All That Lives Must Die - Eric Nylund [163]
“It will not be.” Henry waved his concern away as if it were a buzzing mosquito. “Not like that. I made sure the face of the Madonna appeared on a Del Mundo Pharma Chemical stucco wall. The locals have already proclaimed it and the clean land a ‘miracle.’ ”
Audrey read the faces of Kino and Lucia: They were uncertain about Eliot.
“But,” Lucia said, “he did not stay to run things.”
“Too committed to his studies at Paxington, I’m afraid,” Henry offered.
“I like not that both twins are still so firmly entrenched at that school,” Lucia said. “How have they done on their midterms, Aaron?” She turned to him. “Have you heard yet?”
Aaron stood and grinned. “Eliot and Fiona—their entire team—all received As!” He smashed one fist into his open hand for emphasis. “And destroyed Ma’s precious obstacle course in the process. Ha!”
“A-minuses,” Audrey corrected.
“Still,” Aaron said, “they used teamwork to achieve that grade. And that is a trait of this family.”
“Could it not have been solely Fiona’s influence?” Lucia asked.
“Paxington.” Kino said this word as if it had a sour taste. “I do not trust anything that happens there. How can we, when no League member is permitted on campus?”
“Nor any of the Infernal clans,” Henry countered.
“Technically neither of those statements is true,” Lucia told them. “Any student who passes the entrance and placement exams may go to Paxington. Both Eliot and Fiona are from the League. The Infernal protégée, the Handmaiden to the Mistress of Pain, also attends Paxington.”
“We should have taken that place long ago,” Kino muttered.
“Perhaps you would storm the gates,” Henry said, “as Harlan Dells defends his wall, fights, and dies in his many incarnations as he did in the old days against the giants? Or perhaps you would test pernicious Miss Westin—who can become shadow and mist and summon her hordes from the darkness? Or would you challenge the unbeatable Ma? Even though killing him would mean death for us all?”
Aaron flinched at those names.
Kino scowled.
“We’re getting off topic.” Lucia tapped the pile of Henry’s photographs. “Have we come to a consensus on Eliot’s inclinations?”
Henry shook his head. “I move that we continue to watch Eliot. Personally, I find him quite fascinating.”
“How long can we watch?” Kino took a step closer to Henry. “Until it is too late? Until he is one of them?”
Audrey observed Aaron, but the man did not stir. He simply watched Kino and then Henry, unmoved by this debate that could decide if Eliot lived or died.
This was one more thing that was off today. Aaron had always jumped to Eliot’s defense before.
“What do you think, Audrey?” Lucia asked. “You know the boy better than any here.”
“I think . . .”
What she thought was largely irrelevant. These facts were inconclusive.
But what she felt—that was another matter entirely. When she imagined her Eliot, she saw him in shadows now.
“I think a brief recess would be beneficial.” She stood. “I find it too stuffy in here.” Audrey stared into Lucia’s eyes as she said this, and her gaze softened. It was a silent plea; she had to leave this room, the heat, and the swirling thoughts of the others.
Lucia sighed. “Very well. Thirty minutes.” She shook her tiny silver bell.
Audrey had to be alone for a moment . . . to think . . . to find a way to logically avoid coming to the same conclusion that Kino had: that Eliot was drifting to the other side.
As part Infernal–part Immortal, Eliot could bypass the neutrality treaty that kept the families from murdering one another. They’d already seen this was possible: Fiona had decapitated Beelzebub.
The opposite had to be true: If Eliot went to their side, became an Infernal Lord . . . he would be able to kill Immortals.
Their discretion now would save countless lives later. But that meant her son had to die.
47
TIPPED BALANCE
Audrey crunched over the ice-crusted snow into the woods. The spruce and pine were dense and deep and full of gloaming shadows.
This was what she wanted: