Page 9 (2/2)

"For one, there&039;s Dr Clarence Ogilvie Schecter - "

She raised a hand to stop him "And hoould you know his middle name?"

When he hiked his shoulders, her face lit with an expression of dawning realization "You&039;ve got to be kidding s?"

He&039;d do that andbeers" Turning to the bed inside, he dropped his body and the case atop it "I dinna want you to feel that you were being singled out for lare, he added, "I&039;ate It&039;s e do So anyway, ole Schecter told us he&039;s no&039; studying afauna?"

"He is?"

"Oh, aye He&039;s hunting a goddaacaiman"

"What is that, and what does it have to do with me?"

"Schecter plans to trap a four-ton caiman with this rickety old bark - no&039; ot that &039;sonic lure&039; - patent bluidy pending - and enough tranquilizer tosister happy"

"Now, that is good to know," she said, tapping her chin "But it&039;s still not enough to worry me"

"Ah, but what about Rossiter? He says he&039;s hunting for cures, but he&039;s only interested in one - for Fatal Insomnia Syndrome"

"What is that?"

"From what I could tell froenetic disorder Basically, you lose the ability to sleep You stay awake until you eventually die"

"What does this have to do withit - because he&039;s dying fro to lose He&039;s co for some rare orchid he believes will hold the cure for the disease"

"First of all, isn&039;t it always an orchid? And second of all - so?"

"So what do you think he&039;d do if he discovered immortality existed? If he determined that we can potentially live forever - or that I could possibly make him immortal?" Not that Garreth ever would Of all the species in the Lore, the Lykae turned others the least - because of the devastating side-effects

"And what about Daot doctored medical records Definitely no&039; human"

"Then what is he?"

"Maybe a shifter or warlock? Or a demon? If he&039;s into shamanism, he could be a bluidy witch doctor for all we know"

"Do you think he lied about what he&039;s here for?"

"Doona knohat his real aim is - but if it&039;s truly to stop the oil co followed They&039;ve gotCBs and sat-phones A basin-wide intelligence net Any uncontacted tribe would cost the," he said "Lousha, those three all know this is dodgy It&039;s why they&039;re on a shite boat like this, hiring a drunk captain who&039;s ruled by the dollar So unless you give ood reason to allow you to stay aboard - "

"Allow ht ht out here"

"I have to be on this ship This one in particular" At his unbending look, she said, "This isn&039;t about "

"Then tell me," MacRieve said, "and I&039;ll help you"

Seeing no way around it, she decided to reveal some "Fine, let&039;sme to strip - "

"Which you loved and were aroused by"

"Do you want to know or not?"

He held up his palreed"

"And on&039;t be having sex"

"Disagreed You&039;re acting like you have so power - I can force you froainst the wall, MacRieve I ht strive to be reasonable, but you have no idea what I&039;m capable of when cornered"

"Ah, but what are you capable of without drawing huone"

"Very well! I&039;ll tell you," she said, beginning to pace yet again "You&039;ve met Nïx, I&039;m sure"

"Oh, when I was locked in the Valkyrie dungeon? After you trapped me?"

She pursed her lips

"Go on, then"

"She contacted e of apocalypse I was to find Rio Labyrinto The river would hold the answer to our salvation And before you ask, I don&039;t know much more Nïx won&039;t divvy the details You don&039;t knohat she&039;s like"

"I doona? She would no&039; tell me why I had to be in Iquitos at precisely three All she&039;d say is &039;Do you want to see your mate or no&039;, olf?&039;"

"That&039;s how you got here so fast!" Rotter! "No, she wouldn&039;t"

"We both know she would and did"

Nïx had planned for Lucia and MacRieve to ht be ling suspicion had been building in Lucia over the last few un telling people she would soon be a goddess And that wasn&039;t just an insane- it was actually a possibility

N&iuods, and she&039;d attained the requisite age - ancient Butloyalties, which doubled as worship

If gods derived strength frorowing more anded N&iu her daily for the rest of his iht thank God - MacRieve would thank N&iuoddess? Lucia wondered if she&039;d be a benevolent one

"Doona be angry with the soothsayer," he said "If she had no&039; helped ht you anyway"

"You sound confident Makes me wonder why you hadn&039;t before"

"I had an ace in my pocket that I had no&039; yet played" Before she could question hiive you any directions to Rio Labyrinto?"

