Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The docks of New York were bustling with activity when we arrived two days later. With one day left to fulfill my task, I was cutting it close, but all I needed to do at this point was deliver Auggie to the address Lucifer had indicated.
I sent Auggie a furtive glance as he descended the gangplank.
Had he made a deal with the Devil to save his aunt?
Perhaps it was more complicated than that, something to do with his bloodline or family.
That would be the sort of selfless act I would expect of Auggie.
But if Lucifer was ensuring Auggie’s arrival at his aunt’s, it must be to see that his own side of the deal was met.
Perhaps that meant that Auggie’s soul wouldn’t be collected immediately.
Maybe he still had time to enjoy his life.
And perhaps … I could fit into that somehow.
Once my soul was in my possession again, I could decide what I did, and where I went.
Lucifer would have no say if I wished to see Auggie.
“We owe you a great debt.”
I turned to find Captain Mary watching me. She sent me a crooked smile. “I wasn’t sure about you lot when you showed up in my cabin, but you did right by us when it came down to it.”
“It was a pleasure,” I said, bowing with a flourish.
“I’m not sure about that, but at least Freya was able to repair the scorched deck.
” She let out a breath. “If it’s all the same, we’ll be the day here unloading before our next load arrives in the morning.
You might consider leaving Therese here while you’re in the city. She’s not exactly inconspicuous.”
I glanced at Therese, who was packing a small amount of food for our day while Freya looked on. I watched her throat bob, her wide eyes blinking in her frog face. “That might be for the best. You sure it won’t be a problem?”
She clapped me on the back. “Like I said, we owe you. I’ll make sure nothing untoward happens to her.”
“I appreciate it.”
The captain nodded, then hesitated. She grimaced. “I wish I could say what I’d like, Callum. But me and my crew are under a tight spell of silence when it comes to … certain matters.” She met my eyes meaningfully. “Be careful. Sometimes people are exactly who you think they are.”
I considered her words as Freya approached.
“We should go,” Freya said. “Waiting until the last possible moment would be foolhardy.”
I straightened, still unsettled by the captain’s words. I sent her another look before nodding to Freya. “Yes, of course.” I gestured to Therese. “She’ll be safe here until we return.”
Freya lifted an eyebrow, looking at the captain then back to me with uncertainty. “If you think that’s for the best.”
“I do.”
She nodded. “Then let’s not tarry. We’ll be back by nightfall if we get a move on.”
I turned down the gangplank and smiled as Auggie watched us descend expectantly. “Excited to see your aunt?” I asked when we reached him.
“Excited?” Auggie echoed. “I’m not sure what state I’ll find her in, if she’s hung on long enough for me to arrive, but my mother would have appreciated me being here for her.”
I nodded, something bittersweet fluttering in my chest. The time had arrived.
As much as I was happy to complete this job, I didn’t want to leave Auggie’s side.
I didn’t know what would happen to him after I delivered him to his destination.
It made me anxious. Was I doing the right thing?
What would Lucifer do to me if I simply didn’t carry out his directive?
I shuddered at the thought. We had a rather civil working relationship.
If I crossed him, he could make my remaining years painful, and he could draw them out for as long as he wanted.
No, I had to see this through. I had to be free of the constant threat hanging over my head, of being owned by a sadist.
Before we hailed a coach, I sat in a quiet park to refill my magic reserves.
It had been a long while since I’d had to rely entirely on my own body to replenish itself in order to work magic.
It was frustrating. If an emergency had occurred during the remainder of the voyage, I didn’t know what I would have done.
Thankfully, we had arrived without further incident.
I was expecting fanfare, or a challenge, as we took a carriage to the address. But nothing presented itself, nothing to put off the inevitable moment that I was coming to dread, as much as it would relieve my woes.
When the coach pulled up before a lovely sprawling building in a beautiful neighborhood blooming with roses and greenery, I couldn’t help but feel glad this was where I would be leaving Auggie.
I grabbed Auggie’s hand. I didn’t want my time with him to be over yet. I wanted to extend it as long as possible. But that was selfish of me, especially given his sick aunt was waiting on him. “Let me walk you to the door,” I said.
Freya was looking pointedly out the window to the street, while Narcissa watched us curiously.
“Of course,” Auggie agreed.
“It was good to meet you, Auggie,” Freya said, sending him a nod before returning her gaze outside.
“You too,” Auggie said. He smiled at Narcissa. “Don’t go giving your witch too much trouble now.”
Narcissa sniffed. “I’m not the one who attracts trouble.” Auggie would be getting no sentimental goodbyes from her.
I stepped down from the coach and helped Auggie out. He looked up at the building before us, then smiled shakily at me. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” he said.
I squeezed his hand. “I think that’s normal.”
We walked slowly to the front door, and I lamented that the time passed so quickly. I wanted to linger, make this last moment with him last. But in less than a minute, we were standing before the door.
“Will I see you again?” Auggie asked, his voice quiet.
I forced a smile into place. “Whatever the future holds, I truly hope that’s the case. You’re a very special person, Augustus Sanderson.”
