She nodded. "Yes. It was enchanted by Nivaine, Merlin's apprentice and the object of his desire. He taught her all his secrets and she betrayed him by using his power against him."

"What happened to the sword?" Trevor asked.

"No one knows. In some versions it was given to the Lady of the Lake, another says the blade shattered after it pierced Merlin's body and the pieces were scattered all over the world."

"Do you think there are pieces of it around still?" I picked up the cookie and shoved the entire thing into my mouth.

Morgana leaned back in her chair regarding us strangely. "You do realize that these are just stories? Myths. They aren't real. They are basically allegories about the state of society at the time."

I nodded. "Of course. It's just the way you tell it, it seems so real."

That seemed to please her and she went back to smiling pleasantly. "Anything else, dears? I have another appointment soon."

"Just one more thing." I slid Trevor's phone across the table. "Do you recognize any of these symbols?"

She took the phone and looked at the first sigil, which was the triskele. "Yes, that's the Celtic symbol for the three worlds, the triumvirate if you like, or the holy trinity." She flicked through the others and her brow wrinkled as she narrowed her eyes. She glanced up at us. "Where did you get these?"

"Do you recognize something?"

She turned the phone around to show me one picture on the screen. "This is a very old marking. It's the only symbol that was ever found that pointed to the slight possibility that Merlin was in fact a real person. It's Druidic and means Satansp.a.w.n. Merlin Satansp.a.w.n was one of many names attributed to him."

Trevor and I shared a look. He knew exactly what I did. That Merlin had been real and Thane was his descendant.

"Now, can you tell me where you got these pictures?"

I took the phone and handed it back to Trevor. We both stood. "Thank you for your time, Ms. Morgana. Our paper is going to rock."

As we walked past her chair, she reached out and touched my hand. The contact was brief but it was obviously enough for her to figure some s.h.i.t out. The first being we were lying to her, and the second that we weren't one hundred perfect human.

She s.n.a.t.c.hed her hand back and cradled it as if she'd been burnt. Her eyes were wide, maybe a bit frightened, definitely shocked, when she met my gaze. "Be careful, Shadowrider. He can still hurt you."

"Who?" I demanded. "Who can hurt me?"

She shook her head. "I can't see his face, but he's there waiting for you in the shadows."

"Oh great, thanks."

Her words threw me for a loop and Trevor had to steer me out of her house and back onto the street.

"What the h.e.l.l was that about?" he asked as we walked.

I shook my head, still a bit shaken by her vision. "She must've sensed I wasn't fully human."

"She was a bit of a freakshow."

If I hadn't been too freaked out, I might've laughed at that. Trevor calling her a freakshow when either one of us would have fit right nicely into a traveling carnival with bearded ladies and lizard men.

"Do you think she was talking about Thane? About him hurting me?"

Trevor grabbed my hand in his. "I won't let him hurt you anymore."

I nodded, and we continued to walk in silence for a few blocks to catch the trolley back to the hotel. I was still absorbing everything Morgana had told us. I was more than certain that we had the answer to our problem. Just not how to put it all together.

"You think there's a piece of the sword in that box, don't you?"

I looked at him. "Don't you?"

"I still don't know what to think.

"Merlin's symbol is on that box. It can't be a coincidence."

He nodded. "How do we get the box and open it?"

"One of us has to sneak into his room and take it."

He sighed, scrubbing at the stubble peppering his chin. "They have one last gig tonight."

"Good, then while you're at the club, I'll slide through the shadow-way to Thane's room and open the box and take whatever's inside and be back all before they get off stage."

"And if there is a piece of that sword inside?"

"Then we stab them in their sleep."

He halted and turned me toward him. "I won't let you do that Salem. I'll do it. I don't want you to have to live with something like that."

I squeezed his hand, and then pulled him into a hug. "It's going to work. It has to."

He sought my mouth and kissed me. It was soft and gentle and made my knees weak. He kissed me again, then rested his forehead against mine. "You're one of a kind, Salem."

"So are you."

We started walking again, hand in hand. Before we got to the trolley stop, Trevor tugged me a stop.

"I don't want to go back yet. Let's go do something fun."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Let's go be tourists for a few hours."

I smiled. "Cool. Can we go up into the needle?"

"Sure."

"Can we ride the monorail?" I jumped up and down excited.

He laughed. "We could ride it twice."

"Awesome!" I started to run, pulling him with me.

