I scrambled up, scanned the kitchen. Still no demon. Just Death, sipping tea.
“Is she gone?”
He placed his cup carefully on the countertop. “Define ‘gone’.”
“Not in this house.”
“That is true.”
“You couldn’t stop her?”
He raised one eyebrow. “I didn’t interfere. As you asked.”
Right. Right. I’d wanted to lock her up by myself. Wanted the satisfaction of being the one who closed the lid on her smug face so I could look Bathin in the eyes and tell him I’d defeated his mother.
That was dumb.
I rolled my shoulders and suddenly felt too tired for any of this. I hadn’t slept for over twenty-four hours and obviously wasn’t thinking things through. I should have just snapped my fingers and said the spell for the dried flower.
I should have killed her when I had the chance.
The parade would be starting in a couple hours and I’d need to be on crowd control.
Delaney was in a coma.
Any minute a new vortex might open.
Xtelle was gone.
But Bathin was still trapped at my house.
Than was right that summoning a minor demon was a bad idea. I was too tired to do it now anyway.
“This isn’t how I wanted any of this to go,” I said, rubbing at the headache creeping up the back of my skull. “But hey, I have a pair of evil scissors, a vacationing god of death, and a kiss-my-ass attitude.”
I picked up my bag and swept my spell supplies back into it, erasing the chalk triangle on the counter. “I say it’s time I do what I should have done over a year ago.”
~~~
Step three: Break up with my evil not-boyfriend.
Than was silent on the drive, taking in the calmness of the town, the gray and damp. In moments like this, I thought I could see Ordinary as it had once been, dirt roads and foot paths between the sea and shore, little cozy cabins and bungalows built from the wood harvested from the forested hills. Peaceful, beautiful, hidden.
Moments like this, I knew what the gods saw in the place, the breathing of life in the rivers and streams, the churning ocean breaking itself against the rocky cliffs, the high, open sky calling eyes and dreams up and up.
It was like living inside of a beautiful pearly marble.
Or a beautiful stone. My mind flashed back to Bathin, to his hands, his eyes, his body. We had been there, in that beautiful stone, and he had promised we could live that way, together, safe and tucked away from everyone and everything.
But I couldn’t leave this town. This life. My family. No matter how much my stupid heart wanted to.
“Myra Reed,” Than said quietly. “Why are you crying?”
“It’s the salt in the air.” I quickly brushed away the tears I hadn’t felt falling and parked the car.
I killed the engine and turned to him. “I need you to use the scissors on him. And I need you to be gentle. For Delaney. I need you to be gentle and careful for Delaney. I don’t want her hurt. I don’t want her to die. If anyone’s going to an early grave, it has to be Bathin.”
He waited to see if I would say anything else, then nodded solemnly. “I will be gentle in myundertaking.”
