“—in exchange for him telling her what you’d learned about how the Book was moving around. That you were targeting it by tracking the worst crimes. But now there’s so much violence everywhere, and no newspapers or TV, so there’s no way to find the fecking thing.”

I thought about that and smiled. “Except for me.” I was even more important now.

Dani grinned back. “Yup. I figure we’re the two most kick-ass weapons she’s got.”

“But she’s still keeping the sword from you, isn’t she, Dani? Doling it out when she feels like it?”

Dani’s expression soured and she nodded.

It was time for some meddling, and Dani was definitely primed. “Doesn’t it seem wrong to you that the two most powerful sidhe-seers in this abbey aren’t armed at all times? Don’t you think, since you’re superstrong and superfast, you deserve to carry the sword? I bet even your hearing is superheightened, isn’t it? That’s why you heard me come in today, when no one else did, isn’t it?”

She nodded.

“You’re amazing, Dani. You’re hands down the most valuable asset Rowena has. And look at me—not only can I track the Book, I can Null the bastards. Freeze them, shut them down cold while we kill them. Remember the night we fought together?” It had been exhilarating. I wanted to do it again. I wanted to do it every night, until the night was ours again. I wanted to be out there prowling, hunting them like they hunted us. I wasn’t willing to be afraid any longer. It was time for them to be afraid of me.

Her eyes narrowed, her lips parted on a sharp breath, and she nodded again. Her sword hand was clenching and unclenching, like mine did when I didn’t have my spear and I thought about Fae. I wondered if I got that almost-not-quite-human look on my face sometimes, too.

I didn’t need to see a window to know that night was falling. I could feel the approach of twilight in my bones, as surely as I imagined a vampire must. No matter how heavily warded the perimeter of the abbey was, without my spear I felt like I was missing an appendage: the most important one. I might be immune to death-by-sex Fae glamour—though I wouldn’t trust that completely until I’d tested it on some other Fae besides V’lane—but they could still capture me if they came in force. And if turning me Pri-ya wouldn’t work this time, they could just torture me to make me do what they wanted. I wasn’t immune to torture. Pain bothered me. A lot. I needed my spear. Now.

“Dani, you and I were made for those weapons. Nobody else can use them like we can! Nobody else is as strong or has as many abilities. By keeping the spear and sword, Rowena makes all of us vulnerable. How dare she sit in her study with both of the only weapons that can kill the Fae, leaving the whole abbey unprotected? She’s too old to use them! If a Fae got past the wards, she’d be worthless in a fight. We’d be sitting ducks. She knows the Seelie want the Hallows back. That it’s just a matter of time. Shouldn’t those weapons be in the hands of the two sidhe-seers most capable of defending and keeping them? And isn’t that us?”

“What are you thinking? You wanna go talk to her together? Gang up on her? Tell her she has to give us the weapons?” Dani looked thrilled by the idea.

I snorted. “Talk? Hardly. Rowena needs a little wake-up call. We don’t work for her. We don’t answer to her. We work with her. By choice. Or not at all.”

Fear battled with savage glee in the adolescent’s face. “You know there’s no going back if we do this,” she said breathlessly.

“Who wants to go back?” I said coolly. “I want to go forward. And if you’re always looking over your shoulder, worrying about the next step you’re taking, you can’t. Hesitation kills.”

“Hesitation kills,” Dani echoed like a battle cry, and punched the air with her fist. “I’m in, Mac.”

There are moments in my life when I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, doing exactly what I’m supposed to do. I pay attention to them. They’re my cosmic landmarks, letting me know I’m on the right path. Now that I’m older and can look back and see where I missed a turn here and there, and know the price I paid for those oversights, I try to look sharper at the present.

Tonight was one of those perfect moments: speeding into Dublin in a well-stocked Range Rover beneath a moon so bright and full that I could have driven without headlights if I’d wanted to, with Dani at my side, armed with the Sword of Light, and me holding the Spear of Destiny. It felt like heaven in my hand, the weight of it, the breadth of it, the way it fit my palm so perfectly.

Getting the sword hadn’t been difficult, but I hadn’t expected it to be. Truth was, Dani could have taken it anytime she’d wanted. She knew all of Rowena’s hiding places, and blasting down doors is one of her specialties. Rowena had controlled her by simple fear of repercussions, and Dani—thirteen and treated like an outcast so much of the time—was starved for what little approval and attention she got.

Now she had my approval and attention, and it was unconditional. Or at least not predicated on her being subservient to me. I would never do that to her.

The spear had been trickier. As we’d figured, Rowena was carrying it. I never expected to be able to take it stealthily. I just wanted to take it and get out fast. And for that—plus about a zillion other reasons—I’d needed Dani.

I had her slam us both into Rowena at high speed. While I kept the old woman busy trying to get untangled from me on the floor, Dani stayed in high-speed mode, patted her down, snatched the spear from a pouch the old woman had sewn into her robes, grabbed me again, and whizzed us both out.

Rowena’s shouts had roused the entire abbey. We’d fled into the night, followed by cries of “Traitors, traitors!”

“We can never go back to the abbey, Mac.” Dani looked simultaneously exhilarated and as young and lost as I’d ever seen her. I remembered being a teenager and didn’t envy her a bit. Emotions ran so high and changed so quickly, it was hard to know which end was up.

I laughed. “Oh, we’re going back, Dani. I need things there.” Answers. Lots of them. Tomorrow I would begin working on how to get into the Forbidden Libraries and putting together my own troops of sidhe-seers.

“They’ll never take us back, Mac. We ganged up and defied Rowena. We’re outcasts. Forever.” She sounded as miserable as she did proud.