CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Myra
“Holy fuck, that was exhausting,” I said on an exhale as we walked through the darkened streets, headed back to Serpent’s Tongue.
“It was definitely interesting.”
“Interesting? It was like dragging information from a drunken leprechaun on St. Paddy’s Day.”
I could feel the weight of his stare, and I glanced over to find a curious look on his face. “I don’t want to be an alarmist, love, but something appears to be very wrong with your power.”
“Ya think?”
“Your track record speaks for itself, though you managed not to blow this one up at least, so that’s a win of sorts. Hopefully, you can refrain from doing so with the next as well.” Hooded eyes raked over me before turning back to the road before us. “At least we got what we came for in the end.”
“That and a raging headache.”
He glanced at me again as we rounded the corner. “Perhaps that’s left over from your barroom brawl earlier this evening.”
“Keep looking at me like that and we’ll have another in the middle of the street.
” He laughed my threat away in the most condescending way, which only stoked my irritation.
“You wanna tell me who this Dreven asshole is now that you’re clearly in a better mood?
And maybe, while you’re at it, why your sister is ‘taking evil’ from people, whatever that means? ”
“Dreven is an individual I do my best to avoid at all costs for various reasons,” he said, staring off into the street ahead. “As for my sister taking evil… that’s not important.”
“Feels kind of important if it’s why she went missing.”
“But not pertinent to finding her.” From the way he delivered that sentence, it was clear he wouldn't be budging on that issue anytime soon. Rather than pressing him about it and sending him into a mood, I dropped it altogether—for the time being. Whatever freaky shit she was into, it really didn’t change our end goal or how we would achieve it, so I switched my attention back to the more pressing issue.
“You said you avoid Dreven at all costs,” I said, wondering if he’d be more forthcoming this time. “Why?”
“Because I don’t like him.”
I groaned aloud, seeing where this whole conversation was going to go, or not go, as the case seemed to be. “Cool. That'll be super helpful when I try to drag the information you want from him. As helpful as, say, knowing what he is, what he can do, and how best to cozy up to him to get answers—”
“There will be no cozying up to him,” he snapped, turning furious green eyes to me, "because of what he is and what he can do. Once I’ve established a time for us to approach him, you will do exactly what I say, when I say it, is that clear?”
“I mean, I do understand English,” I said, sidestepping his anger, “so yeah. It’s clear.”
“Good. Remember that when that time comes.”
“As if you’d let me forget,” I mumbled to myself, frustration brewing in my veins—frustration I needed an outlet for and fast, because as much as I loved the thought of it, I knew better than to take a swing at Yael.
I wasn’t sure exactly what his dapper, pretty-boy exterior was hiding, but I’d gotten enough glimpses of the rage lurking behind the facade to inspire caution.
I may have been reckless, but I wasn’t stupid.
Hands fisted at my sides, I continued down the road. “Don’t you have a car or something? Why do we have to walk everywhere?”
“Of course I have a car, but how else could I enjoy your sparkling personality for long stretches of time? You’re rather hard to get alone.”
I shot daggers at him from my sideward glare. “There’s a reason for that—”
“Besides,” he continued, unfazed, “I like walking. This part of Seattle has a certain charm to it, especially at night.”
I stared at him like he’d lost his mind, wondering what it would be like to just stroll through the Playground without constant fear raking up the back of your neck—what it would be like to have power great enough to never question your safety in a lawless concrete jungle like the one I begrudgingly called home.
My silence seemed to pique his interest. “Something wrong with that, little mermaid?”
“Oh no, it’s fine. I just didn’t understand because I’m not fluent in male privilege.” I flashed a saccharin smile at him for effect. “Some of us don’t find the Playground as inviting as you apparently do.”
His eyebrow quirked at my perceived challenge. “I’m not sure your disadvantage stems from your sex, love. It’s more likely your lack of power that makes you a target once you wander outside Ravi’s safety net.”
The truth in his words made me bristle. “But now I have you to protect me,” I added, voice dripping with disdain as I held up my forearm to show him the bite mark. “How lucky am I? Should I swoon? Maybe drop to my knees and thank you profusely for safeguarding me so effectively?”
