Page 83 of The Fallen Kingdom

“And if she gets her hands on it, then what? She’ll kill us all.”

Sorcha lets out a sharp laugh, bitter. “I’m not a fool.

You’re my insurance. Why do you think I made you a vow? As long as she needs my blood to open it, the Book is mine. And I promised it to you. You have the most reason to keep it out of her hands.”

“And I’m the one who would suffer the most.”

Her hands fist at her sides. “Aye. I admit that.”

“Then it must have been wonderful to have the Morrigan to replay your finest moment. When you took my mother from me.”

“I have no desire to have my body used like some puppet. Especially not byher.”

Enough of this. I need to find that girl, and Kiaran, and Aithinne.“Where’s Aithinne?”

“I woke up alone in the cave,” Sorcha says tightly. “And I found myself here when I tried to leave.”

I shove down my emotions. I can’t think clearly if I feel too much, and the Morrigan will use that against me. Focus on the task at hand. That girl. “There was a girl who came out this way. I saw her in your memories. Small, covered in ink markings.”

I swear, something flickers in Sorcha’s gaze. Confusion? “I don’t recall any girl.”

“There you are!” I hear Aithinne’s voice behind me. I turn to see her step out of the door of a building, relief plain on her face at the sight of us. She pauses. “I’m glad to see you both. Even you,” she tells Sorcha. “Although I still hate you.”

“Oh, thank god,” Sorcha says. “For a minute I thought you might actually hug me.” She sounds as acerbic as always, but I swear she looks almost glad to see Aithinne.

“I might still. Just to torture you.”

“Aithinne,” I say. “Did you see—”

The girl is slipping across the street right behind Aithinne, her dark hair glowing in the city lights. When she sees that I notice her, she lets out a soft gasp and bolts.

Before I can go after the girl, Lonnrach lunges out of the shadows between the buildings and grabs her.

CHAPTER 37

IRACE DOWNthe street with Aithinne and Sorcha close behind me.

Lonnrach is trying to pull the girl through another building door—through what must be another portal—but she puts up a damn good fight. The girl slams her boot into his knee, wrenches herself out of his grip, and takes off running.

When Lonnrach sees us coming, he curses and sprints after her.

Aithinne grasps my sleeve. “What are we doing? Who wasthat?”

“I don’t know,” Sorcha pants. “But if my brother wants her this badly, we need to get to her first.”

We race past the line of white-columned buildings in George Street and cut down a side street to come out near the gardens. The lights of Old Town are dark, the city eerie and shadowed as we come to a hard stop before the bridge. “Aithinne, go that way”—I gesture to the west side of the street—“Sorcha, take North Bridge. I’ll trail behind and we’ll cut him off on the High Street. Go!”

We head off in our different directions. I follow Lonnrach past Waverley Bridge and into the winding, dark tenements of the ancient part of the city. The buildings here are high, all of them close together and built partially underground. If I lose sight of Lonnrach and the girl, I won’t be able to find them again. This part of Edinburgh is layered in an elaborate maze of tunnels and wynds and closes.

As I follow Lonnrach down another side street, the buildings around us seem to grow darker, more shadowed. The Morrigan built the city from my memories. She has to be here somewhere, helping him along. Who is this girl? Is she another faery here to find the Book?

I see her just ahead, her long hair fluttering behind her like a veil. She darts through a dark close. She’s trying to take advantage of the dim light and the mazelike streets of the Old Town. Lonnrach trails after her.

I follow behind, but the building starts to close in, as if it were—

It’s moving. Itisclosing in.

The girl glances behind her with a panicked expression and speeds up. She whirls and presses her palm to the wall, pushing open a door I hadn’t even noticed was there.

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