Melissa Marr - The Arrivals

“So no matter what, I give up Edgar? Why? ” Katherine’s temper flared and her hand went to her own gun.

Ajani smiled, his gaze on the gun in her hand. “Call it a lesson. It takes a death to move between worlds. That’s the cost I’ve had to pay each time.”

Jack had watched his sister, knowing her decision before she even made it. “Right. If you can really open the wormhole ”—Jack drew the word out, finding it even more ridiculous as he said it—“does that mean all the people here are here because of you?”

“Not the natives,” Ajani replied drolly.

“Us, though? The ones from home. Did we all end up here because of you?” Jack prompted in what he considered a reasonable tone.

Ajani sipped his brandy in silence for a moment before answering. “Yes, I brought you here. All of you.”

Chloe pulled the hammer back, the sound loud in the room. Jack glanced at her, but only Katherine moved, stepping in front of her, placing her back to Ajani in the process.

“Send Chloe home,” Jack said quietly.

Katherine looked at him in shock.

“I’m not leaving you here, and Edgar would rather die than be apart from you.” Jack shook his head. “But there’s no way you’re going to let him stay dead. Send Chloe back.”

“Bravo, Jackson,” Ajani said. “If you want to stay here—and I’m assuming Katherine wants Edgar to live—let’s send Chloe back. She’s of no use to me.” He walked to the desk and lifted a piece of paper. “If you’re able to do this, Katherine, in time I’ll also send Cordova and Jackson back.”

Kitty swallowed audibly. “What do you want me to do?”

He held out the paper. “Read it, Katherine. Show me that you’re every bit as rare as I believe. I kept hoping another would come, but they all fail. No one else is like me. They can’t do spellwork. Only you.”

Jack watched his sister try not to shudder at the zealotry in Ajani’s voice. Silently, she took the paper Ajani held out. Her voice was shaking, but she began to read clearly: “I am lord of eternity in the crossing of the sky. I am not afraid in my limbs . . .”

The air in the room felt wrong, as if it were growing too thin.

She paused, and Ajani aimed his gun at Jack. “Don’t disregard our accord, Katherine.”

Jack gave his sister a comforting smile, and she resumed: “I shall open the light-land, I shall enter and dwell in it . . . Make way for me . . . I am he who passes by the guards . . . I am equipped and effective in opening his portal!”

The air in the room was visibly swirling, as if a vortex was being created.

Shakily, Katherine read the rest. “With the speaking of this spell, I am like Re in the eastern sky, like Osiris in the netherworld. I will go through the circle of darkness, without the breath stilling within me ever!”

The portal opened, looking like a fire opal grown large, and Ajani beamed at Kitty. “I knew you could do it.”

He walked toward the strange swirl of darkness and color, and as soon as he was directly in front of it, he glanced over his shoulder at Chloe. “Go ahead.”

Chloe took several steps toward him and stopped. “It takes the death of someone from there. How do you know which death will stick? Could it be Melody or Edgar who lives?”

Ajani hesitated, and Jack saw the truth on his face before he opened his mouth to answer. Ajani had said that a death of one of them was necessary to open the portal. Logically, that meant it could be Edgar, Melody, or even Daniel who stayed dead. Ajani didn’t say how or even if there was any way to determine which Arrival stayed dead. All Ajani managed to get out was, “Chloe . . .”

“Someone from home has to stay dead,” Chloe said, and then she shot him. She fired bullet after bullet into his body, and he jerked and jumped like a puppet in a storm.

Neither Jack nor Katherine moved.

Chloe glanced at Katherine. “He was from our world, too. If it’s last killed that doesn’t wake, that’s him now. If it’s just random, Edgar’s odds just improved. Twenty-five percent is better than thirty-three.”

“Thank you,” Katherine choked out around the sobs that were coming over her.

The darkness swirled, and Katherine stared at it and then at Jack. She looked like the weight of Edgar’s death was too much to process, like she needed to be protected or, at the very least, given space to mourn. She dropped to her knees. Her hand covered her mouth, but it didn’t muffle her loud sob.

Chloe lowered the gun. “Will Ajani stay dead with that poison?”

“Garuda thinks so,” Jack said. “If not, you’ll be safer once you go back to your time. If you’re not here, he can’t reach you if he does wake.”

Chloe looked at Katherine, and then at Edgar, and finally back at Jack. “If he doesn’t stay dead, he’s going to come after her . . . and you. All of you.” Carefully, she placed her pistol on the floor and grabbed Ajani’s feet. She stood and looked at Jack. “I’ll stay here,” Chloe whispered. “Ajani should go . . . just in case.”

Jack wasn’t sure he was any less overwhelmed than his sister. Ajani was defeated, but at what cost? Edgar, Melody, and Daniel were all dead; Hector had betrayed them. Katherine was crying louder by the moment.

Chloe stared at Jack. “Help me get rid of him so he can’t hurt either of you again.”

He nodded, and together, they hauled Ajani’s lifeless body to the wormhole and tossed it in.

As the darkness closed in on itself, Chloe leaned against Jack, and they watched the darkness vanish.

Over the next week, Kitty was a fury of cleaning and removing anything that made her think of Ajani. Chloe and Jack let her lead them through the house—which by Wasteland law was now Chloe’s possession, as were all of Ajani’s holdings.

Garuda had nominated Jack for governor the very same day the Arrivals went after Ajani. They’d learned that the morning after Ajani’s death, and what with the persuasive powers of Kitty and Garuda, Jack’s every objection to the position was quickly dispelled.

“We could burn it all,” Kitty suggested again. “I hate seeing it.”

Jack sighed. “Katherine, why don’t you rest? Chloe and I can sort through this pile.”

They went on that way for hours, gathering Ajani’s possessions and then sending them away to be claimed by anyone who wanted them. The idea of doing the same thing at his other houses was daunting, but for now, all they really needed was one place free of his presence.

Edgar, Melody, and Daniel were dead in three of the house’s rooms. Francis was recovering in another room, and five of Ajani’s other people were staying on in Chloe’s employ. A few others were debating what to do, and some had simply left. It was an odd state of affairs, and the tension in the house was wearing out everyone.

No one knew for sure if all of the Arrivals were now immortal, but as much as they could figure based on what they’d learned from Ajani, they’d only died permanently, up until now, because he’d needed their deaths in order to open the “wormholes.” Of course, Kitty had pointed out that she could do the “same damn thing as Ajani, so they’d better not fuck up.”

Garuda’s frequent visits helped her to feel calm, but even his influence couldn’t keep the panic at bay, and Jack and Chloe spoke daily about what they’d do if Edgar stayed dead. Oddly, Chloe and Francis took turns waiting with Melody, but the only people Kitty would let near Edgar were Jack, Chloe, and Garuda.

So when Edgar, Daniel, and Melody all awoke, Chloe actually wept with joy.

“Fucking Hector” were the first words Melody said when she opened his eyes. “Where is he?”