The whole conversation with Pisces runs through my mind, but I can’t bring myself to recount it all to Reese. Tears start flowing more easily and the fire that was there before recedes. “He made fun of my ribbons,” I finally sob out as Reese holds me.
I turn the corner and swear.
Another fucking dead end.
I check my map again. I should be able to continue forward and take a left. I twist the map around, thinking maybe I’m somehow looking at it wrong. After I talked with Reese and went back into the maze to talk with Amelia, the two of them convinced me to find Simon and get him to replace me with another volunteer.
“Bliss.” Dylan’s voice slithers up from behind me.
I whip around. “Fuck, you scared the shit out of me.”
“The English language is so lovely, is it not?” The song wraith leans casually against the hay wall, looking at his fingernails.
“I’m sorry, did I offend you?” I throw back. “Maybe you shouldn’t sneak up on people.” I look behind him, realizing the way I came is now blocked. An uneasiness flows through me. “What did you do?” I demand from him.
“We need to have another conversation, my dear succubus,” he drones. “It would seem that you have not grasped the urgency of our bargain.”
“Look, I’m trying, but I don’t even know who he is. Can’t you, I dunno, use your wraith magic to figure out that part?”
“I cannot do this for you.”
His eyes aren’t the usual blue violet. They’re red. I’m coming to realize this means he’s in no mood to joke around. He’s not bothering to conceal his true identity, nor does he find it worth it to put me at ease.
“I will also remind you that you cannot back out of this deal.”
“I know that!” I snap. “I have a plan, okay? I just need to find Simon.”
“Simon is not the avenue you want.”
“He’s my only way to even be in the same room with Wrath.”
The song wraith shakes his head, frustration appearing on his face that I haven’t seen before. “You have already met Wrath.”
I let out a breath of my own frustration. “I know that! But it’s not like we exchanged phone numbers.”
“His scent is on you, even now.”
I look down at my hoodie. “Succubi are not tracking fae. I can’t scent him out like a wolf shifter could. My nose isn’t even as good as a vampire’s.”
A vampire.
Taser.
Maybe Taser could.
“I see you have had a moment of inspiration. Good.” He turns, waving his hand, and the hay wall that closed us off disappears. “But Bliss?”
He turns back to me and fixes me with those red irises.
“You have until the end of the festival.”
His voice fades with him as he somehow evaporates into thin air.
My heart beats quickly, like the ticking of a clock.
I turn and find my way no longer barred, but now I’m not looking for Simon.
No.
