After what happened with the gryphon, Keagan clamped his mouth shut. My ears swiveled back and forth, but they didn't pick anything up.

  Going down was much faster than going up. But as the hours went by, the boy was sniffling more and more. We stopped to make sure he was warm. He wasn't shivering, but his nose was starting to run.

  I sighed. “Kid, you have a cold.”

  “Yup,” he answered with a distorted voice.

  His sinuses were already clogging. Then he sneezed.

  “Kid, you're going to need to hold those in.” The boy looked up at me in despair. I waved him over with my head. “Get on. The thin air plus having a cold will make walking down this mountain too demanding for you. So, you need to get on my back.”

  He sneezed again. He put in the effort to hold it in, but he failed and sputtered a spray of mist. “Ugh, that hurt.” He put a hand on his chest. “Why hold them in?”

  I lowered myself to make things easier for him. “Those are very loud. If something hears you, getting out of here without a fight becomes impossible. Just… just sneeze into my fur. That should dampen the sound enough.”

  Keagan put his hands on my back and then leaned back with his mouth open wide. “Ah choo!”

  His face slammed into me. The second half wasn't as loud as the first. When he leaned back, there was a trail of snot from his nose and upper lip to my fur.

  I suppressed my disgust. “You are lucky I love you, kid.”

  He looked at me with a glassy stare before snapping back into focus. He wiped his face on his sleeve. “Sorry.”

  He then blew his nose on a bandage before getting on.

  “Take it easy up there,” I said as I started off again. “But didn't fall asleep and let go of me either.”

  This cold hit him like a wall. First thing after getting him in bed once we get back, I need to get him some medicine.

  I picked up the pace but kept my path as easy as possible. He sneezed into my back a few more times by the time we got back to the main path again. Mercifully, there were no more signs of direwolves either.

  However, sitting on a rock was Luther. The path sloped down behind him back towards the town. He was twirling something in his fingers, but I couldn't see what.

  Where's Velleigh?

  I ducked behind cover and whispered, “Not a word.”

  I couldn't go around him. The sheer drop down the way would kill us both. And if I tried to go further down and slide down to the path, Keagan would never be able to hold onto me.

  If that reaper isn't around, he has nothing to stop me. I can just ignore all his words and walk right on by. But if he's acting as the bait, the boy will be in serious danger. Killing would be the easiest solution, but Keagan will not approve. He's too high profile to just go missing.

  The kid's grip was weakening, and I could feel his weight shifting more frequently.

  I growled internally before just walking out.

  Luther’s smile was the polite kind of cruel. “Lucia.” He tipped his head. “You cut quite a figure coming down the mountain.”

  The sliver of road between us echoed with the faint hiss of the wind. My ears swiveled on high alert and still I heard nothing else. Luther’s coat caught the light. His hat made a shadow over his eyes. His fingers still toyed with that object.

  “You and the boy,” he said. “We should talk.”

  “Now?” I asked. My voice didn’t shake; I made sure it didn’t. Keagan’s cheeks were bright pink; a cough rattled from his throat. “The kid’s sick.”

  Luther’s eyes shifted to Keagan. “That is unfortunate. That can happen when you climb the mountain and aren’t acclimated to the temperature and thin air.”

  “He needs medicine.” A growl rumbled from me. “We’re going to the town. Say whatever you want, but don’t stop us. You’re only alive for the kid’s sake.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You said something in the cellar. You told me, ‘You will never understand the hell I’ve been through.’” His voice was flat, as if he were reading a line off a page. “That was… out of place, Lucia. At the time I didn’t think much of it. But I have been enlightened to certain facts.”

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  I kept my posture neutral. I folded my mouth shut. There’s no way he can know. It doesn’t matter. “You act like I care what you think.”

  Without hesitating anymore, I started to make my way past him.

  He lifted his hands into his lips. I saw what he had in his hands: a whistle. He blew into it. It was painfully high-pitched. I felt the hair raise along my spine the instant he brought it up. The sound drilled into my ears and brought me to the ground.

  “Now what makes you so special that a being beyond any god wants you dead?” he asked softly.

  Being beyond a god? Wants me dead? Who?

  I pushed myself back up. “I’m not saying anything, and I’m leaving.”

  He smiled with no warmth. “Fair. That isn’t really the information I want.” He twirled the whistle. “I have recently come into possession of a book. The book talks about Titan’s Blood. It’s a bit of a misnomer. Actually it should be called Primordial Blood, but that just doesn’t roll off the tongue.”

  I rolled my eyes. Does he really think I’m just going to stand here and listen to this madness?

