had believed in Kingsley’s power to find Jordan She had believed he would not let them down She looked at him noith the deepest sense of betrayal

But Kingsley was doing solass froirl’s eyes "Lennox, what do you think? Can you see it?" he asked Ted, as hunkered by the doorway

Ted peered through the glass After a few minutes he handed it to his brother, who did the same "No I don’t see it"

"I didn’t think so," Kingsley said, and there was a note of triumph in his voice "Force, take a look? Closely, do you see it? Or more correctly, do you not see it?"

She took the lass and looked into Jordan’s eyes What was she looking at? What was she supposed to not see? This was aze Finally she noticed it Jordan’s eyes weretheir pupils In the space in the , her eyes were one simple surface She looked like a doll

"What happened to her? What does it sley’s drawn face broke into a grin "It means, Force, that we haven’t failed just yet The Watcher is alive

CHAPTER 30

Schuyler

Waiting was the hardest part Schuyler remembered how she used to sit in the apart, just like this, for Jack to arrive for their secret rendezvous It always seeh the door So unbelievable that he was hers, and that he had been looking forward to seeing her asto see him