“You could, but I imagine you’d rather go jump in the ocean than do either—”
“That is correct—”
“—though the image of you on your knees before me is rather appealing—”
“And never going to happen—”
“—but I’ll settle for you doing what you’re bound by our deal to do,” he said, turning to look down the street. “Preferably without making the task more arduous than necessary.”
I sucked in a long breath through my teeth. “Yeah… not sure I can make any guarantees on that front.”
The muscles in his jaw flexed as he ground his teeth. “Try… especially where Dreven is concerned.”
His intensity made me twitchy, and I was wound way too tight to verbally spar with him without escalation, especially given his current rage-baiting approach.
I wanted space so I could breathe and force myself to calm down enough to not do something I’d eventually regret.
But when it was clear that wouldn’t happen, I decided to settle for an outlet that might not add to my problems—or at least I hoped not.
I glanced up at the street sign overhead and something twigged in my mind. “How far are we from Barrows Road?”
“It’s a couple blocks east,” he said with hesitation. “Why?”
“Because that’s where I bought that bullshit potion,” I said just before I took off across the street, visions of the masked girl flaming in my mind. The girl who’d fucked me over and was therefore responsible for my current predicament.
“What are you going to do?” he called as he ran after me.
“I just want to have a little chat with the manufacturer of said potion about its efficacy.”
Yael was almost at my side. “And we need to do this right now?”
“We don’t need to do anything,” I said as I hopped the concrete berm and kept running down an unlit alley. “I, however, need to bury my fist in someone’s face.”
His cursing echoed through the dark corridor. “And will any face do, or—”
“Nope, I know exactly which bitch I’ll be hitting. After what happened on the shore, I think she more than has it coming.”
“In your mind, love, everyone does.”
No point in arguing there.
Instead, I ran down Elmer Street, headed for the corner of Barrows and the rundown front for the druid’s lair I’d visited only two days prior.
It hadn’t escaped my mind that she’d done me dirty, taking everything I had in exchange for that potion, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let it slide.
I’d been too busy since everything went to shit on the beach, but after our night’s shenanigans, I was stressed and had some free time, so confronting her seemed like the perfect way to kill two birds with one stone.
By the time I reached the shuttered door, I was tired of Yael’s incessant questioning, and I started pounding on it just to drown out the sound of his voice. “Open up!” I shouted over the clanging metal.
“Oh yes, I’m sure that’ll work. Better yet, maybe you should just huff and puff and blow the door down with all that baseless bravado of yours. I’m sure they’ll be terrified and undoubtedly give you anything you want.”
“You can leave any time, you know. I don’t need your help with this.”
I wound up to bang on the door again, but Yael caught my wrist and spun me around to face him. “Has it crossed your mind that you can’t win this little war you plan on waging because she can’t give you what you want?”
“I want her to pay for what she did—”
“And I want to find my sister, but wanting something doesn’t make it happen,” he snapped.
“Have you forgotten where you are? This is the Devil’s Playground.
There are no rules here. People like this…
they prey on the weak, using their victims’ greatest desires against them for gain, and they always will, for one very simple reason.
” He leaned in closer, forest green eyes boring through mine. “They can.”
“Are we still talking about her? Or are we talking about you?” I asked, holding my ground unflinchingly. “Because you definitely seem to know a thing or two about weaponizing someone’s desire for personal gain.”
He thrust his face into mine so quickly that I questioned whether I’d actually seen him flinch at my jab. “Except I’m going to give you what you desire,” he said in a calm, casual tone that belied his anger. “It seems you’ve forgotten that minor detail, love.”
“So you keep saying, though I find it interesting that you never expand on the ‘how’ portion of that promise. It really makes me question things.”
Standing there nearly nose to nose, I could practically feel his anger surrounding us, mixing with my own. It was clearly a stand-off, and I wondered how long it would continue.
Then a factor I hadn’t banked on entered the stalemate.
“Back to try again?” a scratchy voice called from the shadows. “So eager to die, she is…”
I spun around to find the weathered old crone from the apothecary glaring at me from the darkness, dull light shining from her rheumy grey eyes.
“I could say the same about you,” I snapped as I rushed her, anger rippling through me.
