My conversation with the junior Fates had shaken something loose from my brain. The next morning, I stopped at Hell’s Belles for a couple of black coffees and eggs and bacon to go.
I woke Talbot up, but handed him one of the coffees. “I brought breakfast.”
“Nyx, it’s six a.m.,” he groaned. He took a sip of coffee with his eyes still closed. “You better have remembered the biscuits.”
I handed him a container. “Gravy’s in the bag.”
We munched silently.
“We’re going to break into Deci’s house,” I said.
“Bad idea, Nyx,” Talbot said.
“Do you have a better one?”
“No,” Talbot admitted.
“It’s my only lead to find the black asphodel,” I said.
“The Fates will be pissed,” Talbot said.
“You’re right,” I said. “But what they don’t know won’t hurt me.” It was empty. Yesterday, Rebecca had mentioned she was staying with Claire.
We took the Caddy to Magician’s Row, the street where Minneapolis’s most prominent magical lived.
Deci had been Danvers’s neighbor. Danvers’s house was a fortress, but the place looked abandoned. I parked and approached the house. Someone had thrown a rock through the front window and shards of glass still lay on the grass. The door hung drunkenly on its hinges. I peered inside.
Even his henchman Lurch had deserted the premises, but the inside was worse than the outside. The place had been tossed.
Next door, Deci’s lime and pink Victorian looked just as empty, but someone, probably Rebecca, had picked up the mail and watered the lawn. There were new wards on the front door.
“Let’s try the back,” Talbot suggested.
The back door was ajar.
The kitchen was empty, but I heard a faint sound from somewhere in the house. The sound was louder when we walked down the hallway.
“Someone’s here,” Talbot said.
I nodded and drew my athame, but wasn’t prepared to see Rebecca on her hands and knees, sobbing as she scrubbed her mother’s blood out of the floral carpet. I tried not to look at the rust-colored stain.
She jumped to her feet and had a weapon in her hand lightning fast. This time, it was a mop handle. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here?” I repeated her question back at her.
“What’s it look like?” she snapped. “Cleaning up a murder scene.”
I flinched. “It was self-defense.”
“Yeah, that’s what you said.” Her voice was emotionless, but there were still tears on her eyelashes.
I didn’t want to leave her alone, but her glare told me she didn’t welcome company.
“I hate to ask, but can you help me with something?”
“If you hate to ask, then why are you?” she asked.
I turned to leave, but she stopped me. “Just tell me what you want.”
“Is it all right with you if we search the house?”
She gave me a weary look. “Why don’t you try telling me the truth for a change?”
“It takes two,” I snapped.
She shrugged. “What do you want to know?”
“I want to know where I can find black asphodel,” I said. “It’s the only way I can reverse the possession and save Willow before Hecate destroys her. I know Deci used an elixir of black asphodel last time the Fates trapped Hecate.”
“Our father gave the flowers to her,” Rebecca said. “Ask him.”
“Doc’s missing,” I said. My research had led me right back to Doc. My father had been a badass in his time, although if legend was true, kind of creepy. Books on mythology were filled with stories of him, and not much of it was good. Nothing I read revealed the way into Asphodel. Other than death, that was.
“We’re screwed,” Talbot said.
“Not necessarily,” I said.
Rebecca frowned. “That’s all I know, I swear.”
“I mean we can find the place they grow. My mother once said that black asphodel grows only one place, a place she could never go again.”
“I’ve been here almost every day and I haven’t found anything about the flowers, but you’re welcome to look.”
“You grew up in this house?”
“Yes, of course I did,” she said.
“Have you been in the basement?” I asked Rebecca. I repressed a shudder. It had been filled with wraiths the last time I was there.
“No,” she said. “Didn’t have any reason to. There’s just a bunch of old junk stored down there.”
“Let’s go,” I said.
Rebecca stayed upstairs while Talbot and I headed for the basement. It was ill-lit, damp, and full of canned goods, but I had a feeling we’d find a clue about the location of the asphodel. Instead, we found Danvers slumped over in his wheelchair.
He didn’t move when we entered the basement. “Is he dead?” Talbot asked.
I reached out for his wrist to check, but a bony claw clamped around my arm. “You did this to me,” Danvers croaked.
