Karous stomach turned over. You werent, she said.
Esther cocked her head, puzzled. I wasnt what?
You werent wrong . I didnt find Brimstone. Hes dead. She laid it out flat, no emotion in her voice, and watched Esthers face drain of color.
No, oh no. No, she
murmured, her hand going to her mouth. Oh, Karou. I didnt want to believe it. Her eyes filled up with tears.
You didnt tell her yet? Zuzana asked.
Karou shook her head. So much for breaking it to her gently. Esther had lied to her. When the portals had just burned and she didnt know anything , when she was battered and bruised from near-death encounters with both Akiva and Thiago, and no gentle treatment from Brimstone himself, she had gone to her for help. Shed been at the lowest point in her life so far, never mind that she was to sink steadily lower and oh so very much lower over the next months, she hadnt known that then. Shed trusted Esther, only to find out now that Esther had lied to her face.
She looked genuinely affected, though, and Karou felt some small remorse for telling her so harshly. Issas well, she said, to soften the blow, adding a silent prayer that it was so.
Im glad to hear it. Esthers voice was tremulous. And Yasri? Twiga?
There was no softening that. Twiga was dead. Yasri was, too, though Yasris soul, like Issas, had been preserved and left for Karou to findanother hope in a bottle, to relay Brimstones very important message. Karou hadnt been able to go and retrieve her thurible yet, though she knew where it was: in the ruins of the temple of Ellai where she and Akiva had spent their month of sweet nights, a lifetime past.
To Esther, she just gave a small head shake. Resurrection was more than she was willing to go into. Esther no more knew what Brimstone had used the teeth forand the gems that had been her own trade with himthan Karou had known before she broke the wishbone, and she wasnt feeling inclined to be forthcoming just now.
Very many are dead, she said, trying and failing to keep the emotion out of her voice. And very many more will die unless we stop these angels and close the portal.
And you think you can do that? asked Esther.
I hope , thought Karou, but she said, simply, Yes.
Zuzana spoke up again, and whether she was matador or bull, she was clear-eyed, fixed, and focused. Some of those wishes wouldnt be unwelcome now.
Oh, well, said Esther, flustered. Now I truly dont have any more. Im so sorry. If I had only known, I might have conserved them better. Oh, my poor dear, she said to Karou, clasping her hand.
Zuzanas mouth was a straight line. Uh-huh, was all she said.
Perhaps feeling that some social grace was called for to spackle over Zuzanas lack thereof, Mik said, awkwardly, Well, thanks for the, um, jet. And the hotel and everything.
Youre welcome, said Esther, and Karou felt that the time for introductions and pleasantriesand un pleasantrieshad come to an end. There was work to be done.
She turned to her friends. The bathrooms down the hall. Its not too shabby. Clothes are in the big bedroom. Play dress-up.
Zuzanas brow creased. And the others? She hesitated. Eliza? Is she any better?
A new tension clenched in Karou. What could she say about Eliza? Eliza Jones. What a strange business it was. They only knew her name because she had ID on her, not because she was capable of telling them. From there, a quick Google search had yielded startling results. Elazael, descended of an angel. As crazy as it all soundedjust the kind of thing Zuzana would, once upon a time, have made a T-shirt in mockery ofthe fact that she was speaking fluent Seraphic did lend it an undeniable credibility.
As for the things she had said in Seraphic, they were surpassingly creepy, and flowed out of her in some kind of fugue. And to Zuzanas question: Was she any better? Karou didnt know how to answer. She had tried, back in Morocco, to use her own gift of healing to mend her, but how could she, when she couldnt begin to sense what was broken?
Akiva was trying now, in some way of his own, and Karou had hope, leading her friends to the sitting room door, that she might open it and find the two of them just sitting there, deep in conversation.
In here, she said, reaching for the doorknob. With a glance back at Esther, she made an effort to smile. She hated tension, and wished, not for the first time, that the older woman was a warmer fish. But she knew, as she had always known, that every time Esther had acted on her behalfincluding the year shed brought her home to Antwerp with her for Christmas, conjuring a magazine-worthy living room full of gifts, including a fantastical hand-carved rocking horse that Karou had had to leave there and had never seen againshed been compensated for her
trouble.
That wasnt friendship, or family. It was business, and smiles werent required.
But she smiled anyway, and Esther smiled back. There was sadness in her eyes, regret, maybe even penitence, and later Karou would remember thinking, Well, thats something at least.