“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I mutter.
“I wastryingto be polite. I’ve been accused of not caring about…well, whatever.” She rolls her bright blue eyes, the most human thing I’ve seen from her.
I tilt my head. “When did you change your—I mean, how do you get your eyes—you know what? Never mind. There is a cat here. It showed up, but it went back into the spell room, which is acting very strangely, so I’m not entirely sure he’s still here. I fed him before?—”
“You fed him? For fuck’s sake.” She throws her hands up and strides down the steps. She’s muttering curses under her breath as she paces back and forth.
I sag against the doorframe. I’m tired—deep down in my bones. My sister’s still missing, things with Dimitri are a mess. I don’t have a job, and I’m essentially homeless. Being thrust into a world I don’t fully understand or am prepared for has thrown me off-kilter. Everyone I’ve come into contact with gives me half answers. They expect me to understand all the ins and outs of their lives. It’s frustrating as fuck, and I just want to be done.
“You know what? Fuck you,” I snap, and she swings toward me.
“What was that, witch?”
“Fuck. You. All you fucking demons think you’re so much smarter than the rest of us. You think you can just blast into our lives, stir shit up, then vanish. And does anyone ask if we need something? Do you care about the mess you leave behind? Of course you don’t. Because you’re bullshit elitists. I’m sick of this. I just want—” I snap my mouth shut. She doesn’t deserve to know what I want. She deserves nothing.
“I’d be careful, witch. I have more power than you can comprehend.”
“As if I fucking give a shit,” I snarl. “I’m not a boarding house for cats. Or a temporary hospital for cursed demons.” Her eyebrows rise higher the more I spew at her. “Or a detective. Or a savior. Or even a very competent witch. So, just…fuck off.”
I slam the door, then immediately regret my outburst. I shouldn’t have done that. Yelling at a demon? Bad. Yelling at a demon named Providence? Catastrophic. She could smite me off the face of the planet. Maybe she’ll send me to the dragon realm. I’ve got some good memories there. Probably the only ones I’ll have if she gets ahold of me.
Mrow.
I tip my head back and groan. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I spin around and find the squish-faced black and white cat. “She was here for you, ya know.”
He trots away, back to the damn spell room. This time I follow him straight into the darkness. Except it’s no longer dark. Grey perhaps, but not pitch black. It’s as if all the color’s been sucked from the world. When I glance at my bare arms, I realize there’s no color inme, either. A shudder rolls through me.
The cat saunters around the partially finished circle, the chalk seemingly embedded into the dark wood. The blood redcandles stay unlit, though smoke still curls from the blackened wicks. I tiptoe closer, careful not to disturb anything. Even though there’s an opening where the chalk smeared, I still give it a wide berth.
“Kitty, don’t you fucking dare.” I barely get the words out before he’s pouncing into the middle of the damn thing.
He lands on a small book, his paws curling over the edges. I suck in a sharp breath and stumble away. That thing shouldn’t be in the center of the circle. A text titledNecromancywhich was really about plants? Yeah, fucking right. Lark probably spelled it so I wouldn’t be able to read it. Then put a bullshit message in there for me to find.
Anger, grief, shame, and jealousy tangle together within my chest, making it hard to breathe. How long had she been planning this? Why didn’t she talk to me? Was our fight really that bad to warrant her going off and being reckless? Or was she kidnapped like Dimitri so flippantly suggested? Granted, he didn’t know about Lark, but still. He planted the seed when I was so sure she’d merely gotten in over her head. For the first couple months, I’d convinced myself she was still in this world. It wasn’t until I’d popped open this very room that I knew it was something more. Something witchy.
Just get it over with.
“Fuck you, Lark,” I mutter. “I wouldn’t be in this predicament if it wasn’t for you.”
And you wouldn’t have fucked a hot demon if it wasn’t for me, either.
I roll my eyes, wondering if her voice will go away once I find her. If she lives in my head forever, pointing out every ridiculous decision I make, I might…I don’t even know what an appropriate response would be. Nothing good. I’d probably suffer in silence as I have been for years. It’s silly, but it’s how my brain operates. As soon as I say something, people either try to solve myproblems or dismiss them. I learned to keep shit to myself. If I deal with my own shit, there’s no one else to blame when it goes sideways.
The cat leaps toward the other side of the circle and vanishes. The book slides toward me, stopping right before it hits my foot.
“Well, that was unexpected,” I mutter.
Gingerly, I nudge the thing with my bare toe, cringing as I do. It’s just a book, yet for some reason I’m afraid I’ll vanish along with the cat.
“Probably should be worried a Hell kitty is running around this plane, but whatever. It’s fine, Mari. It’s just parts of a tree repurposed into education on plants. There won’t be anything in it when you open it up.”
Manifesting never worked much for me, but it’s the only thing I can think of other than walking away. And I’ve done enough of that lately. I’m sick of running and hiding and pretending I’m doing something when I’m not. Even I’m fed up with myself. I can’t imagine how annoyed Percy must be with me.
I flip open the cover with my foot, then step back. Disgust rolls through me. The fucking thing is blank. Because of course it is. No divine secrets, no descriptions of plants, no notes from my sister. Just a bunch of yellowed parchment with absolutely nothing printed on it. One of these days I’ll be surprised by shit like this. Today is not that day.
Grabbing the book, I almost drop it. Except I can’t. It fuses to my hand, heat searing up my arm. I let out a strangled cry as I attempt to pry my fingers away. A golden glow emanates from beneath my palm. Sparks dance along the edges of the circle, turning the white chalk black. When thunder rumbles overhead, I nearly let out a sigh of relief. Thunder means Dimitri. Dimitri means safety. And help and comfort and being seen. He’ll know what to do.
The grey room plunges into darkness, and I shuffle back toward the door. At least, I think it’s behind me. In the complete blackness, I’m disoriented, and the magic in the book still hasn’t released me. At least the heat is bearable. Still, tears fill my eyes as the full weight of the situation settles on me.
