Page 156 of Anchor

Rosabel La Rouge

“What’s the meaning of this, Alejandro?”

Hill slowly stood up and looked at Zachary and Aurelia, at Seth, then Taland, then me.

Once more, he didn’t react, had no expression on his face at all when he faced the Devil.

“Oh, I was just telling these younglings how you and I go way back, and how I know how your mind works, David. You always think ten steps ahead, and you inspired me to do the same.”

Hill put his hands in the pockets of his silver suit pants. “And you always liked to talk and talk and talk…” He nodded his head back. “How about you let them out so we can have an actual conversation, you and I.”

It wasn’t a question.

The Devil laughed, and Hill turned his head just slightly to look at me. To look at my hand. My wrist. The bracelet around it.

When our eyes locked, I could have sworn I saw the threat he just made running through his mind, even though he didn’t say it in words.

I’d be a damn liar if I said I wasn’t afraid—I was terrified. I was pissed. I was so ready to get the hell away from this place already, except the room had continued to spin again before any of us had even made it to their feet, and the magic held. It held strong—we weren’t going anywhere yet.

“But we can have a conversation in front of them, can’t we? They’re just children, after all,” said the Devil. “And more than that—I think I might have told them your little secret already, so there’s no need to hide. Not like any of them are coming out of my Regah alive, anyway.”

Fuck.

I looked at Taland, and he no longer seemed suspicious or afraid or anything at all—just plain cold. Calculative. He was measuring the distance between us, I was sure—except I had, too. And there was no way in any hell that any of us were going to be able to keep away from a spell no matter whom it was aimed at. The place was too small, and unless the Devil let us out…well, we were all dead, just like he said.

“What secret?” David Hill said, and he stepped to the side, turned his back to Hakim and the other two without hesitation, so he could have us and the Mergenbach siblings and the Devil in his line of vision.

The Devil laughed again, laughed harder. “Come now, David. Don’t play dumb with me.”

Hill’s teeth clenched so hard the entire room heard it. “It’s you who’s playing dumb, I’m afraid. I suggest you get to the point quickly and tell me why I’m here.”

“Ah, yes, yes—you’re a busy man,” the Devil said. “But I already told you—I called you here because I told them your secret.” He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “They came to me willingly—well, the young Tivouxes and the girl. And we were going to have a grand time. A debt was going to be cleared, but then your kin shows up and blows up my door.” Now, whenhe looked at Zachary and Aurelia, he looked so pissed off it was incredible how well he’d hidden it. “So I had no choice but to lock them in my Regah—to both teach them a lesson, and to uncover, once and for all, who we all are and what we really want. So…” His voice trailed off and he nodded his head at Hill. “Go ahead. Tell them about how you’ve been planning to find and bring back the Delaetus Army since before you took your position as the IDD Director.”

Lies,said a voice in my head.

No fucking way in hell,said another—but the strongest one wondered,how had I not seen it until now?

“You must be tired,” Hill said. “Maybe you should sit down and wait for death, old friend. Your men are dying out there—it’s only a matter of time before mine get to you.”

“Men, men—I havemoremen!” The Devil laughed heartily. “I always have more men, David. Always!”

“You don’t want to do this,” Hill told him, and he had his hands in his pockets still, but he was slightly moving back whenever he spoke because he didn’t want anybody to notice.

He was moving back,awayfrom Zachary and Aurelia. Away from us.

“But I already did,” the Devil said. “Go on, go on—tell them exactly how you have gathered everything you need in your Headquarters, and nobody has ever—eversuspected a thing!” His laughter rang in my ears. “You were smart, so smart. You used Madeline Rogan’s granddaughter because you knew she had the Council’s favor. You used the Tivoux boy because you wanted his brothers angry. Things didn’t quite work out the way you wanted, I assume, but you still got everything you needed in your Vault, didn’t you? You got the veler to find them and the script to call for them and the soul vessels to awaken them and the anchor to control them—you did all the work so beautifully.”

Taland had suddenly gripped me by the hand and pulled me back, so close to the moving wall that I felt the heat of its energy on my skin, and Seth was on my other side. He raised both hands at Hill when Zachary and Aurelia raised their wands at him.

My eyes closed and I forced air down my lungs—this is really happening.

I tried to find anything in my memories, anything at all that would hint that the Devil was lying—this is really, actually happening, and we’re at the heart of it.

I found nothing.

“You’re fucking sick,” Aurelia spit—and she wasn’t talking to the Devil.

She was looking at Hill.

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