Page 103 of Grave Revelations

Chapter 68

Sophia

Sophia opened her eyes, and a soft moan escaped her lips. After eight nights suspended in the same position, the pain was becoming unbearable.

“Pythia, we’ve docked. I believe we’re in America.”

She glanced left, her vision blurry after so many days of no food, water, or essence. A deep ache had settled in her stomach, and her head throbbed. She would give anything to be in Sheol with the Naphil rather than here in the mortal realm.

“Has anyone been down here?” she croaked.

“Only Maria,” Helena said. “She said we would debark at nightfall. I hope they come soon.”

Sophia licked her dry lips. Her mind was foggy, a gnawing ache riding front seat as she tried to focus on anything other than Helena’s thrumming vein. Helena was in real danger if they released her.

Footsteps sounded far to her left. “They’re coming.”

Helena twisted to stare at the door. “How many?”

“Six. No—seven. And they’re dragging something with them.”

The handle outside their door twisted open, and several night creatures Sophia didn’t recognize stepped in. The final two brought a large enclosure resembling a birdcage with them.

Elizabeth came last, smiling up at Sophia. “Good morning, rat. Are you ready to be a good pet and do as I ask, or will we string you from the ceiling of your cage for a few more days?”

She narrowed her eyes at the small monster, imagining all the ways she would tear her head from her shoulders if she were free. “I’ll cooperate.”

“Very well. Monica, take the cage up. We may yet need it.”

A tall creature with short-cropped hair and permanent scowl lines picked up the cage, carrying it away as if it weighed nothing; to their kind, it did.

Elizabeth whispered the words in Latin that would release Sophia’s bonds and spit in her hand, running it over iron chains. They fell away, and Sophia collapsed into a heap on the floor. She repeated the action for Helena.

Helena crawled toward Sophia, resting her hands over the joints at Sophia’s shoulders, and a soft light bloomed under her touch. The pulsing vein in her neck called to Sophia, screaming for her attention, but she wrestled the wild beast inside her, fighting for control.

“Get her up,” Elizabeth barked, and two night-creatures pulled Helena to her feet, taking her healing energy with her.

That small reprieve had been heavenly, but it did nothing to quell the blinding hunger burning in Sophia’s belly. She rose unsteadily and leaned into the wall.

“Come, rat,” Elizabeth said. “We have a stop to make on our way.”

Sophia blinked, surprised to find they were not in North Carolina—in fact, they were nowhere near there. As she peered up at the Statue of Liberty, hand outstretched as a sign of peace, she wondered why they had come to New York.

Dozens upon dozens of creatures marched alongside her as they stepped off the docks. Elizabeth barked orders, and they moved quickly, scurrying in different directions to do her bidding.

Sophia strained to hear her orders and catalog every detail; when she found her opportunity to escape, she could bring that information to Rebecca. But herstomach dropped when a mane of golden-brown hair streaked with silver, the same shade as her own, bobbed into the crowd, followed by the rest of her coven.

Her mother.

She stepped around the women flanking her and moved up.

“Mama,” she whispered urgently. The guards followed her, shoving her between them, and her lip curled, but she said nothing, watching her mother move silently down the sidewalk.

Her mother hadn’t flinched, hadn’t batted an eye at Sophia. She was just as she had been in the cave in Demre—a vessel devoid of her life force.

Sophia’s gaze fell on each of the members of her coven, and she found they were all equally emotionless. All but one.

“Cassia,” she whispered.

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