CHAPTER FIFTEEN #2
Her body went rigid. “Poodle wings love strawberry beakers,” she replied with a flat, empty expression, leaving Yael and me blinking repeatedly.
“Ummmmm, is she fucking with me right now?” I asked, irritation prickling under my skin.
“I have no idea.”
“Why did Jemma come to you?” I asked again as I pushed the Siren’s Song deeper into her.
“Hellaboras dress pink cats at dawn.” The indignance on her face as she spoke her utter nonsense was totally messing with me, and I turned to Yael, who looked as perplexed as I was.
“Do you understand any of this?”
“Not at all.” He frowned at her and took a step closer until they were nearly nose to nose. “Where did she go when she left here?”
“Disco llama party pants!”
“I think I broke her,” I said. “I mean, I know she was talking in riddles before—”
“As she always does—”
“—but this is something else altogether.”
Maimee shook her head as much as her plant restraints would allow, surprising us both. And that made me wonder…
“Do you understand what I’m asking you?” The old lady nodded. “Well, that’s helpful to some extent. At least her brain’s not fried.”
“But she can’t answer your questions,” Yael argued, “and playing the yes-or-no game without some basic knowledge to work from will take an eternity.”
“Maybe,” I replied as something niggled at the back of my mind.
“Do you have a pen?” Though he looked confused, he didn’t question my request. Instead, he drew a pen from inside his coat and handed it over.
“Can you free her hands just enough for her to write with one on the other?” Yael flicked his wrist in three consecutive circles, and the vines withdrew from her arms while holding the rest of her securely in place.
“Okay… let’s try this one more time.” I grabbed hold of her once more before asking, “why did Jemma come to you that night?”
Maimee scribbled furiously on her palm, then turned it to me. “Does that say ‘mushroom carpet frees nasty books’?”
“It appears this exercise was not the slam dunk you were hoping for, love.”
Frustrated, I took the pen from Maimee’s hand before she figured out how to kill me with it. “Dammit. I really thought that would work.”
While I lamented my failed idea, the wall witch frantically waved her arms at us.
“I believe she’s trying to get your attention,” Yael said dryly. When I looked at her, she held up two fingers, then made a show of closing her fist tight before lifting only her pointer.
“What is she doing?” I asked, letting every bit of confusion I felt sound in my voice.
Yael shook his head. “I haven’t the foggiest. Unless…
” His laughter rang out, and the witch scowled at his response.
“I believe that she’s attempting to play charades with us.
” Maimee nodded like a wild woman at his observation, then flashed her finger at us yet again and tapped her ear.
“First word sounds like,” he said, and she smiled.
Still tethered to the wall, she reached her arms out as far as she could before pulling them in repeatedly in a rhythmic fashion as she looked down at the floor.
“Why does she look like she’s sweeping?” I asked him, not really sure how this charades thing worked. Maimee shot me a frustrated look and shook her head. Clearly, I sucked at this game.
“Not sweeping,” Yael said, sounding rather pleased with himself, “but maybe raking.” The witch’s eyes went wide as she nodded. “Sounds like ‘raking’.”
“Maybe ‘taking’?” She pointed at me and smiled, then held up two fingers. “Second word?”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
The swell of magic in the room was instant, and for a second, I wondered if she’d lulled us into a false sense of security so she could attack us once we were off guard.
I edged as close to Yael as I could without letting go of Maimee.
My shoulder brushed against his arm, and he spared a glance at me out of the corner of his eye.
The corner of his mouth twitched in response.
Before he had a chance to make a smart remark, Maimee’s eyes shot open. Jet-black pools swallowed them entirely, and she pressed against the vines holding her in place, teeth bared and snarling, with her index fingers up on her head like little horns for added effect.
“Demon?” I yelled out. “Or devil?”
“She’d just point at me if that were the case,” Yael said with a note of irritation.
“Fair enough. OH! What about possessed? Like possession? Jemma was taking possession of something?” Maimee shook her head and resumed her theatrics. “Okay… what about monster? Maybe werewolf?”
“Those are horns, love, not ears. I think you were closer to the mark with demon and devil.” Maimee nodded at his words. “Perhaps evil.” The witch let out a breath of relief and pointed at Yael, who went painfully still.
“Taking evil?” I asked, confused yet again. “Your sister came here to take evil? What the fuck does that even mean?”
“Where did she go when she left here?” he asked her, ignoring me entirely.
I turned to Maimee, fully expecting round two to begin, but instead I just found her smiling at Yael, the two of them sharing some strange silent exchange.
“It wasn’t The Lion’s Den, I know that much.
Was it Alberto? Kieran?” Maimee didn’t move.
“Shit,” he muttered under his breath. “It was Dreven.” A statement, not a question.
The delight in the witch’s eyes at his realization was wickedness incarnate. Apparently, Jemma hadn’t taken the evil from her—or not enough of it, anyway.
“Let’s go,” he said, grabbing my hand to drag me behind him as he practically ran out of the shop and into the night, leaving me to wonder who the fuck Dreven was and why he had Yael so spooked.