"I need your phone," I said. "And that private number you got for me. You know the one. She's sure to be waiting for me to make contact, and I think it's time to give her exactly what she wants."

Finn bit his lip, but he nodded. He punched in a number, then handed me the phone.

It rang three times before she picked it up.

"Yes?" her silky voice rasped over the line.

I drew in a breath. "Hello, Mab."

Chapter 23

Silence.

For a moment, I thought she wouldn't answer me, but then the Fire elemental let out a low, slow laugh that made my hand tighten around the phone until my knuckles cracked. I wanted to break the damn thing-I wanted to break her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Spider calling me. Tell me, do you prefer Gin Blanco? Or Genevieve Snow?" Mab sneered. "I'd like to get it right, now that I know exactly who the hell you are."

"It's Gin," I quipped. "Like the fucking liquor. As for who I really am, it certainly took you long enough to put it together, didn't it? The clues were all there. My spider rune, my rescuing Bria over and over again, my declaring war on you. You know, you really should have listened to Jonah McAllister when he wanted to kill me that night at the community college. It would have saved you a lot of trouble."

Mab let out another laugh, a light, high, pleased, pealing sound that made the small, primal voice in the back of my head start muttering. Enemy, enemy, enemy.

The Fire elemental's laughter faded away, and her tone hardened once more. "I suggest that you watch your tone," Mab snapped. "Considering as how I've got your dear, sweet sister right here in this very room with me and several of my giants. Men with a particular kind of... appetite, if you know what I mean."

I listened as closely as I could, but I didn't hear anything through the phone. Not crying, not whimpering, nothing. Bria wouldn't give the bastards the satisfaction of any of that-not until the pain was just too much to bear. Still, the silence unnerved me. Even if Bria had screamed, at least I would have known that she was still alive. The silence told me nothing-not one damn thing.

But now was not the time to show weakness, because I was dealing with Mab, and there was only one thing that the Fire elemental respected-strength.

"You haven't got a damn thing," I said, letting a mocking tone creep into my words. "Because you haven't got me."

Something in my voice must have registered with Mab, because she paused in her gloating. "And what do you mean by that cryptic statement?"

"You know, for all these years I wondered why you came to our house that night," I said, my voice as hard, cold, and ugly as hers. "Why you murdered my mother and older sister. What the point of it all was. What had we ever done to you? But Elliot Slater was kind enough to tell me before he died. You remember Elliot, don't you, Mab? The giant was your number-one enforcer, before I blasted his brains out with a shotgun."

Across the room, Roslyn shuddered. We both knew that she'd really killed Slater, but the vampire clamped her lips together and didn't make a sound. Xavier put his arm around Roslyn, hugging her to his chest. I turned away from them, blocking them out, blocking everything out but the sound of Mab's voice and what it might reveal to me.

"And what did Elliot tell you?" the Fire elemental sneered. "What do you think you know, little Genevieve?"

"Why, Elliot told me all about your crazy aunt, what was her name? Oh, yes, Magda. Elliot was more than happy to spill his guts to me. He told me all about dear aunt Magda and how she used her Air magic to see the future. How she prophesized that a member of the Snow family would one day kill you-a girl with both Ice and Stone magic."

"So what?" Mab snapped. "Because believe me when I tell you that your precious sister is in no position to do any such thing."

"So this, bitch. Bria isn't the one that you want. She isn't the one with both Ice and Stone magic-I am."

Silence. I didn't know what effect my words had on Mab, and I didn't care. My whole world shrank to what I could hear on the other end of the line, to straining as hard as I could to just hear Bria's voice, a whimper, a murmur, something, anything that would tell me she was still alive-

"You're lying," Mab said. "Lying to keep me from killing your precious sister."

I laughed. "Please. I have no need to lie. Not about this. How the hell do you think I survived being trapped in that coal mine with Tobias Dawson after the dwarf knocked me out at your party a few months ago? I used my Ice magic to collapse his own mine right on top of his head and then my Stone power to help me find my way out after the fact. That's how. Ask Bria. She'll tell you the same thing. Or better yet, get her to use her magic. Because she only has Ice, not Ice and Stone like I do."

