"Leaving to where, Raincloud?”
"That, I haven't decided. Somewhere more rural than this."
Baelfire kisses her temple. "My family's territory near the Purcell mountain range is nice and remote. Only a fucking moron would try to trespass on Decimus land to get to you. My mom would roast them alive—not to mention, I’m sure she's been dying to meet you."
Maven hesitates. "The eyewitnesses who escaped along with the faculty have probably been running their mouths. She'llknow by now that I'm thetelum. My identity isn't a secret anymore."
Everett swears. "Damn it. You're right."
"My parents won't care," Baelfire confidently insists.
"I'm the Entity's scourge. I'm very literally a heartless, unnatural, death-fueled monster. Does that screamtake her home to meet the parentsto you?" she asks dryly.
Crypt abruptly appears next to us and grins. "It does, actually. I, for one, couldn't wait to introduce you to my parent."
"And now he's dead," our keeper points out.
He leans down to kiss the tip of her nose. "My point exactly, and yet another reason I adore you."
Twisted bastard.
Not that I blame him in this case. Somnus was a literal monster.
"Why do we need to leave tomorrow?" I ask, trying to get back to the topic at hand.
"That was Kenzie telling me that some older legacy knocked on her parents’ door asking if they'd seen people matching our descriptions. Her parents didn't reveal Kenzie was there with her quintet and said they hadn't seen us, but it probably means the bounty hunters are getting close. So we'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."
Everett nods and then frowns. "Was that the only update? You were in there a while."
"Kenzie spent fifteen minutes telling me about introducing her matches to her parents and ten more minutes trying to convince me that we should go to her favorite local diner for a date night. She insisted that we need a sense of normalcy as a quintet after everything we just went through, and as the keeper, it falls to me, etcetera, etcetera," Maven shrugs. She hesitates, glancing at us and then away before clearing her throat. "It's probably a bad idea, but would you guys want to...?"
Is she...asking us out?
It's almost amusing how nervous our typically unshakable keeper clearly is, but my blood blossom suggesting a date night sends eagerness racing through me. She fought this quintet so hard, so it's still a novel thing to know that she not only accepts us butwantsus.
"Yes," all four of us say at the same time.
Crypt groans in disgust at our synchrony and pantomimes shooting himself.
"All right. It's a date."
Baelfire flashes her a bright, excited smile. "Fuck, yes! I've been dying to just do normal quintet shit with you. Can we make it dinner and a movie? It can be a gory slasher. Anything for my Spooky Boo."
"Call me that again, and you're uninvited."
"Fine. You want a new nickname? How about..." Baelfire rubs his face as if in deep thought. "Angel..."
We all burst into laughter at Maven's priceless expression. "You're kidding. Have you met me?"
"I wasn't done," he laughs. "Of Death.You're our pretty little Angel of Death."
Crypt winks at Maven. "Admit it, love, it's fitting."
She fights a smile and turns to me. "Anyway. If you four are coming with me tonight, we need to ensure you're all less recognizable. Especially Everett. Silas, can you access ingredients for a camouflage spell?"
Summoning blood magic to my fingertips, I reach into the pocket void I set up when I was six years old. It's a surprisingly simple spell, folding space in on itself to create this small storage that can be summoned anytime. It's stocked with all manner of ingredients. I pause when my fingers brush against the colorless plant that Crypt brought back from the Divide.
That elixir didn't work for Maven's last episode because I stupidly created it with blood magic. I'd felt painfully helpless when she faded away.