He was barely recognizable. The curse had aged him. His good looks had disappeared along with his tan. He now resembled a white grub.
I’d been nearly dead when I’d cursed him, but it had taken hold. His skin was mottled red in some places, black in others. One of his hands had twisted into itself and lay useless at his side. He looked worse than when I’d seen him hovering at the gate of the underworld.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
“No reason,” he said, but he avoided looking at a garish cookie jar, which was sitting just out of reach on the metal shelf.
“Did you have your hands in my aunt’s cookie jar?” I asked.
He glared at me.
“How did he manage to get down here without anyone seeing him?” Talbot asked.
“And the stairs from the kitchen are steep. It would be hard to manage in a wheelchair, unless…”
“Unless what?” Danvers snarled. “You’re the reason I’m in this chair.”
“Unless you knew of another way,” I said. “A secret tunnel, perhaps.”
I opened the cookie jar. There was a house key on a metal infinity keychain.
“Wrong as usual,” Danvers cackled.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” I said. He was transfixed by the key in my hand. He wanted it for some reason. And if Danvers wanted it, so did I.
I put it in my pocket. I was almost certain it was what Danvers had come to find. That still didn’t explain how he’d gotten into my aunt’s house undetected.
The basement was lit by one lonely bulb. I couldn’t help but wonder if a wraith was going to jump out at us, but there were only cobwebs in the corners. Except for one corner, which seemed remarkably free of spiderwebs and dust.
I leaned one arm against a loose brick in the wall.
Danvers snickered when nothing happened. He was several inches shorter than I was and the curse had shrunk him even more.
I pressed again, this time lower, and was gratified by the sound of gears grinding.
“Wonder where this leads?” I asked Talbot casually.
He glanced back at Danvers. “What are we going to do with him?”
“We need to stash him somewhere for a while,” I said. “I’m sure his blushing bride would like to spend some quality time with him.”
The curse had turned Danvers’s malevolent magic inward. From what I could tell, he didn’t have any magic left. He was helpless. I didn’t feel sorry for him. He’d beaten Willow, allowed Hecate to possess his wife, killed over a dozen naiads, and wore loud golf shirts.
“As much as I would like to kill him,” I said, “I’m not going to.” I had to hold on to the hope that Willow would make it out of Hecate’s possession alive, which meant I’d leave Danvers still breathing long enough for her to decide what to do with him. After I got a few answers.
Danvers wheezed out something about my lack of balls.
“I am, however,” I continued, like he hadn’t insulted my manhood, “going to make him scream. Unless he provides some information.”
Danvers snorted. “You can try.”
I gripped my athame and embedded it in his thigh. “Now you’re going to tell me where I can find black asphodel.”
“Wh-why do you want it?”
“Is that why Hecate trashed your place?” I asked. “You’re holding out on her?”
He tightened his lips and refused to speak. I twisted the knife in deeper.
“I’ll tell you,” he said. “The only place it grows is in Asphodel.”
“How do I get there?”
“Not my problem,” he said. I yanked out the athame and held it out. “Should I do the other leg, so you have a matching set?”
“I’ll tell you,” he growled. “You already know how to get to Hecate’s realm. Keep going and you’ll reach Asphodel.”
“That’s it?”
He nodded.
“You’re lying,” I said. “Hecate was looking for something. What was it?” I polished the handle of my athame with the end of my shirt. “You can tell me now or I can hand you over to Hecate.”
“A charm,” he said, defeated. “You can’t get in without it.”
I held out my hand. “Cough it up.”
He took off his watch. “I need a screwdriver or something to pry it open.”
I spotted a rusty toolbox in the corner and rummaged through it until I found a screwdriver.
He used it to pry off the face of the watch and took out a small plastic ghost, the kind you found in abundance around Halloween.
“You’re kidding,” Talbot said.
“Completely serious,” Danvers said. “Go into Asphodel without it and the spirits will rip you to shreds.” His oily smile surfaced like scum on a rain puddle. “Still could happen.”
After he handed it over, he lapsed into a sullen silence.
“What should we do with him?” I asked Talbot. As much as I loathed Danvers, I couldn’t abandon him.
“I have a friend who does in-home care,” Talbot said. “He can handle Danvers. Carlos is with the House of Zeus and he owes me a favor,” he added when he noticed my doubtful look.