“Auggie,” he corrected me.
I wrapped my arms around him and stared down into his face, heart beating so furiously I could feel it in my throat. “Your friends call you Auggie. And I want to be more than a friend.” I took a shuddering breath. “When next we meet.”
Even if it’s in the underworld.
He grinned up at me through those beautiful eyelashes of his. “So forward of you, Callum.”
“When I want something—”
We were interrupted by the door opening. A man in a black robe stared out at us expectantly. He examined me before his eyes shifted to Auggie, whereupon his face lit up with a smile. “Well, you must be Auggie. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Auggie smiled back shyly and took a step toward the door as the man opened it wider for him to enter. Auggie looked back at me, his eyes full of meaning, imploring something of me. But this was his time, whatever awaited him inside.
“When next we meet,” I said again, so softly that I doubted he heard it.
The door closed on Auggie, but not before I caught a glimpse of something on the man’s shoulder, red like a goat’s head.
I frowned. A goat’s head was a pretty common symbol of witchcraft, and if a witch owned the building or if the staff served one, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to don such a mark.
Yet, it left me wondering its implication for this household in particular.
Auggie’s aunt couldn’t be a witch, or he would be one himself.
But it was also none of my business.
Freya was waiting at the carriage with the door open. “Are you all right?” she asked, watching me.
I smiled tightly. “Of course. Mission accomplished, right?”
She frowned and moved aside to let me back into the coach.
Emotions were threatening to overwhelm me, my throat thick, my stomach sinking. It had been a while since I’d felt anything so strongly. I cleared my throat, looking to Narcissa for a distraction. “You could have said goodbye.”
Narcissa curled up on the seat, yawning. “That’s a very human custom. We see each other again or we don’t. That’s up to the Fates, not us.”
I snorted, glancing at Freya. The sympathy in her eyes made me look away. “I suppose this means your business has concluded as well,” I told her. “You can report back to the Council of Witches about this boy Satan has designs on.”
“I suppose I can,” Freya agreed. “But I’m not sure there’s much to report, frankly. And anyway, now that he’s out of the Council’s reach, what good would my report be?”
“So … you’re not going to tell them about Auggie at all?”
“Why bother?”
I reached out and put a hand over hers. “That’s very … kind of you.”
She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Yes, well, I would rather not embarrass myself by making something out of nothing. There are worse jobs than transporting witches around the globe.” She slipped her hand out from beneath mine.
“But for now, I would like to make sure you return to England safely. And to thank Lexi again for her hospitality. I can teleport you and your friends.”
I smiled slyly. “Ah, yes. Thank her properly this time, would you?”
Freya looked away and pretended as if she hadn’t heard me.
Out the coach window, the streets passed by. We would collect Therese and then leave New York behind, Auggie along with it. Gods, I hated how painful the thought was.
But Auggie may already be a part of my past.
My heart nearly clawed its way out of my chest at the thought, and I had to close my eyes and take deep, even breaths to keep my composure.
The sound of the carriage rattling through the streets helped, giving me something to focus on since my traveling companions had chosen to remain so damn quiet.
As we drew near our destination, I thought I heard singing and watched curiously as we passed a procession of people.
They were praying, eyes closed, arms outstretched, a wax figure of the Saint Akilah at the top of a staircase nearby.
There was something quietly powerful about the scene, the reverence they showed the figure.
I watched until we turned a corner and no longer could.
When we arrived at the docks, I walked up the gangplank to the Koriko with a much heavier heart than when I’d left it. As the sun sunk behind the buildings of the city, cooling the sky, my head tilted up to regard the blood moon. Seeing that red jewel hanging in the sky sent a shiver up my spine.
“Does this mean we’re going back home, Mr. Witch?” Therese asked.
“I suppose it does,” I agreed, regarding her. “I’ll have to ask around about a hangman’s toe before you see your father, however. I have a feeling he wouldn’t recognize you in your current state.”
She giggled. “Father isn’t particularly observant.”
“Nevertheless, I think I’ll return you the way I found you.”
Freya sent me a sympathetic smile. “Are you ready then?”
I gazed around the deck of the ship. Captain Mary had stepped out of her cabin to watch us go. My eyes settled on her briefly before I glanced back up at the sky. The Blood Moon.
Blood magic would be its strongest tonight. Blood magic. Any blood witch who took advantage of tonight …
Sometimes people are exactly who you think they are.
My eyes snapped back to the captain. As she read something in my eyes, she nodded.
“Callum?” Freya’s voice was concerned. “What is it?”
I closed my eyes. The red goat’s head on the man’s cloak. It was the same as on the man who’d been helping Erik in Greenland, the one who’d been tortured.
Erik.
Erik was exactly who I thought he was. A blood witch. A blood witch who’d been very interested in Auggie upon meeting him, as if he’d already known about him.
“Gods,” I whispered as I realized the implications.
Freya straightened as I turned to her. “Auggie didn’t sell his soul to the Devil at all,” I said. “Lucifer sent him here to be sacrificed. By a blood witch.” I swallowed. “By Erik.”