Chapter 16 #2
Out on the landing under glittering stars, Crispin, Ringo, and I sat with our jar of cherries. I could sense the other guys out in the darkness. They wouldn’t go far, and I knew Crispin and I were only allowed to roam on our own because they could sense us too.
Crispin handed me the open jar. There was a fork stuck into one of the cherries on top.
I hadn’t seen him grab it. I took it out and ate a cherry.
It was watery and I probably wouldn’t have eaten more had a cheeseburger been an option, but since it wasn’t, I stabbed two more and forced them down before handing back the jar.
Crispin speared a cherry and offered it to Ringo. “There’s an air of magic to the house, but my senses feel dulled here. It’s nothing I can access.”
“Just like in the pocket realm,” I thought out loud, extending my hand for the fork as Crispin offered it to me.
“Yes,” Crispin lowered his voice, his eyes shining in the darkness. “Which makes me wonder if this is truly Mistral’s home realm.”
I lifted my brows, lowering the cherry I was about to eat. “I would think Mistral would know if it wasn’t.”
Crispin shrugged. “Perhaps. Or perhaps he believes the gray simply drained the magic in the area.”
“Isn’t that possible?”
“It is.” He shrugged again. “I suppose I’m just thinking out loud.” His eyes lifted toward the sky, looking at the stars. “If I returned to my realm, I would recognize it by the constellations. I wonder what made Mistral recognize this place.”
“We’ll ask him when he returns,” I decided. I shivered, my skin prickling with just my thin dress to protect me from the cold.
Crispin moved closer, pressing his arm against mine. “I wish I had worn a suit jacket, then I could be gallant and offer it to you.”
I turned to find him looking right at me, his face only a few inches away. Suddenly our last kiss was heavy in my mind.
“Eva,” his voice sounded choked.
My pulse kicked up. I wanted to ask him if it was really just the magic that made him kiss me. I knew I wanted to blame it too, but I had recently started to accept that I couldn’t blame magic alone for my romantic choices.
“Someone’s coming,” he said softly, still gazing into my eyes.
I heard the footsteps a moment later, and we both turned. I knew Crispin probably saw him better than I could since elves had excellent night vision, but I didn’t need to see him. I already knew it was Sebastian.
Once he was close enough to be visible, I put on my best bored expression, as if we hadn’t just been having a tense moment. “Find anything?”
“Nothing.” Sebastian knelt forward long enough to swipe the cherries with the fork in the jar from Crispin’s hand. “I would state again that this is a waste of time, but my efforts are clearly futile.” He stabbed a cherry, then stuck it into his mouth.
“You think we’d be better off meeting up with your sister?”
“I think we’d be better off stealing a vortex from the fairies to use against our enemy.”
My jaw dropped. That actually wasn’t a terrible idea. “Too bad the Bogs ate the other one.”
I felt Crispin tense beside me. At first I thought he heard someone else approaching, but his gaze was distant. Slowly, he shook his head. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before.”
“Think of what?” My pulse was racing again. It seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
He looked up at Sebastian, which annoyed me, but the devil did usually understand Crispin’s ideas better than I did. “The Bogs ate a vortex—an object capable of absorbing great power.”
Sebastian looked past us, and even with stone and shingles in the way, I knew he was looking in the direction of the gray.
I gasped. “You think the vortex is absorbing the Bogs’ magic from somewhere below the earth? That’s what’s creating the gray?”
“The issue did arrive shortly after the vortex incident.”
He was right, but, “What about this place? Why is the gray here?”
Crispin shook his head, his eyes pinched. “I should have put it all together sooner. The portal wasn’t open before, and now it is. It must have something to do with the vortex, which means it’s absorbing magic from this place as well.”
Lucas walked toward us out of the darkness, looking cranky. He stopped by Sebastian, crossing his arms as he waited for the conversation to continue.
Shaking my head at the fact that we were actually allied with Lucas, I continued, “What will happen if it keeps going? If it continues to steal the Bogs’ magic?
” Ringo had climbed back into my lap and was shivering.
I lightly wrapped my hands around him. When Crispin didn’t answer right away, I looked up at Sebastian. “Why the hells are you smiling?”
His smile broadened. He looked like the cat that ate the canary. “If these theories are true, the vortex has absorbed an astounding amount of power. It sounds like a rather useful tool.” His eyes practically sparkled.
“You want to use it to blow up my grandfather, don’t you?”
He tilted his head. “Don’t you?”
Crispin furrowed his brow. “Retrieving it does seem the answer, as long as we can avoid your grandfather long enough to do it.”
Lucas’ scowl had finally melted. He looked back and forth between us. “I witnessed the vortex Varian used. This might actually work.”
“If we can get the Bogs to give it back,” Crispin added. He looked at me. “I believe that part will be up to you.”
“Me? What the heck? Why do I have to do it?”
He smiled, though it seemed a bit sad. “The wild magic likes you. It has shown us as much several times. And it showed you the issue, hoping you could fix it.”
I hunched my shoulders, now fully shivering from the cold despite a bit of stolen warmth from Crispin. “I guess it’s worth a try. I like it better than relying on Sebastian’s sister.” I glanced up at him. “No offense.”
He smirked. “None taken, but if she signs the contract, we’ll have no choice.”
“Then blow him up with the vortex and with devil magic,” Lucas huffed. “I don’t care how you do it, as long as he ends up dead. Once your mother is safe, I’ll finally be done with all of this.”
“Well at least we’re all on the same page for once,” I sighed, though we still needed to talk to the goblins.
I could still sense them, but distantly. Just what in the hells were they doing?