No matter how hard I try to turn the thoughts off, they just continue. I stare down at the brand I got my first stint in prison and almost wish I could go back. Still, the thoughts come:
Violet.
Why her death was a mystery. Hell, she hadn’t even worn her contacts and there was nothing to see.
Cat Girl.
Big Nose.
My promise to Ray.
Jenn.
The baby.
The portal.
How it all connected.
Until I figured it all out, there was just no way I’d be able to get anywhere in finally starting over. For that, I hated myself. But I hated Violet worse.
“DUDE, YOU GOT INTERNET?”
“Sure.”
I pull the phone from my back pocket.
“What’s the password?”
“Karen333”
Karen was his Old Lady’s name. I didn’t care to know what the threes had to do with anything. I was tired of puzzles. Determined to put an end to them, I figured my only hope was Google.
Keywords:
Coven
Solstice
A coven was a group or gathering of witches, at least, according to Google. So, Mistress Pain was a witch. I rolled my eyes, wondering what the hell the festival and apparent incest-orgy had to do with the solstice. On that, I was right – the longest and shortest days of the year in summer and winter.
“Roy?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll take that beer. What’cha got?”
“Corona. Bud Light.”
“Lime?”
I knew I sounded like a diva. I didn’t care. Apparently, Roy didn’t either. He nodded and headed to the fridge to get me set up.
Kewords:
Death
Portal
Seer
Steer
Death Seer?
MY HEAD BEGAN TO SPIN as the best part of my buzz wore off and beer ten settled in. Nothing I’d looked up made any sense. But memories of the portal—of knowing more than I did now—came swirling back.
How the hell did I know who Sigyn was? Why was it funny? How did I know that Big Nose was Ethel’s mother? Was I somehow related to Violet? She said no. She said just all born of the solstice. Was that it? The questions came faster than the answers ever would, even if I’d have been sober. Somehow, as true as I knew the curse, I knew the only way to get the answers was to return to the portal.
No. You can’t go. Violet said she didn’t need your help. Whatever it is, you don’t need to know. You don’t need answers. You’re better off in the dark.
But it was Jenn. It was ignoring her watery death. It was walking away to that car. It was her and the life we’d have had that made me know that once—for the first time ever—I could not deny my role.
“Leroy,” I said standing and in a serious tone, “Sorry, dude. I gotta go. Thank Karen for me. It was nice of her to let me stay.”
And with that, before he could ask me a single fucking thing, I grabbed my coat, my bag, and headed out the door. I had to catch a bus back to the Big Apple.
Chapter Twelve
Violet
Thirty-two hours, fifteen minutes, and six seconds since James walked away. I really thought he was going to stay. Whether he knew it or not, every situation where I may have been in danger, he protected me. I should have been protecting him; instead he was there for me. Then he just walked away.
I saw it before I felt it. Turquoise blue flew through the air, rotating over and over again, until it hit my forehead. “Ow. Why do have to be so extra?” I rubbed my head as I picked my favorite pair of Tiffany sunglasses off my lap.
“You weren’t listening to a damn thing I said.” Ethel sat on the couch, next to our packed-up luggage, picking out imaginary dirt from under her clean fingernails.
We planned on checking out of this hotel and this city in the morning. We didn’t know where to go, but the only plan we had at the moment was to stay away from Sigyn. We figured if we stayed away from big knives and Sigyn, then there was no way Ethel would die. Problem solved.
“I was listening...” I wasn’t listening, but if I told her the truth, I feared she would throw the suitcases at me next.
“You read me, right?” Ethel leaned forward and propped her elbows on her knees.
I didn’t answer her question. Instead, I rubbed the chain branding on my stomach. I wonder if he felt me touching my own mark.
I ducked as I barely missed a high heeled shoe fly by my head. “Calm down, Ethel, and for heaven’s sake stop throwing stuff at me.” It was getting so much easier not to cuss.
She looked at the wall to the side of me, rather than at me. “Since James left, this has been the only way to get your attention.”
Neither of us said anything when someone banged loudly on the door. I looked over to Ethel, who had already changed back into a cat. She sashayed past me and jumped on the kitchen table to curl into a ball. “We are not done with this conversation.”
I rolled my eyes when she turned her back to me. No matter what, she always had to get the last word. Regardless of how high I stood on my toes, I couldn’t quite see through the peephole in the door. I took a deep breath and turned the knob.
Twice in one week, I was speechless. James had returned. He didn’t look happy to be here; in fact, his eyebrows were drawn together in the center in a scowl. “If you are going to save your friend from dying, always ask who is at the door before opening the door. Basic rules of street survival.”
I stepped back and held the door wider for him. People were always nice to me, so I never had to worry about ‘street survival’—or whatever that meant.
I shut the door behind him. He had already dropped his bag next to our luggage and made himself comfortable on the couch. “I see you two were planning on leaving.” He nodded his head toward our packed bags.
I sat down on the chair across from him, but didn’t say anything back. I still haven’t found my words.
He leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms behind his head. “I did some research while I was gone and I still don’t understand any of this. But that got me to thinking. I have a skill you two need. You have information I need. I will help save Ethel if you do some things you have been promising since the beginning.”
“Like what?” I finally found my words.
“For starters, you said at the beginning you could help me with a fresh start. Like, purge my criminal records and give me a clean slate. That still on the table?”
I lifted one eyebrow, expecting him to want more. He was surprisingly easy, for such a complicated guy. “That’s it?”
“I am sure I will think of more things along the way, but for now, I want to take you up on that.” He stopped talking and stared at me. Usually I get uncomfortable holding eye contact for so long, but with him, it was nothing because I would never get a reading on him. Just like he would never get a reading on me. He mimicked me from a few minutes ago, and lifted one of his eyebrows. “I need to know everything you two know if I am going to help save your friend. I mean no detail left out. I don’t understand what is going on. I don’t understand what happened the other day in that maze. I, for sure, don’t understand what the hell I am. But I know one thing. You have all the answers in the mythology bullshit.”