And for half the day we played at being tourists. We played at being two normal teenagers looking for some fun instead of two cambion runaways planning to murder four demon goth rockers.

Trevor and I headed to the community center where the all ages gig was going to be. When I was younger, I loved that bands would play at places where I could attend. And just like those bands, Malice had a pretty sizeable young audience. Once this would've pleased me to no end, but now I just wanted to scream to the crowd to aeget out', to delete all Malice songs from their iPods and phones. Parents hide your little rockers because the demons are coming to town to suck out their souls.

Going through the motions, we helped set up the stage and sound equipment. I tied the wires and carried the speakers and followed instructions. All the while, I couldn't think of anything else but finding the piece of sword and sliding it into Thane and the others to end this nightmare.

On our break, we went and sat outside on the baseball diamond bleachers nearby. Trevor had snagged a couple of bottles of water and two bags of potato chips. For a few minutes we drank and ate in silence. It wasn't a comfortable silence, it was full of questions and answers and uneasy resolve.

"I don't like you going."

"I know." I wiped my fingers on my jeans. "But you were the one that started this. Making me practice going on my own. And it totally makes sense that it's me and not you."

"I know all that, but I still don't like it."

"Are you worried that I won't get it or that I might get hurt?"

I hated the uncertain whine, the desperation in my voice, but it was there nonetheless. I was worried that Trevor only cared about the end game-getting revenge for his sister-and not about me. I was afraid of being a means to an end. I wanted to be the end. The prize at the finish line.

He looked at me, then reached across the metal bleacher set and grabbed my hand. "I'm worried about you. You are what's important."

Was it cheesy that my heart thumped a little harder and a hot wave swept into my belly?

"I'll be fine. It's a quick zip through the shadows to the hotel, then back again. What could possibly go wrong?"

"I don't even want to know." He shuffled closer to me and leaned into my face.

I met him halfway and pressed my lips to his. The kiss was simple at first. Lip on lip. A little sigh. A little heat. Then Trevor cupped my face with his hand, tilting me up to him. I sighed again, and he slid his tongue in.

Then it was all hot and fiery and explosive. We meshed and I could taste the water droplets on his tongue and the flavor that was all him. Dark. Dangerous. Delectable.

I fisted my hands into his t-shirt, pulling him closer. A hunger I didn't know existed clawed through me. I had to feast on him. Only he would satisfy me. Only he could sate my ripping and tearing need.

Darkness swirled around me, clouding my vision. I was drawn into it. It called to me. I had to heed its call. Trevor was the only thing that darkness wanted, what it craved. And I was going to give him over...

Then everything flashed white, and I was staring into Trevor's flushed face. He was breathing hard, his hands squeezing my shoulders. He'd been pushing me away.

Realization dawned on me and I sunk into myself.

"I did it again, didn't I?"

He gave me a small smile. "I was able to pull you back before you took anything vital."

"I'm sorry," I murmured.

"One day we'll figure out how to do this without one of us ending up in a coma."

I let out a deep sigh. "G.o.d, I hope so."

Slowly, carefully, he leaned forward and kissed me again. It was quick and chaste and I guess it would have to do until I could get myself under control. I would love to be able to make out with my boyfriend without killing him.

"Let's get back. The band should be here by now."

We jumped down from the bleachers and made our way back to the center to wait it out.

For the next hour, I did everything I could to avoid being near Thane, Devon and the others. It proved difficult because there weren't many places to hide in the community center. Then around every corner it seemed Devon lurked in wait. Thankfully, she didn't do more than stab me with eye daggers and growl menacingly in her throat.

When they finally went out on stage, I nearly cheered with pom poms and everything. I now had roughly forty minutes to retrieve the box and get back. I figured that was plenty of time.

The second they started the set and the ba.s.s vibrated through the speakers, Trevor and I snuck into and locked ourselves in the dressing room bathroom. It was small, dirty and smelled liked mold but at least there were an a.s.sortment of shadows to choose from.

"Remember to stay on the path." Trevor gave me his serious look.

"I know. I know."

He hugged me close and murmured into my ear. "If anything goes wrong, just come back to me. We can try again."

"You know this is our last chance."

He sighed. "I know. I was just trying to be optimistic."

I smiled, then kissed him on the cheek, lingering a little to drink him in. "I'll be back in a jiff."

He nodded, then backed up giving me room.

I took in three quick breaths, blew them out, shook out my hands, and then stepped into the largest, darkest shadow on the floor.