More silence. A swishing sort of noise filled my ear, and it took me a moment to figure out what it was-fabric rubbing together, like Mab was walking across whatever room she was in.

"What kind of magic do you have?" the Fire elemental hissed.

No answer.

My heart twisted in my chest, and I wondered if Mab was just playing a game with me. Why wasn't Bria answering her? Was she in such bad shape already? Was she-was she dead already? That paralyzing, icy numbness began to fill my body again, one cold inch at a time-

"Ice," Bria finally mumbled, her voice sounding faint and far away, so very far away. "I only have Ice magic. Gene-Gin's the one with both Ice and Stone magic."

Relief punched me in the gut, doubling me over. The others stared at me in alarm, and Finn started toward my side, but I waved him off. I couldn't stop the cold tears of relief from streaming down my face, though. Alive-Bria was still alive. Which meant that I still had a chance, however small, however remote, to save her. As long as Bria was still breathing, Jo-Jo could fix whatever damage had been done to her.

More noises sounded, more voices, and then something crackled. Whatever happened, whatever Bria said or did, Mab didn't like it. The Fire elemental hissed out a scream of rage and frustration that was so loud that even the others in the cabin heard it through the phone.

Despite the situation, I smiled. It always felt good to rattle your nemesis.

"Say that I believe you," Mab said, coming back on the line. "How do I know that this isn't some trick? Over these past few months, I've learned a lot of things about you, Spider, one of which is your rather uncanny ability to trick your opponents, to sense their weaknesses and exploit them to your own advantage."

"It's not a trick, Mab," I replied. "Once again, you were just too stupid to make sure that you were targeting the right sister. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, letting me keep on breathing all these years."

"I could kill Bria right now for your insolence," she snapped.

"You could, and that would be the end of you-of everything. Because there would be nothing left for me-nothing left for me to do but get my revenge on you."

This time, Mab laughed. "Something that you haven't had any success with so far. You've missed me twice already this week."

"True. But if you kill Bria, then I promise you this-I will destroy you. No matter how long it takes, no matter what it costs me. I won't sleep, I won't eat. I won't do anything but plot your downfall. I will mow down your men like they're weeds. I'll kill so many of them so viciously, so brutally, so horribly that no one will dare to work for you. And sooner or later, I'll get you too. We both know that you can't hide in that big, fancy house of yours forever. I almost got you there this week. You really think that you can keep me out forever?"

Mab didn't respond.

"Face it," I said. "Bria's not the one who's a threat to you-I am. Me. Gin Blanco, Genevieve Snow, the little girl that you tortured all those years ago. And if you kill my sister, I will stop at nothing to end your existence. Nothing. And by now, you should know exactly how good I am. I'm the Spider, bitch-I'm the best there is."

More silence.

In the cabin, the others stared at me, shock filling their faces at my harsh words-and the fact that I meant every single one of them. My hand tightened around the phone. I turned away from my friends and stared out the window into the dark. I needed to be hard right now, as cold, hard, and unfeeling as winter itself. That was the only way that I was going to buy Bria some more time.

"What are you proposing?" Mab finally asked.

"A simple trade. My life for Bria's."

My friends gasped, but I kept my eyes fixed on the blackness. This was the way it had to be-the way it was always going to be.

Trading myself for Bria was a price that I was willing to pay-a price I'd been paying ever since Mab had duct-taped my own spider rune in between my hands and then superheated it with her Fire magic. Everything that had followed afterward-my thinking that Bria was dead, living on the streets, being taken in by Fletcher, training to be an assassin-all of that had just been leading up to this one, inevitable moment. Maybe it was fate, or maybe it was just my own bad luck, but there was nothing I could do to change the past. All I could do now was try to survive long enough to give Bria a new future.