“I gave that masked bitch friend of yours every penny I had and she sold me a bogus potion!”
“It wasn’t bogus,” she said, stepping into the dim glow of the streetlight.
“I wouldn’t still be here if it wasn’t.”
Yael’s boot scuffed against the pavement as he took a step closer behind me. “Myra—”
“And she’s not my friend,” the crone argued, unfazed by his approach.
“I really don't give a shit about the status of your relationship. What I do care about is getting ripped off and nearly dying because of it.”
“Maybe the potion did exactly what it was supposed to do,” she said, clasping her hands in front of her as though I weren’t poised and ready to start swinging at any moment.
“Myra—”
“Funny,” I continued, cutting Yael off, “I don’t remember paying for a slow and painful death.”
“But you did,” she hissed, lunging forward until her face was in mine, “and that is exactly what you would have gotten.”
“It’s exactly what you’re about to get if you don’t tell me where that bitch is,” I snarled, leaning in closer still. “I have ways to make you tell me; powers you don’t want unleashed.”
The threat in my tone seemed to have no effect on her. “I’m sure you do,” she cooed at me before her wizened gaze drifted to Yael. “As does he…”
Flustered and angry, I turned to the fae at my back. “Since you chose not to bugger off, you maybe wanna help me out a little here, or are you too busy enjoying the show?”
“Oh, I’m enjoying the show, all right. I’m just not sure what it is.”
I inhaled hard to stifle my rage. “This old bitch is in cahoots with the one who sold me that shit potion,” I explained through gritted teeth, as though he hadn’t been listening the whole time.
His eyes narrowed. “But I see only one bitch here right now—”
“Yael,” I snapped, “I’m in no mood for your bullshit at the moment.”
“It’s not bullshit.”
“Fine. I’m not in the mood for your semantics right now.”
“It’s not that either.”
“Then what is it?” I finally shouted in frustration.
“Because if you can’t find a way to charm or browbeat the whereabouts of her partner in crime out of her in the next five seconds, I’m going to use my magic to do it, and I really don’t want to see more new and interesting ways that could go wrong tonight. ”
“And I’d love to help with that, little mermaid, I really would, but first, I need to ask you a rather pressing question.”
“This should be interesting,” the crone muttered from behind me.
“You shut up back there!” I fisted my hands on my hips and glared at Yael expectantly. “What, Yael? What could you possibly need to ask me right now?”
He hesitated for a beat. “Just how hard did you get hit in the head this evening?”
“What are you talking about?” My surprise melded with my annoyance just enough for the question to come out at a pitch higher than I expected. “What does my potential head trauma have to do with anything?”
“Well,” he said, looking past me toward the crone, “it has a lot to do with the fact that you’re deeply embroiled in an argument with an imaginary foe in the middle of the road, and I’d like to think this isn’t something you normally do.”
Ice slid down my spine, and I turned back to find the crone grinning widely. “What’s happening?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Yael replied, answering the question I hadn't asked him.
“He can’t see you?” I asked, genuine fear wrapping around me. She shook her head. “Why not? Why can’t he see you?”
Her gnarled hand shot out and caught my arm, pulling me in so close I could feel her warm breath on my face. “Because I am nothing more than a warning in your ear,” she whispered, panic clutching me tightly as I tried to rip away from her iron hold. “Do not try to return to the sea ever again.”
She released me with a shove, and I stumbled backward into Yael. His hands wrapped around my biceps to steady me while I tried to force air into my lungs. I looked on, stunned into silence as she backed into the shadows and disappeared from sight.
“What the fuck?” I muttered under my breath.
“I would really love to answer that for you almost as much as I’d like to make fun of you right now, but I don’t have the former and I think I’m too unnerved to really dig into the latter at the moment—”
“I need to go,” I replied, wrenching free of his hold.
I darted down the street, my pace quickening as the crone’s ominous words echoed through my mind.
I didn’t look back to see if Yael followed me—didn’t take stock of my surroundings at all as I sprinted for my apartment.
All I cared about was the strange old lady that he couldn’t see, her eerie warning, and the fear that maybe I, like the queen who’d banished me, was starting to lose my mind.