Nyx couldn’t hide her relief when she finally reached the last page of the diary, at least the last page with anything written on it. It hadn’t taken her long to see what the investigator wanted her to find.
“So you see the doom that came to the Ortiz family,” Christopher said, reaching up to something around his neck. A rosary—he clutched it even now, just looking at the diary. “And why I couldn’t be explicit in the report. Brahma has… certain ideas about justice. Noble, but…”
“But sometimes strict rules get in the way of actually getting things done?” Nyx grinned at him. “Guess even a Brahmanian can see how stupid their rules are.” Nyx caught another nervous glance from their waiter. Poor Ruiz was probably having a heart attack, they’d been here so long. All the tables around them were empty now. They didn’t enjoy overhearing tales of distant horror.
“Most of the time rules keep us safe,” Christopher countered stubbornly. “Demon like this Dark Mother is obviously dangerous, if anything in this diary is true. Rules say it’s so dangerous that the only safe thing to do is burn it. Nothing is worth the risk that someone might discover it.”
“And yet.” Nyx pointed to a sketch in one corner of the last page, carefully dodging the brown stain that was almost certainly blood. “You kept it, and now we know where they went.”
“I just can’t give up hope that…” Then he trailed off, apparently processing what she’d said. “You know where this is? I searched all over Brahma for it. Nothing like it anywhere.”
If it was in Brahma you would’ve burned it. “That’s because it’s in Elenia—or near it, anyway.” Nyx rose, pocketing the diary without request or permission. “It’s called the Witch’s Ziggurat. I know where I’m going now.”
“Where we’re going.” Christopher rose at the same moment, tossing a handful of gold onto the table with careless disregard. It wasn’t Elenian currency, but there was so much Nyx knew Ruiz wouldn’t care. “You have a citizen of your nation you hope to save, that Enoch child. But the Ortiz family deserve justice. They deserve rescue, if anyone is still alive in that devil-cursed tower. On my honor, I deliver one or the other. You can help if you want.”
Nyx laughed despite herself. “You think you’re going to make it through a kingdom as dangerous and barbaric as Elenia without a guide?” He was already halfway to the door. She almost let him go. At least if he got himself hopelessly lost, he couldn’t torment her anymore.
Nyx hurried to catch up anyway. If Christopher got too annoying, she could always find an esper hungry for Spanish food.
She made only one stop on the way out of the city, back to the small apartment she kept but rarely used. After what she’d read in Sandra’s diary, she needed to be well-armed. Powerful espers were now involved, suggesting Salma would not be responding to reason.
Once inside, she pushed aside a bookshelf on wheels, revealing her emergency stash. She hesitated a moment, before selecting
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