Page 14

“Yeah, I⁠—”

Victor smiled. “Was it a picture book?”

“Ha ha, funny vampire. Also, I hate you.”

While Victor distracted Zee from his impending doom, I eyed the door. It wasn’t all that far across the bar. Zee had long legs and he wore knee-high boots with metal heels. The frogs wouldn’t touch him, or hurt him, I was mostly sure. This wasn’t about the frogs, though, it was about Zee facing his fear, his consequences. He had to walk through them.

I caught Tom Collins’s eye. The barman nodded. “HOTELS4U is fae run, ergo this is a fae curse,” Tom said. “Follow the rules and this will end.”

A fae curse. Oh lovely. Wait, he knew what we’d been battling with?“Have you known this was a curse all evening?”

“Obviously.” Our barman snorted. “What else can get inside the wards?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Watching you flail about is fucking entertaining.”

“Then why are you helping us now?”

“Because I don’t like people on my side of my bar.”

I sighed and dragged a hand down my face. “Alright . . . so, if we walk through the frogs and get to the door, the frogs disappear?”

“Fuck if I know. Try it and see. I’ll watch.”

“No, no, nope, no, no.” Zee shook his head. “Imma poof out.”

“No.” Victor grabbed Zee’s hand, rooting him to the spot. “You are not alone, Zodiac. I will always be by your side. We shall walk through frogs together.”

Zee’s eyes widened again. His eyebrows dug in, emotions coming up on his face. His lips parted, and for a brief moment, he and Victor locked gazes, an understanding passing between them. Victor would walk through fire for him, or in this case, through frogs. Zee wasn’t alone. He wouldn’t face his nightmare alone either. He had us. He’d always have us.

I scooted behind them and took Zee’s other hand. “We won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

Zee gulped. He nodded, then looked up, over the sea of frogs rippling under eerie neon light. “I know you won’t.”

“We can do this,” I told him. “The three of us, together.”

Zee swallowed and nodded again. “Okay . . .” He rolled his shoulders, making his wings vanish. “Frogs will not defeat me.”

“Exactly.”

“Frogs will not eat my face.”

I wasn’t sure about that, but Victor seemed confident that wasn’t a thing frogs did, so . . .

“Alright, you ready?” I asked.

“No.”

“Okay . . .” We waited a few beats. “You ready now?”

He nodded. “No.”

The sound of ribbiting frogs grew louder. What if more frogs came, and then we’d have to swim through frogs. That’d be bad.

“Uhm . . . now?” I asked.

“Nope.”