The Hearts We Sold(22)

Dee looked at James. He had remained silent through all this, watching Cal and Cora with the air of a detached outsider. “And what do you think?” she asked.

He jerked in surprise, as if he hadn’t been expecting the question. “Don’t know,” he said, a little too quickly. “Guess it never mattered all that much to me. We do our job, and we get what we want. It’s messed up, but it works.”

Dee gazed around the small group—Cora as the leader, Cal as the brains, and James as the… she didn’t know. He didn’t seem to have an obvious role, other than the Guy with the Apartment.

“So, three people,” said Dee. “That’s how many you need to destroy a void. But then… why would the Daemon have made a deal with me? I mean, he already had the three of you…”

Her words trailed off.

There had been something inside that void. Something inhuman and quick. She remembered the flash of motion, the sense of a presence. She remembered the grim look on James’s face as he sprinted toward the void’s entrance.

Three people were required.

But she suspected the demon would want a fourth—just in case one of them was killed.





TWELVE


T he second void appeared on a Wednesday.

Dee was striding out of the science building when she saw the Daemon.

She froze—a deer catching the scent of a wolf, and if she had a heart it would have been slamming against her ribs. The demon was framed in the doorway of a fire exit. He looked as cool and pristine as ever, that umbrella tucked beneath his arm, and he watched her with ancient, far-seeing eyes.

Or perhaps that was just her imagination getting the better of her.

Students milled about, half going to after-school activities and the others heading toward the dorms. She gripped the strap of her shoulder bag, nails digging into the nylon, and forced her feet to move. Dee slipped through the crowds, just another student eager to be done with midweek classes, until she stepped into the shadow of the science building. And then she was standing beside him.

“Yes?” she said.

The Agathodaemon smiled. “Walk with me.”

The Daemon led her away from the buildings and the sidewalks and the comfortably crowded paths. The edge of campus bled into untended trees—brambles and thick undergrowth made passage impossible. Some students thought it might be deliberate, to discourage anyone sneaking away through the trees.

The smell of rain drifted up from the damp grass, and Dee tried to focus on that—on the familiarity of her surroundings. It felt as though she had stepped into yet another fairy tale, but then again, if she could stay grounded in the here and now, perhaps she would remain with one foot in the real world. She tried to look at him as if he were what he pretended to be—a thirtysomething, absurdly good-looking man with dark hair and bright blue eyes. She thought of him as human and nothing else.

“I see you are still functioning,” said the Agathodaemon.

Well, that thought lasted a good two seconds.

She forced herself not to scratch at the back of her neck. “Shouldn’t I be?”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “It does not take, sometimes,” he admitted. “Some people hold their hearts quite closely, and without them they simply… stop.”

His voice carried a trace of admiration, as if there was something noble to be found in the bodies of those victims he left behind. But were they truly victims? If they made a deal, knowing fully what they were trading for a wish—but then again, could a person ever truly know the consequences of giving away their heart?

The Daemon surveyed her with a small smile. “That is why I take the younger ones, you see. You already give parts of your heart away so easily—little fragments attached to celebrities, to hobbies, and to ill-fated love affairs. Your kind have the best chance at survival.”

Dee felt her hand rise to her chest. She had never placed any true importance on bands or television shows or even boyfriends. Her own heart had remained locked tightly behind her ribs—at least, until she allowed a demon to take it.

“You have your knitted heart on you?” asked the Daemon.

Dee felt the lump in her pocket. “Yes.”

“Good. Good. I would hate to lose such an… intriguing investment so soon.”

There were so many questions that Dee could have asked—why a knitted heart mattered, why she was an investment, and an intriguing one at that—but what came out of her mouth was, “Why are you here?”

She wanted to know. Why a demon existed in a place like this—if he was in fact a demon. Why he needed to be in Portland, in Oregon, in this world. But he seemed to take her question quite literally.

“There is a void,” he said. “It is forming on the outskirts of a place called Beaverton.”

That startled a laugh out of her.

He looked at her, a silent question forming in his unnaturally bright blue eyes.

She shrugged. “I know Beaverton. But let’s just say no one would miss it.”

He regarded her coldly. “You would not care for it if a void opened there. Nor anywhere within a hundred miles.” A tilt of his head. “At least, you would not care for it in the few moments you had left to live.”

She didn’t quite gulp, but it was a near thing.

“Here is the address,” he said, and held out a business card. On it was a scribbled address. “Call the others.”