“It was a matter of probability,” she says vaguely, and the three of them stand up together. “Here.” Brixia holds something out to me—a set of keys—and I blink up at her. “You’ve found your safe house. This apartment will remain empty and unbothered for the remainder of the week. We will wait to hear from you.”

“Whether you trust us or not, we are the only ones who can give you what you truly desire.” Ket gazes at me, unblinking. “Whatever happens in four days’ time, the Corrupter will not survive the Ascension. But if you cooperate with us, we will do our best to see that you do.”

With that, the three witches join hands and vanish, leaving behind nothing but a ribbon of vapor that gradually dissolves into the golden air.

31

If you cooperate with us. As if they don’t already know what I’ll do—as if I even have a real alternative. The Syndicate wants dominance, Rasputin wants chaos, Viviane wants utopia, and the Brotherhood wants a world cleansed of the undead … but the only thing none of them want is for me to walk away from this. Supposing the witches are lying, I’ve still got nothing to lose. And if they’re being honest, they really are promising me exactly what I’ve lately been too scared to hope for.

Or, almost exactly. They said nothing about helping me get my parents back, and I don’t think it was an oversight. Getting rid of Azazel without me dying in the process is an objective we all conveniently share right now, but that doesn’t mean they’ve been hanging out for thousands of years just to do me a few special favors. My parents are collateral that only I care about, and no matter who I side with, no one is going to save them but me—and I have to figure out how before I’m separated from the Corrupter, one way or another.

Ximena offers me a few encouraging words, and then she departs with Marcus and Lydia, leaving me alone in the apartment. The silence is earsplitting, and I shove aside the thick drapes, daylight dazzling and cold over the endless blue of Lake Michigan. For a while I just stand there, immobilized, looking out over this neighborhood I don’t know—tallying up the hours I’ve got left until the moment I either live or die.

A knock at the door sends my heart skyrocketing, and I spin on my heel, my chest so tight I can’t breathe. Whoever is in the hallway outside, it’s not a vampire, because I can’t sense them; and if the Brotherhood somehow followed me here—

“Auggie?” The voice is muffled—but I know it. “Don’t be scared, it’s just us!”