Page 6 of Out of Sight

Arwell looked at her. “If I know your actual name, will I remember you?”

“Probably. We used to sit together at some of those socialite events. Way back.”

Arwell blinked. “We did?”

“Yes. People who knew me before the curse were the hardest hit. They lost me completely. The people who met me afterward still had a chance to remember.”

Mik blinked. “So you have lost your family, friends, community.”

“Correct. Now, what can we do to get this thing off?” She pulled her neckline down, and Mik reached out to touch it.

There was a crackle, a hum, and a feeling of heat with a curl of smoke. Ted kept still.

Mik smiled. “Win, come here, and take a poke.”

Ted chuckled. “I am in the hands of professionals.”

Mik grinned. “We are all learning here, but Win has the most exposure to the shadow mage grimoires.”

Win walked over and looked at the mark. Ted sighed and tore the neckline of the tee she had on at four points to expose the entire mark. “If you are looking through an index, it is a thrall mark.”

Win blinked. Mik blinked. Arwell smiled. “Ted, what happened when he put the mark on you?”

“I pushed him down the stairs, landed on one foot on his crotch, and screamed curses at him as he scrambled away, puking as he went. If I had known how bad this was, I would have killed him then.”

Win asked, “Were you lovers?”

“No. Ew. Gross.” Ted flinched.

“So you would have been one of his early attachments. He didn’t know how to anchor the curse, so he thought that would be enough. Later, he probably used sexual entanglement to lay his trap. Was he attractive?”

“Yup, and shallow as a mirror.” Ted frowned. “He had very unsavoury hobbies as well. I was just in a class with him. He did this when I tried to call the police about him sending some betas after another girl in our class. She survived but just barely. He saw something in my face and followed me back to my apartment. That is when the collar came on, and I booted him down the stairs.”

“When did you see him after that?”

“I didn’t. I can feel a draw on me, constantly. Like someone is sucking at the last of the soda in the glass.”

Mik frowned. “You aren’t dead yet. You are still mobile.”

“Yeah. Why?”

“This is designed to kill you in about a year. How long has it been?”

“Six years.”

“Interesting.”

Win touched the mark and glided her fingertips along it. “We can break it. If three of us can share the shock, it should be fairly simple, but... we need everyone else at a safe distance.”

Regis said, “Everyone inside. This is going to be messy.”

Avor was speaking with Sabin, and he nodded. Aurora was carried inside, but Nora and Sabin were watching.

Ted looked at them and smiled. “This does not mean I am babysitting. She’s sticky.”

They grinned and nodded.

Regis looked at them, took her husband’s hand, and a wall of energy went between them and the four women on the lawn. She gave the ladies a thumbs-up, and Ted looked at the women who were spacing themselves around her.