A Darkness Strange and Lovely (Something Strange and Deadly #2)(78)

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen one.”

“Would it be attractive? As in alluring—would someone want to . . . to touch it?”

“I don’t know, El.” He peered at me slantwise. “A necromancer might be attracted to the power, I suppose, but the average person—”

“The cane!” I almost screamed the word. “The Marquis’s cane is the amulet.”

“The Marquis? As in the man who is—”

“Hosting the Spirit-Hunters, yes!” I burst into a run up the stairs, shouting, “His cane—it isn’t normal, Ollie. Every time I have seen it, the handle has been in a different shape, and all I can think about is how much I want to have it. Maybe he is a demon—you said yourself that you wouldn’t be able to sense one nearby.”

Oliver’s feet pounded behind me. “Well, there’s one easy way to tell. What color are his eyes?”

I slowed. “Blue. Damn, they’re blue.” I resumed my racing stride, and we rounded the stairs, flying past the Spirit-Hunters’ lab. “But even if he is not a demon, he could still have an amulet.”

“But why would he need an amulet?”

“To control the senate, win the presidential election—power. There are seventy-four corpses and I bet seventy-four senators.”

“No,” Oliver called after me. “There are seventy- five.”

“But seventy-five minus the Marquis is seventy-four! And . . .” I trailed off, grinding to a halt. I turned horrified eyes on Oliver. “He said they’ll all be at the ball tonight. What if he intends to cast the amulet then?”

Oliver frowned. “But why would he want the Spirit-Hunters there? Surely he wouldn’t want to cast it with people around who could stop him.”

Now it was my turn to frown. “I-I don’t know, Ollie, but we cannot risk leaving the amulet with the Marquis. We have to stop him.”

“Why do we have to stop him?” Oliver demanded, but I did not respond. I had already resumed my desperate race to my room.

And all I could think of was that stopping the Marquis would lead to Jie. Something in my heart told me her disappearance was connected to les Morts; and if the Marquis was the man behind les

Morts, then . . .

My lips quirked into a smile. Then I would destroy him.

Just as I skittered to a stop before my bedroom door, Oliver jogged up behind me.

“What do you”— gasp—“intend to do, El?”

“Stop him.”

“How?”

“I’ll take the amulet.” I wanted it—I couldn’t deny that. “I will go to his house and take it.” I pushed through my doorway.

But Oliver shoved into my room and forced me to stop. “And then he’ll cast the amulet and compel you to return it. Your plan won’t work.”

“Then tell me what I can do.”

“Your only choice is to stop the necromancer who made the amulet.”

“Stop him how?” I shut my door.

“Death.” He spoke with an intensity I’d never seen. “Murder, El. And despite all your . . . your bloodlust and dark promises, I don’t think you can do that. I know you cannot.”

“Yes, I can,” I said softly.

“No. You are not Elijah, and I won’t let you become him.”

“I thought you wanted this. That you wanted death and sacrifice and blood.”

“I told you what I meant by that, El. In the lab, I told you I didn’t mean violence.” He grabbed my arms. “Listen to me. One death—even if it seems necessary—will only be the beginning. I know. I know.”

No, you do not know, I thought. But I pretended to wilt in agreement. “Then what do we do?”

“We leave it to the Spirit-Hunters, and you and I deal with Marcus.”

“Marcus . . .” The name rolled off my tongue. I looked into Oliver’s face, my back straightening.

“Will you try to stop me from killing him?”

He shook his head once. “His death is different.”

“How?” I demanded.

“Because . . . his time already came. He doesn’t belong in this realm.” Oliver pulled away, his shoulders tensing. “So leave les Morts and Jie to the Spirit-Hunters. Let us go after the Old Man in the

Pyramids. Let us fulfill Elijah’s final command and stop the monster wearing his body.”

Find Marcus, my heart nudged. Find the Old Man and stop Marcus . . . The Spirit-Hunters could handle the Marquis—it was their job, after all.

“All right,” I said at last. “We’ll go after Marcus and the Old Man. Though not until I make sure

Joseph knows about the Marquis and his cane.”

“Fine.” Oliver’s lips eased into a smile. “Then we should start with Elijah’s letters. That’s where we’ll find a clue to this Old Man and his blasted chicken.”

“Chicken? What do you mean?”

“Pullet. Poule. It means ‘chicken.’”

“But the Black Pullet isn’t actually a chicken . . .”

“Yes, it bloody well is. But don’t make that face. It’s also a chicken that lays golden eggs and grants its master immortality.”