“Babysitting a broken-down necromancer? That must be a big favor he owes you.”
“It is,” Talbot replied. He didn’t elaborate.
He grabbed Danvers’s wheelchair and pushed him through the hidden door.
“Danvers and Deci must have been plotting together for years,” I commented as we walked.
“Quit talking about me like I’m not here,” Danvers grumbled.
“Only a matter of time,” I replied.
We went through a tunnel until we came to a dead end.
“Where’s the lever?” I asked Danvers.
He scowled and refused to answer.
“I’ll find it,” I said. I finally located the brick that stood out a little more from the others. I pushed it in and a door slowly opened to reveal another basement.
I’d never been inside his house, but I was sure we’d made it to Danvers. There was an elevator in the basement, which led to his third-floor bedroom. The golf trophies confirmed we were in the right place, as well as the black satin sheets and décor reminiscent of early porn movies.
“Home sweet home,” I said. Danvers had retreated into a stubborn silence.
We left him in his room. “Stay here.”
Talbot made a quick phone call while I snooped. The house had been carefully wiped clean of all magic.
What had Danvers done to get on Hecate’s bad side? Or maybe she just didn’t have a good side.
We waited for Talbot’s friend Carlos in the living room. Sitting on an uncomfortable black leather couch, I tried to picture Willow in this house and failed.
Talbot’s friend Carlos turned out to be a model-gorgeous guy with full lips, dark eyes, and dark wavy hair that was carefully messy.
“One of your frat buddies?” I said in a low voice, but Carlos heard.
“Hardly.” He smiled at me and I was nearly overwhelmed by the force of his charm.
“Knock it off, Carlos,” Talbot said. That’s when I realized that Carlos was a Mesmer, a magician who was able to compel with only his charismatic smile.
Carlos’s smile decreased in wattage. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s just a habit when I meet new people.”
I stuck out a hand. “Nyx Fortuna.”
He shook it vigorously. “I’ve heard of you, of course. Your tarot poker games have become a local legend.”
I changed the subject. “Are you sure you want to take this on?”
“Are you kidding me? I share an apartment with three other guys. Talbot, are you sure you want to waste a favor on this?”
“You haven’t met the patient yet,” Talbot warned. We took the stairs to make the introductions.
The sound of hoarse chanting came from his bedroom.
Danvers was in front of a small altar. A basin of blood was in his hand and judging by the cuts on his wrists, the blood was his.
“Girlfriend not taking your call?” I asked. I yanked the basin out of his hands and dumped it in the adjoining bathroom’s sink.
“I’ll bandage those cuts,” Carlos said.
I was surprised when Danvers allowed it, but realized his magic was gone and he was as susceptible to Carlos’s charms as any mortal.
“We should be getting back,” I said.
“Go ahead,” Carlos said. “I’ve got this handled.”
“Call me or Nyx if you have any problems,” Talbot said. Carlos and I exchanged phone numbers.
“Call me if you see anyone unusual,” I said. “We have to seal the tunnel between the two houses.”
After we went through the entrance to the basement, we sealed it closed and warded it, then did the same on the other side.
“Think it will hold?” Talbot asked.
“Danvers is in no shape to break those wards,” I said. “The bigger question is why did he want the key?”
“The real question is what the key is for,” Talbot said.
We went upstairs to find Rebecca. She was sitting at the kitchen counter, staring into a cup of tea.
“Do you know what this is for?” I asked. I held up the key I’d found in the basement.
“Probably just a spare,” she said.
“I doubt Danvers would come sniffing around for a copy of the key to your front door.”
She held out a hand. “Let me take a look.” She examined it. “It’s not our house key. I’ve never seen it before.”
“I’ve read the Book of Fates over and over, but I didn’t see anything about a key. It was about as exciting as my grocery list.”
“Which reads ‘beer, absinthe, beer, and chips,’ ” Talbot added.
“Can’t help you,” she said. “Maybe ask Nona or Morta.”
I pocketed the key. “I guess we’ll take off then.”
She returned to staring at her tea and didn’t lift her head when we left.
“You think Danvers knows more than she’s telling us?” Talbot asked me once we were back in the Caddy.
“I’d count on it,” I replied.