Sex, Lies & Magic

Twenty-Eight

The hardest part was keeping everything from Craven... and lying to him—especially about why I was snooping in his phone again. When the iron powder came in I spent the day by myself. I couldn't be around him, I didn't trust myself to not tell him what I planned to do, and for some reason I managed to convince myself that he might try and talk me out of it.

In the end after a day of isolation, I found myself driving with Adair out to the edge of the strip, a massive two mile deep forest that ringed Hades, separating it from the suburb of Middle Brooke.

Adair shadowed me as I walked into the forest looking for a good spot. Eventually I stumbled—literally thanks to a fallen log—onto a small clearing. I took the bag of iron powder out of my coat and sprinkled it around.

"This is perfect," I declared when I finished and the package was empty, without pausing I tossed it in the air and instantly burned it into nothing with black fire.

"Are you sure about this?" Adair asked for what felt like the millionth time.

"Yes."

"Isn't he going to suspect something when he comes here expecting Persephone and finds nothing?"

"He won't see nothing." I wandered off to the side and grabbed the log I tripped over. No matter how hard I tugged, however, it refused to budge.

"Let me."

I stepped back and Adair reached down with one hand and pulled the log from the ground.

"Can you put it in the middle?"

"As you wish." He smirked and set it where I asked.

Rubbing my fingers together to warm them from the winter chill I took a deep breath and slowly let it out with my power which swirled around the log until it gradually shifted into a what looked to be Persephone kneeling in her parka with her hands bound behind her.

"Don't you need to get all fluffy and furry?"

"Eventually, but I'd rather wait until we actually know he's coming."

"You do have a point. I'm going to be so pissed if he doesn't bite." I took my phone out and stared at the number I programmed in as Douche. Previously, I had Taylor's number programmed under that, I deleted him when I put Cael's number in.

The ringing bothered me. It rang and rang and rang to the point where I started to worry he might brush off the call entirely and not answer.

"Hello." The annoyed and unexpected tone caught me off guard, he almost sounded like Craven.

"Cael, I have her."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"How is it you were able to do in a little under two weeks what I couldn't do in five months?"

"Desperation."

"Touché." He chuckled. "So where are you keeping my little fugitive?"

"She tried to leave the city on foot, she's at the north end of the Strip, I'll enchant a path from the ranger station."

"I'll be there in twenty." The eagerness in his voice was unmistakable, and for a moment I almost forgot what a creep he was. Bloop . The call ended and I tucked my phone away.

"Twenty minutes." I told Adair as I spelled a path to us that only Cael could find. Though he was on his way a lot could go wrong, and it kept me tense enough that I thought my back muscles would crush my spine into diamonds.