I looked at her, exasperated. “You are not very nice.”
She laughed. “Is that so? Well, I could have let him simply leave. Lucky for you, I convinced him to wait outside for you to hear you out.”
I stared at her. “He’s … outside?”
Lexi nodded and sent me a meaningful look. “And it was no small feat to get him to stay. Hear him out, Callum. Do what’s right.”
I fought not to roll my eyes. Instead, I smiled tightly. “Thank you for speaking to him.”
She inclined her head, and I glanced at my friends, who were all watching me. I smiled grimly, then walked to the front door and stepped outside.
Birds were twittering as golden rays of light filtered down through the clouds to highlight areas of the garden, as if on exhibition. At the end of a row of rhododendrons, Auggie sat on a swinging bench.
I hesitated, then walked over and sat down beside him. I didn’t know what to say at first, so I remained silent. I was strangely nervous. It probably had something to do with how this human could be my ticket to freedom. Or he could outright refuse my services and make me fail. What would happen then? Would Lucifer force me to renegotiate my contract with him since I couldn’t fulfill it on my end?
I wet my lips. “I’m sorry that—”
“When were you going to get around to telling me that you’re a witch?” he interrupted me, and I stilled at the accusation in his voice. “Or did that just slip your mind?”
“I … didn’t want to scare you off,” I said cautiously. “You made clear upstairs what you thought of witches. But I mean you no harm, Auggie.”
Auggie leaned back in his seat, snorting. “Really? And why would someone as selfish as you care about my well-being?”
“Selfish?” I raised an eyebrow.
“You were going to let those people in Kingsbury fend for themselves. Meanwhile, you wield magic.”
I ran a hand down my face. “It’s not…. Look, a mutual friend charged me with seeing you to America, and I plan on doing just that. The people of Kingsbury made their own beds.”
Auggie turned to look at me for the first time. I shrank from the anger pooled in his eyes. “People make mistakes. You don’t just abandon them in their time of need unless you’re a complete jackass.”
My hands curled into fists at my side. “Then maybe I’m a jackass, because they aren’t my problem.” I felt anger coiling in my chest. Who did this little brat think he was, anyway, telling me how I should behave? “They have no right to my aid when they have burned and hanged and drowned my kind for centuries without recourse, without an apology. They’realwaysthe victims. They’re ruled by fear, and act accordingly.”
Auggie looked incredulous. “How do you sleep at night with that attitude? Doesn’t it bother you at all that you have life-altering abilities, and you don’t choose to use them to help people?”
“I have!” I shouted. “I’ve helped humans and where has that gotten me? My shop burned to the ground! My parents burned at the stake! My soul….” I shook my head. “You don’t know the first thing about me. I’m toootherfor humans to see me or my kind as human. If they can’t benefit from my magic, they have used every excuse in the book to ruin what I have built for myself. And yet you defend them? They’re in Kingsbury because of their own hubris! If I help them, are they going to thank me with a nice boulder holding me underwater? Why should I have to take that chance over and over and over?”
Auggie stared at me warily for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was much softer. “Not all witches are the Ember King. You clearly aren’t. But not all humans are to blame for the cruelty of a few either.”
I looked away. Tears began to form in my eyes, and I blinked them away, angry that I was getting emotional at his words and over the foolish humans. “All humans are capable of terrible things. Even those as sincere as you seem to be have streaks of cruelty. If that weren’t the case, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
Auggie’s face was clouded with confusion. “What?”
I held up a finger, not caring for the moment what sort of pact he’d made with Lucifer, or whether he would admit it freely. “And anyway, I saved you from anecromanceron the road to Bristol. Do you know how terrifying necromancers are? She controlled my boots. Myboots!”
“Necromancer? But I thought the coach overturned by accident.”
“Yes, well, it didn’t. You were attacked.”
“By a necromancer.”
I hesitated. I wasn’t going to tell him that my traveling companion had been the one to cause the incident. Technically, ithadbeen the necromancer, using Freya’s body. “So, as you can see, I am still capable of good deeds.”
“But only because you’re being paid to see me to America by someone. Who is this someone, anyway? What do they care for me?”
I waved his questions away. “I’m not beingpaid.I’m earning back something that is mine.”
Auggie harrumphed, entwining his arms across his chest. “You’re a smooth talker, Callum. I don’t trust the words coming out of your mouth one bit.”
