CHOWPATTY BEACH

mention yod, the name of the second realm ’s dei twice before this, it struck an even
stronger chord now. the swede had said it, he was sure. seth remembered the cold,
translucent features looming over him in the train, the pain of his arms held firmly
behind his back, the fear that hadrian would be hurt. (then point was suddenly
swinging his way, and the swede ‘s eyes lightened. “det gör ingen skillnad till yod.”)
seth jerked at the memory of blow and the words that had accompanied it. xol
clutched seth ’s back as the pain swept through him, doubling him over, almost
throwing him off the ledge and down into the jagged depths of the fault. a fear of falling
suddenly gripped him. his body would tumble a long way before hitting the bottom.
each sharp edge or corner would be like another stab from the one who had sent him
here. “yod,” he managed, through clenched teeth. his voice was a whisper matching
the grimness of xol’s face. “yod sent the swede. yod was the one who killed me.” “yes.”
the gold eyes hung in front of him, swaying like lanterns. “why? to eat my soul? ” “no,
seth, ” xol explained. “you are much more important than that. you are a mirror twin:
you and your brother are united by the reflections of your souls. the connection
between you is bringing the first and second realms together. yod attempts through you
to do what no one else has managed to do so far: reunite the first and second realms,
and make them one again. ” “in order to take them both over,” agatha said, her voice
raised. echoes danced around the hard consonants, seeming to make the vowels
fragile. “when yod controls the first realm, it will harvest lives with even more
impunity than it does now. no one will be safe. not human, daktyloi, genomoi-no one. it
will kill everyone in order to slake its terrible hunger, then go on to find more realms to
plunder, more lives to crush. i will not allow that to happen. ” the passion in agatha ’s
voice was cold like steel. it sent gooseflesh down seth ‘s exposed skin. he looked up at
her. she had taken a perch and looked down at him in return, expectantly. he bit down
on a wave the pawn of self doubt that suddenly flooded through him. i am not a pawn,
he told himself. i am not anyone ‘s tool. but he couldn ’t deny his senses. although seth
had now been dead for some time, hadrian seemed to be constantly nearby; seth still
felt as though he could turn around and hadrian would be there, standing just by his
shoulder. if such a psychic connection was real, even though the twins were in
separate realms, seth thought, who knew what it would do to life and afterlife? could it
really make them one, as agatha suggested? yod thought so. it had sent the swede to
dispatch one of the twins to the second realm-to kill one of them-and leave the other
alive. while they remained that way, on either side of bardo, yod’s plan was
proceeding perfectly. his heart went out to his brother, alone in the middle of the
cataclysm-whatever form it was taking in the first realm-ignorant of what was
really happening. “i have to go back, ” said seth. “while i’m here, yod is winning.” “we
know, ” said xol. “that’s exactly what we intend to attempt.” “and worse! ” seth ignored
the