Seraphine tapped her fingers on the table methodically as she thought of something. Finally, she snapped her fingers. “I wonder if I can cause a distraction long enough for you to sneak in.”
“What do you mean?”
She turned to Akira, who had been begging for table scraps. “We can use Akira as bait.” He sneezed loudly in defiance, which made us all chuckle. “Let me explain, little one,” she sang as she slid him some chunks of ground beef. “Akira can change forms, right? So, what if I ask Peregrine to help me categorize new mythological creatures for Akira to turn into. He would be willing to do anything for Nick’s sake, plus, this would help Akira tremendously.”
“You think Decimus would let me in there without contest?” I murmured.
“If he doesn’t want to die twice, I would suggest it,” Odysseus hissed.
“You probably have enough to hang over his head to make him do it,” May added.
“I suppose so.” I turned to Odysseus, who was plucking tomatoes out of my salad. “Can you keep watch for me while I go in there?”
“Is that something you need to ask me? Of course I will.”
I patted his head. “What a good boy you are!” He blinked heavily before cracking a devilish smile. I tilted my head at his wicked expression. “What?” I popped.
His smile curled up so wide that it nearly fell right off his face. “I should probably keep it to myself.”
“No, be a man and say it!”
Odysseus gave me a look that said it all: ‘you sure you want to open that can of worms?’
I didn’t back down, though I would soon regret that snarky comment.
He slammed an elbow onto the table and cupped his chin. “Funny, you calling me a good boy. Usually I’m the one calling you-…”
“OK, WOW, THAT’S ENOUGH TALKING FROM YOU SIR!” I bawled as I slapped a hand over his mouth. Claude and Jackson pretended to throw up into their plates while the rest of the table laughed at my ferocious blush. I threw my hood up over my head and whined loudly into the collar of the sweatshirt. “If you need me, I’ll be hiding in my room until the end of forever!”
“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” Bianca snorted to Jackson, who stoppedimmediatelyat her comment. He tried to cover her mouth but she managed to say, “You want me to call you way worse than a good boy…”
“EWW, BLECH, BLECH! SOMEONE RIP MY EARS OFF!” I screamed.
“See, Phina, you didn’t miss much at all,” Stark teased Seraphine, who was busy giggling into her napkin at the spectacle.
Chapter thirty-one
Quid Pro Quo
Seraphine, Odysseus, and me took the steps down to Gehenna two at a time, as all of us were nervous wrecks. Akira hung around my shoulder with a deep-set scowl, as he was displeased with being our bait, but he didn’t get much choice in the matter. I usually put his wants and concerns first, but this time, he had to take one for the team.
Odysseus was still wary of being in Gehenna, so when the heat consumed him, he flinched back from it with a face full of anguish. I laid a hand on the small of his back to reassure him, and luckily, he was able to bounce back rather quickly.
Decimus and Evris were waiting at the entrance to the Inn, both biting their lips as they waited for us. Decimus was physically trembling when I approached him, enough that his thin tail kept flicking over and over because he had to be moving some part of his body. I grabbed the end of it and yanked once, which made him jump and I snicker. “You’re this anxious that you can’t even keep this thing put away?”
“You try defying the demon who decides whether you live or die!” he spit through his teeth.
I rolled my eyes heavily. “Peregrine can say what he wants: at the end of the day, this is my Realm, and I call the shots.”
“You say that, yet you can’t free your father and are sneaking around behind his back?”
I sucked my teeth once. “Touché.”
“Explain this grand plan of yours again,” Evris demanded, “because right now, it seems like nothing but an epic failure.”
“Have some faith in me, Evris: I wouldn’t do something this stupid without being confident.” I nodded to Seraphine. “Seraphine is going to distract Peregrine by trying to ‘buff’ Akira’s abilities. I am going to say I am checking in with Decimus about some souls I dropped him the other day. Odysseus is going to keep watch at the entrance to his Layer in case Peregrine catches on.”
“This sounds… so incredibly dumb,” she pouted before sighing loudly and smacking a hand to her face. “Ok, ok, let’s try it. Worse case, it’s your ass that gets chewed out, not mine.”
