“What is this?” I ask Jestine, holding the knife up before her eyes.
“Have you lost your mind?” She knocks it away like it was a threat. “We’re out of time.”
“Just tell me,” I say, and hold it back up again. “It’s here, where it came from. So over here is it just a knife? Or can I still use it?”
Jestine looks past the blade, into my eyes. I don’t waver, and she looks away first.
“I don’t know what it is,” she says. “But it’s tied to the magic of the Order. It’s always more than just a knife.”
“I can feel it too,” says Anna. “It doesn’t hum like before but—he could feel it. That’s why he ran.”
“Is he afraid of it?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “Not afraid. Maybe not even surprised. Maybe just excited.”
Cas? Can you hear me? Time’s up. Get back here.
Not now, Thomas. Not yet.
“Jestine,” I say. “Don’t take any chances. Go back. Anna and I will follow, if we can.”
“Cas,” she says, but I step back and take Anna by the hand.
“I can’t leave here until he’s done,” I say to them both. “Until he’s alone and torn apart. I can’t let him keep them any longer. Not Will, or Chase, or that poor jogger from the park. Not my dad.” The corner of my mouth curls and I look at Anna. “Not even that ass**le Peter Carver. I’m going to cut them loose. And you too.”
“One more time,” she says, and when her eyes snap to mine, she’s the girl I remember. Her hand presses my stomach. Yes, I know. We have to hurry.
“Fuck it all,” says Jestine. “You stay, I stay. You can use me anyway. I’ve got chisels, and magic.” She wipes at her forehead with the back of her wrist. “But let’s get on with it.” She nods at Anna. “You’d better come in handy. Something tells me we won’t have time to be saving damsels in distress.”
Anna’s brows knit. “Damsels? You get sliced open, burned, and dashed against the rocks about a thousand times or so. Then we’ll see who the damsel is.”
Jestine lets her head fall back and laughs madly; it rings through the dead air without an echo.
* * *
“Facing him one on one would be trouble. I don’t even know if he can kill us here, but hand to hand he could incapacitate us, pull our spines out like he was deboning a fish. And that’d be enough. We’d lie here until our bodies bled out on the floor of the deep well. Then he’d have us.” Jestine crosses her arms.
“It should be together then,” Anna says. “Can you fight?”
Jestine nods in my direction. “I can take Cas on pretty easily.”
“Is that supposed to impress me?” Anna asks, inclining her head, and Jestine laughs.
“Cas, your girl’s got quite a tongue.” She steps closer and narrows her eyes. “And she seems suspiciously, suddenly sane.”
“It’s the purpose,” Anna replies. “There is no purpose here. No reason. It’s disconnected. If I had to describe this place in one word, that would be it. The purpose makes me all right.”
She glances at me. Jestine doesn’t know her well enough to recognize the shadow in that glance, but I do. She’s not all right. But she’s going through the motions and wearing the masks. There’ll be more time, later on, to mend her, and make her forget. I tell myself that. But if I’m truthful, I have no idea what can be done to wash it away.
Cas. You’ve got to come back now.
No, Thomas. Not now. My eyes scan the bleak, expansive landscape. It looks flat, with just a slight slope here and there. The lack of distance and perspective makes my head spin. But it lies. It all lies. He’s out there somewhere, and he’s got plenty of places to hide.
“He’s not going to come to us,” I say. “I think he knows what I want.”
“Well, we can’t just stand around,” Jestine says. She blinks fast and her head moves in a quick, jerky twitch. Burke must be in her ear.
“He might come,” says Anna. “If we let him hunt us.”
“Sounds fun,” Jestine mutters sarcastically. She looks at me. “I suppose solitary prey is more appealing than a herd. If I scream, come running.” She takes a deep breath and turns to go.
“Don’t,” I say. “If you lose sight of us, you might lose us completely. This place can take you.”
She grins over her shoulder. “This place takes you where you want. We’ll be seeking him, and he’ll be seeking us, and then we’ll double back on each other. You’re always lost here, Cas. One way or another.”