“Think there’s anything in there worth finding?”
“I don’t know anything these days.”
Ari snorted and unwrapped her bar. “Last night was fun. And no hangover. That stuff you gave me is magic in a bottle.”
“Literally,” I said.
“But it does take away from the genuine experience.”
“You want to spend the night making poor decisions and vomiting up your dinner?”
“Poor decisions are pretty fun.”
I laughed. “I like you, Ari. I’m glad we met.”
She perked up. “Yeah?”
I nudged her with my elbow. “Yeah. But I still think you should go grab Locke by his face and kiss him into oblivion.”
“I’d prefer punching him into oblivion.”
I knew the feeling. “Just kiss him first, and he might not mind.”
And just like that, the streetlights came on, washing the streets in a golden glow. People loaded their cars up and drove away. Tourists meandered back to their hotels and quiet slowly settled over the town.
Ari slowly came to standing. “Ready?” she whispered.
“Quiet as a mouse. In and out as fast as we can.”
“I’m fae. We’re already quiet.”
We jumped off the roof, landing on silent feet.
As soon as we stepped into the ruins of Mom’s shop, I felt her magic.
Ari grimaced. “Your mom is into real dark shit,” she muttered.
I stifled a shiver and stepped over a tipped-over shelf, blackened by fire. Glass crunched under our feet, broken crystals and trinkets glittering in the moonlight.
Being inside wasn’t exactly safe, but we’d both survive a roof collapse. Finding anything out about Mom’s plans was far more important.
“You want to take the back?” Ari whispered. “I’ll look around the front and shout if I see anything.”
I nodded and walked through a burned-out doorway. The smell of herbs was much heavier in this room. An undamaged stainless-steel table stood in the middle of the room, herbs strewn across its surface. I hesitated, sensing some kind of barrier, and put my hand up, reaching forward to touch the space.
My palm met resistance.
“Ari,” I hissed.
The fae appeared almost instantly, recoiling at the sight of the table. “She put up a ward.” Ari clicked her tongue. “Makes sense.” She leaned forward and skimmed the labels on the undamaged jars on top of the shelves attached to the walls. “She’s got some expensive spell ingredients in here.”
Our eyes met. “Herbs she’ll be back for,” Ari murmured.
She chewed on the side of her lips. “If I take the ward down, she’ll know. How about we finish our sweep first, then come back here and take the ward down? If she shows up, maybe we can finish this thing for good.”
I nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll need you to stand down and wait until you know I’m losing. I might need the element of surprise. Mom is tricky on a good day.”
Ari’s brows flicked up. “You sound like you know you’ll be losing.”
