CHAPTER 95

"You...wouldn't be able to track me down in the afterlife, would you?"

"Is that something you really want to find out?" Titania chuckled. "Due to your current condition, your control on this place is minimal. I have interceded on your behalf. Moments in your world shall be minutes or even hours here. Your body is weak, but your spirit is strong. You may yet survive, but it will take everything in your power to do so."

Mike nodded, then looked back out at the ocean. Part of the sky had crumbled away, revealing a blank void behind it. There was simply nothing for his eyes to focus on.

"We are trapped in Oregon," he told her. "By someone named Leeds. He put together an army of Nirumbi and a..." he could picture the white monstrosity in his front yard, but the word wouldn't come. "A windy something. It kept eating the Nirumbi."

"A Wendigo." Titania pursed her lips. "They are not known for following orders. And the Nirumbi were destroyed, but apparently, my information is bad."

"So no idea who Leeds is?"

"Without meeting him? No. But I have a suspicion that he is none other than the Devil of Jersey. By himself, he is dangerous. But leading an army? That sounds very unlike him."

"He wears a hood. Has hooves for feet."

"Then it must be him." Titania paused, her gaze on the water.

There was a large mass moving toward the beach that broke apart as it came close. It broke into lumps, each shape bobbing in the water until the waves carried them up onto the sand. Though covered in seaweed, it was easy to recognize the distorted features of the Nirumbi.

"Oh god." Mike fell to his knees, his hands pressed into the sand. "Why are they here?"

"It's called regret, Caretaker. Oftentimes, we find ourselves doing unpleasant things in the name of progress. Our actions can and do leave stains that cannot be scrubbed away."

It was suddenly hard to breathe. Mike choked, his hands clutching his throat. Not only had he killed some of them, but he had watched so many come to a brutal end that it was all he could picture.

The skies darkened, and the beach was now littered with their corpses, their eyes staring at him in blank accusation. The ocean hungrily gobbled up the sand, and he suddenly felt light-headed.

"Stop." Titania pulled him to his feet and embraced him. His face was forced between her breasts as she clutched him tight. "Now is not the time."

"But I just watched them die!" He thought back to arriving in Oregon, how he had practically skipped through the woods with Quetzalli as the others had fought them. What had he been thinking? "There had to be a better way! Maybe we could have reasoned with them, or something!"

"Altruism is considered a highly noble trait, and you wear it adorably. I believe your mortal saying is something about hindsight being perfect. The truth of the matter is that altruism can go fuck itself."

Mike twisted his face up toward the queen, suddenly wondering if she was actually Lily in disguise.

"There's this idea that it's possible to rise above your basic instincts, to pursue a greater good. The belief that everyone should have an equal chance is a wonderful one, but consider this. You should never assume that anyone is capable of meeting you halfway on anything. I know little of the Nirumbi today, but the Nirumbi of the past were a ruthless people. They hungered for the flesh of the living, and never would have considered a compromise for it."

"But they aren't animals," Mike began.

"Please. You humans are still animals. Would you elevate the Nirumbi above your own kind?" She laughed. "I realize that I speak so casually. Your lifetimes are like days to me. Up until recently, I found myself fairly uninterested in the inner workings of the mortal realm. And yes, while you may have done a fair amount of work to change my opinion, I still had to be willing to listen to reason."

He thought back to the battle he had with Titania inside his own head. It had taken quite some time to convince her to stand down and talk, and had only worked because he was effectively immortal in his own Dreamscape.

"Would you allow them to come inside your head, one at a time?" Titania put her foot on one of the Nirumbi. "Bring them to your home? See if they are willing to chat?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know enough about them to judge."

"And what little you do know is this; if you die, it was their fault."

He shook his head. "Not really. Maybe Leeds tricked them, or—"

"No. Stop making excuses for others." Titania kicked the Nirumbi and it shattered like glass. Motes of darkness rose into the air. "This place stinks of grief. If you were to die now, you would undoubtedly become a troubled spirit, much like that shadow of yours. Is that what you want?"

The idea that he could become a tormented soul chilled him to the core. Would he wander and slowly lose his sanity? What if Cecilia couldn't help him to cross over? He might come back and make trouble for the others.

"No." He sat on the edge of the beach and pulled his knees up to his chin and hugged them. "I don't want that at all."

"Then get your shit together." She picked up one of the Nirumbi and shook it at him. Its body flopped like a ragdoll in her hands. "This thing chose to attack you. When you make the effort to take someone's life and then lose your own, that's on you, not them."

"But—"

"No!" Titania hurled the Nirumbi out into the dark waters of the ocean. It bounced off of the water and came to rest beneath a wave. The wave came to life and grew several teeth before slamming down on the corpse. It made a loud sucking sound, the water swirling open to reveal a mouth that snapped shut on the Nirumbi.

"What the fuck was that?" Mike asked. Was that one of his nightmares? He turned back to Titania to see that her golden eyes had gone wide.