Page 155 of Anchor

“No—I need to know what he’s talking about. What plan?”

I turned to Seth, then Taland, and he looked at me, too. Shook his head once, the question clear in his eyes as I imagined it was clear in mine—what the hell are they talking about?!

“You see, I didn’t plan to talk to anybody about this until the time was right, but that’s the beauty of Life. The only thing we should expect is uncertainty. Change. She has a way of fucking up one’s plans and doing what she wants, Life. I adore her for it, even if it’s a pain in the ass.” He drew in a deep breath. “You see, when I first started creating my retirement plan, I was still in my thirties. I knew I’d get here eventually, and I wanted to be prepared. That’s why I waited and watched and gathered. That’s why I know now what you have in your house better than you do.”

“For fucks’ sake—speak.” This from Aurelia, and she was just as pissed as Zachary.

Taland grabbed my arm and pulled me back because I must have gone closer without even realizing it.

“Patience, youngling. That is why nobody gets anywhere anymore—patience.They lack it. Deny it when it is such a big part of life. But I had it, embraced it, and that is how I discovered the plans of a mastermind much like myself. I knew what he was trying to do all along, and I’ve been following, waiting, putting the pieces together so that when he strikes, I help him. So that when he wins, I win, too.”

The Devil stopped. My head was pretty much mashed potatoes by now, so I didn’t even try to figure anything out. I just waited. We all did.

“At first, I wanted the veler that he needed, but he was faster than me. Better equipped at getting it in his own hands.” His eyes moved to Taland.

“What did you just say?” I asked because a part of me, asmallpart of me actually understood what he was saying, and I didn’t want to accept it. Didn’t want to believe it. I justdidn’t want to.

He grinned, the asshole, because he knew. “The veler that was in your school. He was never going to let the boy actually steal it. He just wanted a reason to bring it close tohim,close to where he could access it any time he pleased. He just wanted a reason to distract the Council, that’s all.”

Silence in my mind.

I saw the scene, saw the whole thing—how I’d gone to that school, how we’d danced in the Feast of Hope, how I’d hit Taland on the head with that candleholder…

I remembered all the times I’d looked at that file, all the times I’d wondered why Taland had wanted the veler, why they hadn’t just taken it to the Vault in the first place—why keep it in a damn school?!

“So, that part of the plan failed. Then I had to get creative. I had to figure out what more he needed, and unfortunately, the only thing I could do was take something he already has, and use that to negotiate my terms.”

Oh, how he smiled…

“Who—” Aurelia exploded, but I couldn’t help myself when the Devil locked eyes with me. When he saw right into my mind and knew that I knew.

“Hill,” I said, and the word sort of fell from my lips like I hadn’t meant to say it. Like it slipped accidentally.

The Mergenbach siblings turned to me. Taland was suddenly there, too.

“Hill,” I repeated, this time clearly. “He means David Hill.”

Of course, he meant David Hill—Taland and I had already figured that he was up to something. That he wasn’t who he said he was—andof course he wasn’t!Since the first time I laid eyes on that man, I knew. The way he used his smile to hide everything he felt—I knew. The way my grandmother, the biggest monster I knew at the time, was almost afraid of him—I knew.

But I’d chosen to ignore it because it had made no sense.

“That’s…” Zachary started.

“Impossible,” Aurelia finished. “Whywould he—no, no,impossible.”

“Hmm—is it?” said the Devil. “Well, good thing I invited him over so he can tell you all about it himself!”

What the…

The Devil laughed. The spinning stopped abruptly. Every person who’d been standing ended up on the floor, myself included. The vase with those flowers was on the floor, broken, the table, the chairs against the wall on the other side, the piano in pieces.

Then the magic shifted, and before any of us had the chance to make it to our feet, somethingfellright in the middle of the long room.

David Hill was on one knee, breathing heavily, looking completely disoriented, and he wasn’t smiling when he locked eyes with the Devil.

“Hello, old friend,” the Devil said. “You’re just in time for tea.”

Chapter 31

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