“You knew he was here and you didn’t think to freakin’ warn me?!”
“There wasn’t exactly the time, besides, I didn’t think it would help my hanging around and getting flayed… as that’s kind of a hard pass for me, girly,” he shot back.
Before I could respond, the door handle rattled.
“Hello… why is the door locked?!” a woman’s voice called from the other side. Fresh panic spiked. I stared at Bo, waiting.
The silence stretched, thick and uncomfortable, until it pressed against my ribs harder than the dread had. Bo’s usual smirk was gone, his sharp little face pulled into something serious enough that my stomach sank.
“Fuck, what should I say?”I whispered.
He sighed and jumped up to the counter, before speaking over his shoulder in what sounded exactly like a female voice.
“This bathroom is out of use due to cleaning.”
After this, we heard an agitated huff, followed by the clicking of heels as whoever it was walked away to use the other restroom on this floor.
“Okay, so that was weird, and I do not want to know how you do that,” I said, referring to the replicated voice.
“Are you sure? I do a great Eliza Shadowmere,” he said with a wink, making me cringe.
I closed my eyes and shook my head a little as I pinched the bridge of my nose slightly, praying to the Goddess for patience.
“I am going to pretend you didn’t say that and move on to our more pressing issue… like where the hell do I get a fake passport from?”
“You’re not thinking straight,” Bo stated with a cross of his arms.
“I’m thinking very straight,” I snapped, the words tumbling over each other. Then I went on to tell him about the meeting and basically everything he had missed.
“I can quit. I can pack a bag. I can disappear. Go somewhere small. Remote. Somewhere off the grid,” I said, already thinking about the price of tents and whether or not I could stick it out as a permanent camper. Or maybe I could use up my savings and upgrade to a second-hand RV. I wondered if I needed a different license for that.
“Stop,” he said flatly.
I shook my head, the ideas coming faster now.
“I’ll move. I’ll change my name. I’ll tell my sister I got a job overseas or something. I’ll…”
“He will find you, Eliza.”
The words landed heavy and final, like a door slamming shut. A nervous laugh bubbled out of me, but the smile didn’t last, not when Bo continued,
“There isn’t a place on this planet you could go that he wouldn’t find,” he said quietly.
“Not a city. Not a cave. Not the bottom of the ocean. You walked into his domain, Eliza. You put your blood on his altar. You don’t just… relocate from that, not if he wants you.”
My chest tightened painfully and I slid to the floor, my back hitting the tiled wall as the weight of it finally sank in. My hands curled into the fabric of my skirt, nails digging in like they might anchor me.
“So that’s it,” I said hoarsely.
“That’s my life now. I just… wait for whatever he decides to do with me.”
Bo hesitated, and that pause was everything.
“There might be another option,” he said slowly.
I lifted my head, hope flaring within me, and my expression was enough to get him to continue,
“I know someone,” he said, choosing each word carefully.
