Witches Burn at Dawn ✔

43. Bogdan

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Mir's apartment reminds me of the wreckage of a ship, not the water part but the chaos.

The indiscernible force of the guarding runes still pushes me out the moment I try to cross the threshold--yet as I peer inside, it looks...wrecked. A pile of boots and shoes, mahogany boards that were supposed to be shelves, books, pans, and pots--all scattered around the hall. I guess that's how it looks when a ship's deck tilts and crashes, dumping everything in one mess.

"What the hell?" Yara asks as Kadri appears from the living room with a screwdriver in her hands. "When I said trash the place, I didn't mean turn it into trash."

Kadri gawks at her, caught off guard. "Ady and I searched everywhere, but your bones are as good as gone. Then I remembered old apartments used to have hideaways in the walls, so we thought..." She wiggles her screwdriver knowingly.

Irritation surges through me. Of course, Mir Praejis have thought of everything, that's what he always does. Honestly, I envy that a little. Had I been that meticulous, I wouldn't have been stuck between the dead and the living with no power to control it.

Wait.

Something strange brushes against the edge of my mind, something persistent, preternatural. Its magical presence is different--sad, forlorn, not destructive as Death usually is. Yara's bones, they're still here. Reaching out for the bones' magic, I use it to write the words in the air:

Let me in.

"Is that your Plan A, Yaroslava?" Adélard walks out of the kitchen, a hammer tucked behind his belt. "Mysterious letters chasing you and"--he narrows his eyes at her--"makeup? You look like a pirate."

Yep, I'm totally on a hijacked ship.

Yara groans, annoyed, then turns in my direction. She hesitates, dismay etching upon her face. "No offense, Bogdan, but I..."

You still don't trust me?

Oh. That hurts. And it's all because of Mir! Because of his lies that once took Yara from me.

"I'm just not sure I know you now, Dan. So much happened. I changed--you changed. Mir spelled the apartment for a reason."

Yes, so I wouldn't be able to help you!

But I can find your bones. You need them, don't you? To save Mir.

"And you need them to kill him."

Well...yes.

"Kill him?" Alarm flashes in Ady's brown eyes. "Why do your letters suggest killing Mir, Yara?"

"Hard to explain. Because they're my currently invisible best friend, who I presumed to be a dead ghost at first, who actually turned himself into a demon, and who also kind of was Mir's--Vladimir's--childhood friend, too, and who now has...hate to admit it, but a convincing theory about Mir being the serial killer we've been hunting."

Ady harrumphs, crossing his arms. "Mir's no killer. And he can't stand when people call him Vladimir."

"Actually, erm," Kadri nudges a coffee pot with her shoe, out of her way, stepping forward. "It would make sense. Aren't lawyers taught how to commit a murder? So that they could advocate for the innocent, of course."

Exactly!

Finally, one sensible person here.

In unison, Ady and Yara glare at her. "No."

A moment later, Yara sighs. "Fine, but promise not to do anything drastic, Bogdan. Not until I do something first, at least."

Promise.