Maggie hated to say “thank you” for the identity theft she knew that required, but she also hated to be penniless as they all tried to start over. She clutched the envelope.
“Don’t look at me like that. I took your life insurance money from the jackass,” Hector said quietly. “Maybe a little extra.”
“How much?”
“Two fifty.” Hector grinned. “That was the policy. The other hundred was pain and suffering.” He tapped the envelope. “Stacks of prepaid cards, Maggie. Some cash, too. Craig’s a growing boy, yeah?”
Three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. They could build a new life with that.
“Made you a college teacher. Lawyer is too easy to trace.” He shook his head. “Made her a sociology teacher, too. Degrees. Money. Cards. ID. Figured the old lady was that one’s mom.” He gestured to the general direction of the lot. “So that seemed like a thing she could do…”
Tears burbled over in her eyes again. She wished she had been better to him. “I’m sorry I let him cut you out of our life.”
Hector shrugged. “Love makes us all a little stupid. You need help, you call, though? Okay?”
Maggie nodded. “You really are the best.”
He shook his head once. “Just family being family.”
“I wish I could stay. Tell you everything. I need to go, though, before the police catch up,” she whispered.
Hector’s brows rose. “Police?”
“Chasing a dead lady who was careless today,” she said with a forced laugh.
“Cuz?”
Maggie paused.
Hector pulled out a 9 mm and held it out. “Unregistered.”
When she accepted it, she stared it. Quite a few years had passed since she’d carried a gun, but magic was no match for bullets as far as she knew. As she continued to stare at it, Hector walked away and came back with two spare clips and an extra box of ammunition.
“Take care of yourself and the boy,” he said.
“I will,” Maggie promised. She wasn’t sure how to undo the magic that made her son forget her, but she had as many tools as a woman inthisworld could ask for. Now she just needed to figure out how to kidnap her son.
If he was in his own mind, it’s what Craig would want, and that truth only added to her determination.
Maggie walked away, back to her magically altered car and sleeping friend, and hid the gun. She wasn’t sure of Ellie’s stance on guns, so hiding it from her felt wiser.
44Dan
Dan and Axell walked into the library, lights turning on to illuminate the vast open space. Behind them, the door sealed, trapping them alone in the chilly room.
“Why would anyone hide books?” Dan muttered.
Axell gave him a quelling look. “Books are dangerous, Daniel. They give people ideas, make them rise up against lies and intolerance.”
“So witches are fascists?” Dan scoffed.
“No, but someone—or maybe several someones—hides this for a reason. We must askwhy.” Axell walked deeper into the library, looking at the shelves. “Maybe it is opened once we finish more classes, but…” He shrugged. “We should ask.”
Dan knew Axell was right, but he wanted to believe. Maybe he’d always wanted that: to believe in something. Coming here had felt like it could be perfect. A world with acceptance. A place with magical healing. It had sounded like utopia. But there were humans, and every place with people was a place where there would be lies and jockeying for power.
He trailed a hand over the backs of chairs as he followed Axell. “Weshould tell the Congress about the snake and the hole in the ground, and we should tell our classmates.”
“Yes, when we—” Axell’s words died abruptly. Like Dan, he’d obviously thought they were alone in the library until they heard a faintpop. It was louder than hobs.
