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“Work for me.”
I slowly shook my head. Why did she want this so badly? I was nothing to her. “I don’t know you. I don’t trust you. No matter what information you have, I won’t sign my life away for it.”
Andraste studied me for a long moment. “One weekend a month.”
“No.”
Irritation curled her lip. “I can smell desperation leaking from your pores. You won’t be able to find her without me.”
Ari snorted. “You’ve never seen Moira work.”
I smiled. “What she said. I always find whatever info I’m looking for. Call it a knack. And maybe I won’t find her as fast as I can retrieve her whereabouts from you, but I won’t have to sell my soul to do so.”
“Fine,” Andraste snapped. “Have it your way. I will call on you in one week’s time. Perhaps you will reconsider my proposal.”
“In one week’s time, I hope to have my mother’s head displayed on a pike outside my apartment.”
Andraste’s eyes flashed. “I shall call on you regardless.”
“In the future, you should really learn to sell yourself better. All I can think of is a cult with winged women. Maybe offer health insurance. Perhaps a 401(k).”
Andraste rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but her attention snapped to the sky instead. A shadow fell over us.
I looked up to see a massive, winged being blotting out the sunlight.
“Go,” Andraste snapped. “Before we’re all dead.”
I glanced back at the cabin. A beam of warm golden light shot from the goddess’s palm, slamming into the side of the cabin with a harsh crack. Fire roared from the blast.
“A favor,” Andraste said, “from me to you. He will find no trace of you inside.”
“He? Who is—”
Ari grabbed my arm and blinked me away before I could finish the question.
I landed on my ass outside my apartment. Ari staggered to a stop, her face pale.
“Shit.” I slammed my hands on the dirt. “Who was that?”
Ari shook her head. “No idea, but if Andraste was telling us to go, it’s best to listen.”
I flopped back onto the soft grass. “The last several hours have been weirder than usual.”
“Tell me about it,” Ari said with a sigh. She lay down beside me and crossed her hands behind her head.
“Who was that woman to you?”
Ari didn’t answer for so long, I thought she wouldn’t.
“She’s my sister.”
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Evie and I stared at the glowing body still lying on the table. The witch’s corpse had been rotting for a while—ever since my mother brought Sarah back to life. Once Sarah was reanimated, the corpse seemed stable, even healing in some places, which neither of us could figure out.
At my look of horror, Evie nodded. “When you and your mom tangled, the corpse degraded even more.”
