put the the universe on the wrong track. This wrong began with the new Seraphim and his ousting of the previous."
I stared at Geist. Did I know this? "The previous?"
"Much like Sophia took over the Throne of the Phantasm from her father, the Seraphim Throne once belonged to another."
Daniel asked, "Who?"
"Lilith."
Lilith. A…woman? "I don't know why I thought you were going to say Mary."
"That is one of her names." Geist clasped his hands behind his back and his face—Barry's face—remained passive as always. "Lilith once ruled on the Thorne of the Seraphim, but when Samael was killed, her grief emotionally removed her from her duty." He looked at me. "Her heart was broken."
Ah. That power center thing. "So…was she killed so a new Seraphim could take control?"
"No. But she was betrayed by the Choirs, lead by a person who held a convincing argument that Lilith was no longer fit to bring the Choirs of the Ethereal back to their eternal glory."
Eh…that sounded like a whole bunch of hokum. "So Inanna blames this new Seraphim for all the bad stuff. So…what does that have to do with hijacking my body?"
That's when I heard voices. They were low at first, but then the darkness lightened and we turned to see a screen appear above us. I knew we were looking outside of this place, through my eyes. Like I said, I'd been here before, and no matter how hard I wanted out, it wasn't happening.
"Hey," Manuel's face came into view. "You okay?"
"What…what happened?" That was my voice, but it wasn't my voice. But it was my voice. I looked at Geist. "How is she using my voice but hers isn't dueling through? I always thought the voices created that two-tone sound when a First Born spoke?"
"Not always. They all possess the ability to hide themselves. The real test for her is whether or not the Phantasm will know the difference."
"Can't you leave here and tell him?" Daniel said.
"Yes."
I frowned at him. "But you won't."
"No."
"Why not."
The image of Barry smiled at me. "Because I agree with Inanna. The new Seraphim and the betrayers must die."
6
"…choking yourself and then you passed out."
Manuel was talking. I ignored creepy Geist and watched. Geist had betrayed me in the past, having let Rhonda do what she wanted to do because he agreed with her logic. She convinced him that taking Dags away from me would free me to be what I was destined to be, and so he didn't stop her from rewriting the pages of the Grimoire .
I wanted his information.
But I didn't trust him. Never would again. Was I worried about the Seraphim?
Not really. From what I'd seen, he or she was a bastard and tried to kill me once by sending a Cherubim after me.
Gabriel.
"I think it was Inanna, trying to keep you quiet." TC put a hand on my forehead. "How do you feel?"
"Tired. And my throat hurts." My arm touched his. "I would love a glass of water."
The Phantasm smiled and disappeared.
And Inanna went right to work. She immediately sat up and turned to Manuel. Manuel looked surprised. "Zoë?"
"We have to find Joe if we're going to convince the Coterie not to come after me and convince them the deal with the Seraphim is not in their best interest. We have to gain their trust."
"Yeah we know that. But how do we—"
She put my hand on Manuel's. "The only way to find him is to use a Dowsing wand."
"A Dowsing wand?" He looked confused and it was a cute look on him. "How do you know about one of those? That's like…one of those old stupid spells from the Malleus Maleficarum."
"I got it from Inanna. She knew the spell because she put it in the Grimoire . So if we can find rowan wood and the right herbs, which I'm sure we can find downtown, then I think we can fashion one and find Joe….why are you smiling like that?"
It was a mischievous smile. "There's no need to make one of those wands—and if I'm not mistaken you are the one person who shouldn't be
Nick Stephenson, Kay Hadashi