When All is Null and Void

Chapter Thirty

The ululating cries were silent tonight as Rhea and Titus walked the long, dimly lit corridor to Jacob's lavish cell. He didn't know why, but the Silence chilled Titus more than those broken wails ever had. Unnaturally quiet, that's what this was.

"That first night you saw Jacob, I hadn't figured it out yet. But I noticed that he had such an adverse reaction to the rings—and hadn't been wearing one when I found him—that I decided to experiment with what would happen if I put one on him."

She said no more until she scanned the door with her ringed hand. "I changed the locks, too. Now they only operate under my ring's genetic coding, only while I'm alive. The only person able to get in here is me."

With a gentle clinkthe door opened to the darkened, stiflingly hot room beyond. A blazing fire burned in the corner, casting its macabre shadows over the space. Titus began to sweat the moment his mom locked them in. Without the light of the hallway, and despite the overwhelming warmth, a chill ran down his arms. Titus couldn't forget the wicked voice that had come from Jacob the last time he'd been here.

Jacob sat in the lone armchair, muscles taut and quivering in the gloom. "Hello, Timewalkers," Jacob said, his raspy, inhuman voice scraping like rocks on metal. "Here to observe the Anointed?"

"Titus, come 'round," Rhea said, ignoring Jacob's words.

Aware of those bloodshot eyes watching with deadly accuracy, Titus rounded the chair until his back was to the hearth. The burning hatred in Jacob's gaze was equal to the hot flames licking the air eagerly behind him. "You are a killer," Jacob began, never wavering from Titus. "Eventually you will be like me. Like this..." A long, snakelike hiss emanated from Jacob's mouth as he clung to the word. "Anointed for glory."

"Don't listen to him," Rhea said, grabbing Titus by the arm. When had he taken a step forward?

Pulling a ring from her waistcoat pocket, Rhea stepped in close to Jacob, who recoiled in abject horror. His face immediately composed into a snarling sneer. "Always with this—" a taunt broke off into a wild, frenetic thrashing as Rhea grabbed Jacob's hand and pressed the ring into place. Titus wasn't sure, but it seemed that the ring's luster dimmed slightly. Having been fearful of the outcome of this moment, Titus exhaled when nothing occurred other than a deeper, even wilder thrashing.

"I speak to Loss." Rhea's voice thundered into Titus' ribcage. "Stop."

Jacob froze so suddenly that even Titus' muscles screamed. "Look at me." Gentle, commanding. Rhea spoke with an authority that set a tremble to Titus' gut.

Jacob's head turned, slowly, reluctantly, until his gaze met hers. Like two ends of a magnet, that scrutiny repelled and charged the room with fizzling energy.

Titus stepped back.

"How are you controlling him?" Titus asked.

"I don't know how, only that I am. Somehow the ring, when placed on a Highborn Voidsick controls not just the Timewalker affected but whatever fragment of Loss that binds them."

"How did you know it wouldn't harm him?" Remembering the tussle with the Voidsick in Italy, Titus had no desire for Jacob to meet a similar fate. He had never disliked the man, though he barely knew him outside the quiet gravitational pull he'd held over Titus for years.

"I didn't. But, when—" she emphasized "--Jacobwas lucid and awake, he made the point to ask for a ring. Said it might help." She turned to Titus. "And so it has."

Rhea demonstrated a wide range of commands and controls she held over Loss, explaining to Titus that perhaps she could, someday, use the ring to cure Jacob. "I might even be able to... exorcise whatever power Loss has over him."

"Like some demon?" Titus screwed his eyes up, wondering how they'd entered into this world.

"Something like that."

"So he won't hurt us?" Titus asked, still pressed close to the fireplace.

"Not unless I explicitly command that."

Titus wasn't sure he believed her. Though his mom held some power over the monster dwelling in Jacob, it seemed to be fighting beneath the surface. Veins pulsed in his neck and forehead. Even his cheeks had turned a violent shade of purple.

"Stop resisting my control," Rhea said as though scolding a dog.

Jacob stilled, and a gentle breath passed through his nose. A tiny fight could be seen in the fluttering of his jaw muscles, but the veins flattened and the purple flush subsided. "Now," Rhea said. "Answer me this: How do you control Jacob?"

The hissing serpent song that passed through Jacob's lips turned Titus' stomach. "He is a suitable host. All of time shall fall to myreign."

"How do we stop you?" Rhea asked, and Titus had the distinct impression that she wasn't asking these questions for the first time.

"Only one can stop me."

"Caleb," Titus said, turning to his mom. "It has to be, right?"

"He fits the criteria that was told to me." Holding her fist to her chin, as though studying art and not a feral beast, Rhea said, "Who can stop you?"

"We do not speak the name of the one."

"The same answer I get every time," Rhea said to Titus.

"What's so special about Caleb?" Titus asked. "He's an idiot and barely capable of existing."

Rhea cast a reproachful gaze at Titus but said nothing, and he wondered if she might actually agree with him.

Seeming satisfied by her demonstration, Rhea reached for Jacob's hand and slid the ring off. The jerking, wild animal movements began once more. Frothing spittle flew across the room as the rage awoke once more.

"DEATH WILLL COME TO THOSE WHO TOUCH THE ANOINTED!" he screamed. Vocal cords popped in discordant rhythm with the crackle of the fire in the hearth.

"Let's go," Rhea said. She grabbed Titus by the arm and led him from the room, as if he had any desire to stay. Once the door was closed and locked again, the two set off down the hallway. "I even made it impossible for you and I to Hop from the room. I didn't want any loophole available for Jacob to escape."

"Ah," was all Titus could muster. He was shaking again, like the last time he'd seen Jacob. "That was terrifying."

"Each time I tested the theory," Rhea said, "I couldn't stop shaking for hours." She held out her hand, and a definite tremor was visible. "I never, in my wildest dreams, expected to deal with this—a monster from the Void controlling my people." Her voice was thick, and Titus found himself shocked. He didn't know she cared all that much.

"We'll close the Void," Titus said. "We're one step closer, right?" He didn't know how, but this had to be a good thing.

"Right."

When they stepped into the lobby, where the gentle comfort of a log cabin met them in jarring contrast to what lay behind, Rhea gripped Titus' arm and led them away and back home.