Chapter 29
Chaos. It was absolute, magnificent chaos. Maeve stood in the centre of the Hollow’s living room, watching three separate arguments happen simultaneously and decided this was probably everyone’s breaking point.
“YOU LET HER GO ALONE?!” Jessica yelled.
“I DIDN’T KNOW SHE GOT A NOTE!” Spencer snapped back immediately.
“Well that seems like important information!”
“I was unconscious!”
“That sounds suspiciously convenient!”
Maeve winced slightly.
Okay.
Maybe Jessica had officially moved beyond worried and entered feral territory.
To be fair, it was reasonable. Edith was missing, probably kidnapped, and the bounty hunter currently swaying slightly in the middle of the room looked guilty enough to set on fire.
Which Isabeau was very keen to do.
“I’m just saying,” Isabeau muttered from beside Maeve, sparks dancing faintly across her fingers. “One tiny lightning bolt.”
“No,” Arietta said firmly.
“One medium lightning bolt?”
“No.”
Spencer looked like death, he was pale and sweating and barely standing upright, whatever Mark had drugged him with clearly hadn’t fully left his system yet, Which honestly made the entire situation somehow worse. Because the panic in his face looked real.
Bas paced along the back of the sofa with his fur puffed out aggressively. “I knew the twins were bad news,” he hissed.
“You think everyone’s bad news,” Binky shot back.
“Correct-a-mundo.”
Dave, meanwhile, had physically moved between Jessica and Spencer approximately thirty seconds earlier, after it became clear Jessica was one emotional sentence away from punching the bounty hunter directly through a wall.
“Everybody breathe,” Dave tried.
“No,” Jessica snapped immediately.
Maeve folded her arms, studying Spencer carefully. “You said your brother took her,” she said sharply.
Spencer dragged a hand through his hair roughly. “Yes.”
“And the gold-eyed creep?”
A muscle jumped in Spencer’s jaw. “Gerald.”
Jessica narrowed her eyes. “That’s the fiancé.”
Spencer nodded once.
Maeve immediately disliked him even more. Which was impressive, considering she had already mentally labelled him future magical accident victim.
“So let me get this straight,” Isabeau said slowly. “Your brother drugged you, forged a note, handed Edith over to her nightmare fiancé, and now she’s gods knows where?”
Spencer’s expression hardened. “They’ll head for the mainland.”
“Oh absolutely not,” Jessica hissed. Magic flickered through the room violently. The lights dimmed. Maeve exchanged a quick glance with Arietta.
Yep.
Jessica wasn’t even a witch, her powers had never manifested, so this had to do with the Gate, and recently it had taken on a mind of its own.
Spencer took a step forward and had to steady himself again. “I’m going after her.”
Binky immediately flapped upward indignantly. “You are the reason she’s gone!”
“I know and I’m sorry.” The immediate answer stunned the room quiet.
Because there was no defensiveness to it, it was raw and honest. Spencer swallowed hard.
“I know,” he repeated quietly. “And I want to fix it.”
Maeve stared at him for a long moment. The male looked genuinely wrecked over this, not angry over a job gone wrong, but almost heartbroken.
Oh, this was significantly messier than she thought.
Before she could say anything, the front door burst open and Denzel flew into the room like an angry missile landing directly onto the table. Everyone stared.
“You flew into a cupboard again, didn’t you?” Bas asked.
Denzel ignored him.
“A boat left the harbour,” the parrot announced in an almost normal voice. His pirate singular syllable vocabulary gone. Instead, there was a slight northern twang.
The room went dead silent instantly.
“What the fu…” Bas stated.
Spencer straightened immediately, despite the lingering drug haze clearly trying to drag him back down. “How long ago?”
“Not long.” Denzel twitched. “Ghost pirate vessel. Headed toward mainland waters.”
Jessica moved instantly. “We’re going after them.”
“No shit,” Bas muttered.
Maeve’s lips slowly curved into a grin. Suddenly, this wasn’t hopeless anymore. In fact, this might actually become fun.
“Well,” she said brightly, “taking a boat wasn’t a very good idea.”
Spencer frowned slightly. Maeve spread her hands dramatically.
“They’re on the ocean, and we have two Krakens.”
Spencer stared at her for half a second and then corrected quietly, “Three.”
The room froze. Even Binky blinked.
Maeve’s grin vanished slowly. “Excuse me?”
Spencer met her gaze steadily now. “You have three Krakens,” he said again.
The implications hit the room like a physical force. Jessica’s eyes widened and Dave actually choked on air.
Bas fell off the sofa and Binky made a sound like an offended tea kettle.
“You’re a WHAT?!” he screeched.
Spencer barely reacted. His focus had already shifted elsewhere. Outward, towards the sea and to Edith. Then Spencer looked back at them, expression sharp and dangerous in a way Maeve hadn’t seen before.
Not hunter-dangerous.
Fury, cold and controlled.
“I plan,” Spencer said quietly, “to bring her back.”