Lucia shook her head "She said I&039;d have everything I needed aboard this ship"

"That so?" he replied thoughtfully "Then she must&039;ve meant that you&039;d need me"

"Why on earth?"

" &039;Cause I&039;ve been there, lass"

Chapter 24

"But no one comes out of Rio Labyrinto alive," Lucia said

Garreth lifted his chin "No one - but me"

Her eyes ide "Then tell me about the river! Where is it?"

"First, you tell me what else you know about the apocalypse You ken you will no&039; get a word from me otherwise" That wasn&039;t true If she ever used her wiles on him, he&039;d likely be putty in her hands

She paced, worrying her plump bottom lip - the one he wanted to take between his own teeth to nibble on After exhaling a breath, she asked, "Have you heard of the god Crom Cruach?"

He had But the way she&039;d uttered, or barely uttered, the god&039;s name with a flash of sorrow in her eyes made his hackles rise "Maybe some scattered tales," he lied "Canna remember"

She cast him an expression that said she didn&039;t knohether to believe him

"Gods are no&039; really by? Now that I pay attention to"

After a hesitation, she said, "He&039;s evil to the bone His primary power is to make people feel a mad need to sacrifice whoever they love Only now, that need will be contagious - the lust to slaughter in Cruach&039;s na from person to person In the past, he&039;s been jailed in a lair, but with each Accession, he groerful enough to break from his prison Every five hundred years someone has to send him back there Nïx dispatched me to do this"

After Lucia&039;s explanation, he sensed that she knew farhiht be about to snap Let the information unfold "With all the creatures in the Lore that owe the soothsayer, she chose you for this?" He was i it

"Yes, me" She tucked her still daht be a way to kill him To finally end the cycle"

"A way?"

"A weapon Called a dieumort It&039;s a - "

"God killer I&039;ve heard of them And she thinks one&039;s on Rio Labyrinto?"

Lucia nodded "That&039;s what she said Now, I&039;ve told you my part - tell me about the river How did you find it?"

"Purely by accident I&039;d been chasing gaht before ht through the portal"

"And? Tell me more!"

"Also known as the River of Doom and the River of Doors, it&039;s a watery maze of channels and cutouts" He paused for effect "And it&039;s ruateway to El Dorado"

"El Dorado?" Lucia&039;s eyes ide "The Lost City of Gold?" Maybe the dieuolden arrow of her drea from the fact that MacRieve knehere Rio Labyrinto was - everything you need will be on that boat - and now this?

El-freaking-Dorado

"As though I&039;d reveal the location to you?" MacRieve scoffed "I think no&039; I like you dependent on ood will"

Apparently she wouldn&039;t be taking her bow back fro him "I told you the nature of the apocalypse"

In answer, he gave her a look as if he knew she was holding back

"Don&039;t you understand? It&039;s critical for me to find a way to destroy Cruach!"

"So if I allow you to stay on the boat, you&039;re at risk from a thousand different perils, and if I take you froer from an apocalypse?"

"Pretty much"

He exhaled wearily "Verra well, we&039;ll stay But we&039;re going to establish souidelines for our time aboard this ship"

"In other words, you intend to give me rules to obey? MacRieve, just tell me where it is - I can do this on my own"

"Never"

"The full ht about that, olf? It&039;s only ten days away!"

"You know the dates as well as I do, then?"

"You won&039;t be able to control yourself You&039;ll attack me I knohat your kind does"

"I&039;d never put you in har this" - he pointed to the silver cuff on his arm - "I will no&039; lose control of myself"

"What does that do?" She eyed it suspiciously "Where&039;d you get it?"

"The witches" He seemed to have just stifled a shudder "The inscription on the cuff e involuntarily"

"I thought you told me you&039;d never ally with the witches"

"My cousin has since married one, and I approached theainst her will, she felt herself softening She knehat thathave you had it?"

"About ten months Why?"

"How&039;d you stay away fro the first two full moons?"