“No.” Aaron blinked hard, like he could dispel the vision in front of him. “No, it can’t be her. It can’t.”
Call felt like he was going to throw up.
Then the eyes on the head opened to show milky marbles without pupil or iris.
Tamara gave a little cry. Jasper put a hand over his mouth.
The dead lips moved, and words came out. “As my name means truth, I assure you I am what remains of Verity Torres. Here sleep the dead, and the dead guard them. If you desire entrance, three riddles I will ask you. Answer them correctly and you may go inside.”
Call looked at the others helplessly. He’d been counting on the fact that he was Constantine Madden to get them into the building, but the head of Verity Torres obviously didn’t recognize him.
“Riddles,” Tamara said in a quavering voice. “Fine. We can do riddles.”
“What do you call something that’s not behind you?” the girl asked in an odd voice that didn’t quite line up with the way her mouth moved.
“Oh, no, that’s not funny,” Call said. “That’s not a good joke.”
“What are you talking about?” Aaron asked. “What’s the answer? In front?”
Tamara looked even more upset. “Ahead,” she said. “A head. Get it?”
Verity Torres laughed a croaky little laugh. There was no laughter in her eyes, though; they stayed white and blank.
“Who did this to you?” Aaron asked suddenly. “Who?”
“It had to be Master Joseph,” said Tamara. “Constantine had already left the battlefield by then. He was in the caves at the Cold Massacre —”
“Busy stealing other people’s bodies to live in,” Jasper interrupted. And even though the words cut, Call was staggered with relief that Constantine Madden couldn’t have done this horrific thing; that he had been busy being reborn as Callum. Of course, the Enemy had done other terrible things. But not this.
“That wasn’t a true riddle,” the head said, ignoring Aaron’s question. “That was just for practice.”
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Jasper said, babbling with terror. “We’ve got to go.”
“Go where?” Aaron demanded. “There’s hundreds of Chaos-ridden behind us.” He squared his shoulders. “Ask away.”
“So we begin,” Verity said. “What begins and has no end, yet is the ending of all that begins?”
“Death,” Call said. That one was easy. He was glad. Good at riddles was nowhere on the Evil Overlord list.
There was a clicking, grinding noise, a bolt on the inside of the door sliding back.
“Now the second riddle. I wear you down, yet you will mourn me once I fly. You can kill me, but I will never die.”
The Enemy himself, Call thought. But that wasn’t a good riddle answer, was it?
They exchanged looks. It was Tamara who spoke.
“Time,” she said.
Another scraping noise. “And now the last,” said Verity. “Take it and you will lose or gain more than all others. What is it?”
Silence. Call’s mind was racing. Lose or gain, lose or gain. Riddles were always about something bigger than they seemed to be. Love, death, wealth, fame, life. There was no sound but the distant moaning of the Chaos-ridden and Call’s own breath. Until a sharp, shaking voice cut through the quiet.
“Risk,” said Jasper.
The head of Verity Torres let out a disappointed sigh, those terrible eyes closed, and there was a last clicking noise. The door swung open. Call could see nothing beyond it but shadows. He was shaking suddenly, colder than he’d ever been in his life.