This was what Curran must’ve felt like when I assured him I would fight the magic changing me. Ugh.

“The girl is sahanu,” Julie said.

“Mmm?”

“Adora. She’s sahanu.”

Sahanu meant “to unsheathe a blade” in ancient Akkadian. Specifically, to draw a dagger.

“And the other two on the wall?”

“Sahanu also. I was going to tell you, but Roland came out and then you were angry.”

“Are they elite troops of some sort?”

“He made them to fight Erra,” Julie said. “He showed them to me before. I think that when he felt your aunt waking up, he became concerned that he wouldn’t be able to control her, so he created the Order of Sahanu. He got the idea from a documentary on assassins.”

I must’ve moved because Baby B stirred and started whimpering. I rocked her, making shooshing noises.

“He bought a bunch of children and put them into a fort,” Julie whispered. “Somewhere in the Midwest. And brought in really good teachers. He turned the whole thing into a religion.”

“Shhh . . . Shush . . . He would never allow himself to be an object of worship.” When you let people worship you, their faith had power over you. My father would never tolerate anything imposing on his will.

“He isn’t. They worship the blood.”

Baby B opened her mouth and cried with all of the despair her little heart could muster. I got up and took her to Andrea.

“I see how it is.” She squinted at me. “While she’s quiet, everyone wants to hold her, but when she cries, give her back to her parents.”

“Yeah.” I winked at her.

Andrea gave me a long look and cuddled Baby B to her. Julie and I left the room. We walked through the Keep in silence. The walls did have ears here. In the courtyard, only my car looked out of place. Peanut was nowhere to be seen.

“How did you get here?” I asked her.

“Derek dropped me off.”

I opened the car and she climbed into the passenger seat.

“For the sahanu, there is only one way to receive the ultimate reward in the afterlife. They must die in service to your blood. If one of the blood kills them or if they manage to kill one of the blood on the orders of another, they get to the extra-special level of heaven. If they fail, they are condemned to a frozen hell. It’s sick and twisted.”

And I had no idea if she was telling me the truth or only what my father wanted me to hear. I’d have to verify this. If this was true, then it explained Adora’s panic at being set free. And now she was my dirty secret. I had no idea how to break it to Curran.

“Are you mad at me?” Julie asked, her voice small.

“No.” I was plenty mad at myself. “I’m worried.”