“I missed you so much,” I said, my tears surprising me.
“You came,” Wendy sobbed. “You really came.”
“Of course I did,” I whispered, stroking her hair.
Though, I hadn’t reallycomehere, I’d beenbroughthere. The knowledge that some fucking prick had knocked me out and kidnapped me sent a swirling ball of rage through me. I wanted to lash out at someone. That was when a few memories came back.
Declan had figured out who had killed Balthazar. He’d told me, right before whatever happened to me. That part was still fuzzy, but Irememberedwhat he’d said. Virgil Tacitus.
Wendy brought herself under control and looked up at me with a tear-streaked face.
“How are we getting out?”
Ignoring the question for now, I said, “Who took you? Do you remember?”
Wendy hiccupped and glanced at the lone door. It was barred by a deadbolt that shone with an electric blue rune. She looked back at me once more, and the fear in her eyes was almost too much for me to handle.
“It was Virgil,” she whispered. “It was him. He…he…” She started sobbing again and buried her face in my chest.
I rubbed her back as she let it all out. The young girl, who’d always seemed mature beyond her years, brilliant, and funny, had turned into a terrified child.
Finally, in a muffled and miserable voice, she cried out, “He killed Uncle Balthazar.”
She drew out his name in one long low sob. It broke me. The floodgates shattered, and I found myself holding her tighter, sobbing along with her. I could still see Balthazar’s lifeless eyes. Wendy had already lost her parents, and now, the only family she had left, a man who loved and cared for her, was gone as well. She was orphaned. She had no one.
“He’s gonna kill us too,” she said, still sobbing into my chest.
“Listen to me,” I said, urging her to look up at me. Even with her dark complexion, I could see her face was flushed from crying, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen.
“We’re going to be all right. You hear me? We’ll be okay,” I said.
“H…hu…how?” she stuttered. “We can’t get out. Our magic is blocked with thesefuckingthings,” she hissed, banging the steel band around her neck with a small fist.
“Watch your language,” I said, which had the unexpected effect of eliciting a short laugh from Wendy. I smiled at her, using my thumb to wipe some of her tears. “We are going to be fine. Do you know why?”
“Why?” she said, the word coming out in a reverent whisper as if I was about to tell her the secrets of the universe.
“Because I’ve got a friend helping us. He’s going to save us. I know it.”
Wendy shook her head. “He can’t. Virgil is too good at magic, plus he’s got guys working for him. How is your friend going to help us when he doesn’t even know where we are?”
“Because I’ve seen the way he is. I know what he can do. He’llneverstop, never sleep, never eat, not until the…” I stopped myself. I’d almost saidthe woman he loves is safe, but that was crazy. We didn’t love each other. Did we? It hadn’t been long enough had it? Yet, even as I questioned it, it felt right, like we were two pieces of a puzzle that had finally found each other, completing one another.
“Until his mission is complete,” I finally said. “He’ll literally walk through Hell to save us. You can count on that.”
Almost on cue, a crackling static sound hissed in my ear. My earpiece was still there. I reached up and brushed my fingers across my earlobe. I’d forgotten it was in there, and thought the muffled sound in that ear was from being knocked out.
“Declan?” I said, softly. “Can you hear me?”
“Declan?” Wendy said, frowning at me like I’d gone crazy. “Like the guy from the book I bought?”
“Yup. He’s my friend I was talking about,” I said.
“Wow,” she said.
“Declan? Are you there?” I said again.
“Veronica?” he cried, his voice tight with worry. “Thank fuck. Where are you?”
