“I know it’s locked, but cast a spell so he doesn’t hear us,” she whispers.
“On it.” I smile as I whisper a silencing spell before unlocking the door with a touch of magic.
We open the door a crack, and both of us squeeze inside, making our way down the steps, my spell keeping our cover.
The light is off, but the TV is on, the colours illuminating the room with flashes of colour. There’s a snooker table to one side, a ping-pong table, a basketball hoop, a bar – I forget they’re over 18 sometimes. There’s a huge sofa in front of the TV, and the soft sound of light snoring reaches my ears.
I internally scoff. Of course, he’s a snorer; he has to be annoying in every way. We tiptoe over to the sofa. He’s shirtless, and the first thing I notice is the way his abs rise and fall with every breath. He has a lot of tattoos, not as many as Uncle Leo or Grandpa Alejandro, but they cover his torso and arms, reaching down beyond the band of his pants.
I look away, my cheeks burning at how awkward this is. We just intruded on him while he’s asleep.
This is wrong…
“Are you sure we should do this now?” I murmur.
Allie nods. “He’s a deep sleeper; it’s now or never.”
“I don’t know, I feel he would be more careful with us in the house…” I muse but push the thought away. I shall not manifest that! “Well then, I’ll get to work. You got the treats?”
She smirks, a sinister one that reveals her teeth. “Oh yes, ready to unleash.”
“Excellent,” I reply.
I feel slightly bad for the unsuspecting man who is sleeping without a care in the world. I begin making the circle. This spell isn’t one of captivity but one that he can walk away from as long as he speaks the truth. His lies will be his own prison.
I smile as I circle the sofa. This can go one of two ways: either he will get extremely angry, or he will help us… I do want to ask Ahren for help, too. I know he may have been able to talk to Theo to persuade him, but I’m not sure he’d let me do this. He’ll still see me as his little sister.
Sighing, I kneel down and etch the symbols into the ground, watching as Allie begins opening the bag she has been carrying all along. The moment I see the two large jars she takes out, I shake my head.
“Allie… you said something to scare him. These are horrible.” I stare at the jar of angry wasps and a jar of raw wolfsbane.
“He’ll live,” she says, caressing the jar of bees as if they were her babies.
I gaze down at the sleeping man.
Oh, I’m so sorry…
“That’s a high dose of wolfsbane,” I try one final time.
“I know.”
“Well, ok then, let’s finish this.”
I finish my markings on the ground before placing a finger to his chest, my attention falling to his tattoo ‘LIVE FAST, DIE YOUNG’. I don’t like the meaning of that.
I look away from the tattoo and gingerly draw the final symbol on the centre of his chest. This is so awkward. I avert my gaze as I finish off, binding him to the spell.
A faint barrier glimmers around the sofa, and I look at Allie.
“Now,” I command her, moving away, but just as she opens the jar of wasps and I’m about to step out of the barrier, a hand wraps around my wrist.
“Oh, Blondie, how could you make me such a thoughtful cage and not hang out in here with me?”
“Fuck!” Allie growls as Theo yanks me back with immense strength, and I’m thrown into his arms. His aura glows around him, and I sink lower as the wasps dart around, hitting the barrier and getting angrier by the minute.
“As for you, Zombilesandra, couldn’t come up with anything new?” Theo remarks, sounding completely at ease as he sits up, still holding me tightly against his chest.
“Unhand me!” I demand, my cheeks burning. He’s naked!