"And how do I know that this isn't some kind of trick?" Mab repeated.

"You don't," I snapped. "But we both know you want to kill me too badly to turn down a free shot at me. And one more thing-I want Bria there in one piece. That means no rape, no torture, no burning her alive with your Fire magic like you did to the rest of our family."

Mab let out a little chuckle. "I'm afraid it's too late for that last one, Genevieve. Your sister's already screamed quite nicely for me."

For a moment I thought I might lose it. That I might start screaming and never, ever stop. Mab had tortured Bria, had burned my baby sister with her elemental Fire magic. The thing that I'd feared the most had already come to pass, but there was nothing I could about it now, no real way I could help Bria, except by trying to spare her more of the same and keep her alive long enough for me to try to rescue her.

"Then you stop the torture right now."

"Or what?" Mab sneered.

"Or I won't show tomorrow, and you'll spend the rest of your miserable life looking over your shoulder-until I kill you. That's what. You really want to take that chance just so you can get a few hours' amusement out of torturing Bria? Besides, we both know you'd have more fun with me anyway. I didn't break and tell you what you wanted to know when I was a kid. Just think of all the long hours you could work on me this go around, the happiness that would bring you. Bria's a small fish, Mab. I'm the catch of the day-the catch of a lifetime. You can either stop torturing Bria and have me, or you can start counting down the days until I kill you. Your choice."

More silence.

Finally, Mab huffed out a sigh of displeasure. "Fine. I won't torture your sister... much more."

It was the best I could do, given the circumstances-no matter how much it hurt. No matter how much my heart was breaking for Bria and what she was suffering right now. "Good. So why don't you tell me when and where, and we can get on with things?"

"Tomorrow. Dusk. As for the place, why don't we go back to the beginning?"

My stomach twisted at her nasty tone. "What do you mean?"

"Let's go back to the very beginning, since you seem to be such a fond student of history," Mab said. "Meet me at your old house, Genevieve Snow. The place where I tried to kill you all those years ago. I'm sure you remember where it is. And don't worry. Because this time I plan on succeeding."

I opened my mouth, but for once, Mab hung up on me.

I closed the cell phone and turned to face my friends. If they'd been shocked before, they were simply horrified now-eyes wide, mouths open, faces pinched white with fear for me and what I was about to do.

"What did Mab say?" Finn asked. "Will she go for the trade?"

I handed his phone back to him. "She'll go for it. She wants to kill me too badly not to."

"You're not actually going to go through with it?" Eva piped up from her spot on the couch. "It's suicide, Gin!"

I shrugged. "No more so than any of the other things that I've done over the years."

Roslyn, Xavier, Finn, Eva, Violet, Warren-they all tried to talk me out of it, of course. They listed all the reasons why meeting Mab would result in nothing but my own death, along with Bria's. They ranted and raved up one side and down the other that I was being foolish, stupid even, if I thought that Mab would let either one of us live.

But they didn't change my mind.

If I had to sacrifice myself to save Bria, so be it. I didn't care anymore as long as she was safe. It was all I'd ever wanted since this whole thing had started.

Jo-Jo and Sophia didn't join in the others' protests. Instead, the two dwarven sisters stood still and silent by the fireplace. They both knew that there was no use trying to talk me out of meeting Mab. Hell, maybe Jo-Jo had seen this was what was going to happen, thanks to her Air magic and the precognition that went along with it.

Owen was quiet too, not joining in the Greek chorus. Instead, he slung his arm over my shoulder and stood by my side while the others alternately bullied, threatened, and tried to cajole me into abandoning my plan. I leaned into his body just the smallest bit, letting him take the weight of the moment.

Finally, when the others realized that they weren't going to change my mind, they quit grousing and drifted off to bed. Jo-Jo shepherded the crowd and made sure that everyone had enough pillows, sheets, and blankets for the night. I took a long, hot shower to wash the blood and grime from my body, then grabbed a spare set of pajamas from among the various clothes stashed at the cabin.