  I went to take another step, and he blew the whistle again. This time he held it for much longer. My vision started to spin, and I felt nauseous. When he stopped, I glared at the little silvery instrument.

  He held it up. “Do you like it? I had it specially made for you. It’s at a pitch only a beast monster like yourself can even hear, and at a frequency that causes a great deal of pain and disrupts your balance.” He put it in the corner of his mouth. “The Association claims a device like this is too cruel to use for correction. But it serves me quite well right now.”

  My tail lashed behind me. “Blow on that thing one more time and prevent me from getting the boy to safety, and I will put an ice spike through your face.”

  Luther held up a hand. “Given the delicacy of the topics of my questions, we must have it out where nobody can hear us. Answer me, and the boy will get his medicine. You have my word.”

  I just stared. Killing him would be so much easier. But as twisted as he is, he is a man of his word. He hasn’t told anyone that I am a fenris.

  “Lucia… answer him.” Keagan’s voice was weak.

  Luther took my lack of movement and words as permission to continue. “The fenris I had detained had told me some interesting things—when he wasn’t constantly threatening me. He…”

  “Get to the point!” I interrupted.

  He huffed. “I need Fenrir’s blood, the blood of a Primordial. Unless you know how to get into Tartarus or know where to find the Jade Palace or the Pit of Apep—of which I highly doubt. He said he talked to Fenrir. Seeing as you are stronger than he was, you also likely talked to Fenrir. Where is Fenrir, Lucia? Where is his lair?”

  The whistle lifted between his fingers like a conductor’s baton.

  I huffed. Actually sending him to Fenrir sounds like a good idea. He’ll eat him happily. Then he won’t be a problem. There’s no way for Luther to release him. One problem.

  “I don’t know,” I said finally. “He pulled me in a dream, yes. I woke up on his island, and I don’t know enough about this world’s geography to hazard a guess.”

  Luther’s face sharpened. He let out a slow breath, and for a heartbeat the world held, waiting. Then he gave a tiny, satisfied nod. “Thank you. That is helpful enough to get me started.”

  He lifted the whistle to his lips.

  It was like a row of glass cutting along the inside of my skull. Pain struck every small bone in my ears, then spilled into my jaw and down my spine. My legs flooded with pure, white-hot pain down every nerve.

  My body tried to obey the scream of that frequency and failed. I stumbled and stayed standing only because my feet were nailed to the ground by habit. My mouth opened and made a sound that was not mine, a small, involuntary whimper.

  Luther’s face was careful, almost gentle. “Look.” He pointed up the fold of the ridge, and I heard it then: the far-off padding of many paws, a rhythm that multiplied as it drew near.

  I turned, and I could only watch as shapes blurred into the track.

  My vision slowly drew back into focus. Four black direwolves, low to the ground, moving in the same hungry cadence I had grown accustomed to. They weren’t coming for me; they were chasing Velleigh.

  He raced toward us, his feathered cloak blurred with speed. The reaper’s hood was pulled low and the one arm that was missing when we fought in the rank-up tournament did not slow his speed. The four wolves were closing fast, like jaws snapping at his metaphorical heels. He kept ahead of them by twisting himself around trees and between their heads always ahead just enough to keep them enticed.

  I started circulating mana to spear Luther in the face. Again that infernal whistle stopped me.

  Once it stopped, Luther’s voice cut through the pounding in my head. “Velleigh! Get the boy. Bring him to me.”

  Velleigh’s head whipped up. For a breath I thought he’d refuse. That reaper was loyal to a fault. Then he launched himself forward, his cloak catching the wind in a blur. He aimed for Keagan.

  “No,” I breathed.

  I created a frost shield to block him. He weaved around it like he was riding the wind. I attempted to swat at him with my claws. The pain in my head made the motion jagged.

  I missed.

  Velleigh rolled over my back and scooped the boy into his arm effortlessly.

  My vision flared red. “You gave your word. Now I’ll take your life.”

  Luther stepped behind Velleigh, who held Keagan to his chest. “I said that the boy would get his medicine, nothing about you being the one who delivered it. This isn’t personal, but you have to die. A deal is a deal after all.”

  I wanted to move, but with the boy in the reaper’s arm, I couldn’t risk hitting him. That was the only thing holding my rage in check. A wall of sparks shot up from the ground to cover the two.

  I went to go around, but something clamped down on my side.

  The four direwolves had turned their attention onto me. Luther’s footsteps sounded more distant. I turned to face the four that backed up and fanned out.

  I’m going to have to deal with them before I hunt down Luther. He’s going to wish for death when I’m done with him.

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