Kit
. . .
One Day Ago
The street corner where I stood was dimly lit. I shoved my hands in my pockets as I waited for Hallet in the quiet night.
I couldn’t stay away from Lacy, as hard as I tried.
It wasn’t like I was standing outside her apartment all day and night watching, despite my desire to—I wasn’t trying to stalk her.
She would not be cool with that. But I had to ensure her safety, make sure Balores hadn’t escaped.
He may not have been able to possess her, but he could still harm her, so I visited her at work.
I didn’t approach her, but I heard her talking to Matthias.
They didn’t realize I was there, otherwise they would not have advertised so loudly their plan to bring me back to life.
I told her that spell she found wouldn’t work, but…
but maybe it could. If she tried and it didn’t work, that would be okay.
I told myself that over and over so I would believe it.
Her failing may be the only thing to force both of us to give up on this outlandish, idealized plan.
If anyone could do this for me, it would be her.
The one ingredient they were missing was the amber blood, their search so far coming up dry. That explained what they were doing at the Market. Once I saw Matthias, I assumed he had brought her along while he was looking for something for himself.
I felt such an extreme amount of hope and belief in Lacy that I knew I had to give it to her.
Hallet appeared before me on the street corner. With a simple nod of acknowledgement toward me, he handed over the item I requested—a mason jar of amber blood. “Your former host asked me for this as well. What is it for?”
I turned over the jar in my hands. “I can’t tell you that. I apologize.”
He accepted that answer with a shrug. Before he departed, he noted, “Garficious has been collecting this lately, so it was hard to come by.”
“I cannot even begin to express to you how much I do not want to know the specificities of what Garficious is up to.” I paid him with a cursed crystal.
I put the mason jar in an envelope I swiped from the store, picked the lock on Lacy’s mailbox, and shoved the package in there. I would have delivered it in person, but I needed to respect her wish not to see me.
As I closed the mailbox, I muttered, “This better work, baby.”