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I scoff. “That’ll never happen,” I say, but by the way I’m still shaking, I don’t know if that’s a promise I can keep. It’s going to have to be, even if I have to cut my own tongue off.
“Now answer me. What’s in it for you?”
He takes a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists on the table. Right when I’ve about decided I won’t get any semblance of an answer from him, he says, “believe it or not, I’m not your opponent in this game. I need you to win, so I can be free.”
Well, that’s unexpected. But if we truly had a common goal, shouldn’t that make the puzzle easier to solve? Judging by the fact that he’s here, asking me to play, I’m going to bet there’s still a lot I don’t understand. And I don’t like to go into anything blind.
I grab my purse hanging from the back of my chair and turn away. Teizel’s chair scrapes back. “Esmeralda, wait.”
“I need to think about this. I’m not ready to say yes quite yet. I trust you’ve got the check?”
He looks like he might argue, but after a beat, he nods. “I’ll text you the address I’m staying at. Just stop by, if you choose to play.”
I don’t acknowledge his statement. I simply holster my bag higher on my sagging shoulder, and stride out of the restaurant.
chapter 17
crossing the
rubicon
teizel
It’s been three days since I saw Esmeralda, and each one I’ve spent in this mansion, haunting the halls like a ghost, waiting for her to show up. Even the actual ghost thinks I’m pathetic. Yet, I feel deep in the pit of my stomach that something has been set in motion, that we are on the verge of a precipice, and that falling could change everything. After centuries of the same, miserable existence, I crave that change more than the air I breathe.
I flip yet another page of the book I’m struggling to read and cross my ankles. The air in the library chills, and it’s not because of a drafty window. A moment later, Mei is by my side, hovering by the grand piano in the corner, overlooking the large arched window. She focuses on the keys, eyebrows furrowed, and they lower one by one, a bit off tempo, playing a poorly executed rendition of Debussy.
I slam my book shut and press my head against the velvet of the wingback chair. “Must you drill that noise into my brain?”
“Thirty-plus years as a ghost, and I still can’t play the piano quite like I used to,” she muses.
“You don’t have material fingers, so that checks out.”
Mei nails me with a glare. “How long are you going to stay cooped up? Shouldn’t you be out looking for a new challenger?”
I shake my head. “Esmeralda hasn’t turned the bargain down. She’ll come.”
And even if I wanted a new challenger, the curse wouldn’t let me pick one. The pull towards my little prey is so strong, every moment I spend away from her twists my gut a little tighter. One thing I look forward to once Esmeralda accepts the bargain is getting rid of this feeling. Among others.
“It’s been days, Tei. She’s not coming. She ghosted you. I’d know a thing or two about that.”
I snort, because secretly I do find Mei funny, though I’d never deign her dumb jokes with an actual laugh. She knows me well enough to take my response as positive, and grins ear to ear, curling up on the piano bench like a self-satisfied cat.
“She’s done no such thing. Give her time, Mei. She’s bargaining her life, it’s a momentous decision.”
Mei lifts an eyebrow. “Right, like I wouldn’t know. If she cared enough for whatever you’re offering, she wouldn’t have to think so hard. Trust me on that.”
A kernel of doubt seeds in my mind, and try as I might to uproot it, it’s wedged in too deep. Mei is right that nobody else has needed to weigh their options this long; their lives weren’t worth living without the wish I’d grant them. When it comes to Esmeralda, I may have miscalculated. It seems to happen more often than I can allow around this girl.
Before I can rebut, a knock comes from the front door, forcing my body to attention, back straight as a rod.
Mei laughs. “She has you so whipped, it’s a joy to witness.”
I roll my eyes as I sit my book down on the decorative end table and make to stand. “Shame you won’t be witnessing any more of it tonight.”
She shoots up from the bench lightning quick, in a jerky, robotic motion, and makes to follow. Before she can cross the threshold, I draw a sigil to lock her in.
Mei groans like a banshee, her features warping in an otherworldly glower. “You can’t keep doing this to me.”
