“That’s not good enough, Marcus,” Alistair spat, before turning to leave.
“Alistair, come on!” Marcus called.
“Don’t want to hear it,” Alistair shot back as he kept walking.
The atmosphere in the room turned melancholy. None of us knew what to do. Until we got more information, there wasn’t muchtodo.
“I’ll talk to Ivy and see if he’s reached out to Erasmus Morelli,” Ava offered, and I heard her begin to wheel away. “If we don’t have answers on the Elves, perhaps we could find out more about the merfolk key.”
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
AVA-MARIE
We were no closer to information on Eddie’s location than we were when we first contacted Thaddeus’ ghost. It was terrible, waiting around knowing the Elves were in trouble when we knew there was information within our reach to help them, but at the moment, there was little more we could do.
My nights had been fragmented with dreams of Eddie— realizing that he could be close by, while at the same time, admitting to myself he could be under torture right now, if he wasn’t dead already.
Thinking about my friend like that tormented me, so I tried not to. Instead, I focused on solving the mystery of the merfolk key. The quicker we got it, the quicker we could find a way out of here and go looking for wherever Eddie had been taken.
The following day, I went to the Villain’s Den to speak with Ivy, to see if there was any progress on Erasmus Morelli. Ivy was sitting at a table, a textbook spread out in front of him while he sipped on tea from Commissary.
“Hey,” I asked as I rolled up to the table. “Have you heard from Erasmus yet?”
Ivy shook his head. “Sorry. I’m still waiting.”
“What kind of job does your dad have him on?”
“Knowing my old man, it probably ain’t pretty. Erasmus has gone completely off-the-grid. We might have to wait a few more weeks before we hear anything back.”
“Ugh. This is pointless.” I scowled as I tossed my bookbag on the table.
“He’ll contact us eventually.” Ivy laid a hand on mine. “I have a feeling we’re close. Just hang on.”
“I know we hate your dad, but could you ask him for a favor, and see if he can reach out to Erasmus for us?” I despised Salvatore Bianchi with a passion, but it was taking way too long to get answers. If we could manipulate Ivy’s crummy father in order to get some, then I was all for it.
“Well, seeing as how my father isn’t going to like the way I’ve decided to live my life, I’m pretty sure that option is off the table.” Ivy blew a lock of hair away from his eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve made some pretty big decisions lately,” Ivy confessed. “Decisions my family isn’t going to like, but I figure I’m tired of trying to make them comfortable for the sake of making myselfuncomfortable. This is my life. I’ve decided I get to choose how to live it.”
“How so?” I leaned forward, interested in this new development.
“Well, for starters, I decided I want to be completely calledtheyandthem.No more he and him,” Ivy began. “This is who I am. I’m not one gender or the other; I’m a million different things, and all are true at the same time.”
“Ivy, that’s so great!” I leaned forward to give them a hug. I was so thrilled that Ivy was taking this moment to truly be who they wanted to.
“Thanks, precious. It’s been a long time coming.” Ivy withdrew from the hug and took a breath. “Secondly, I’ve declared my major, and I have you and Charlie to thank for that.”
“What did we do?” I was bewildered.
“I found out I really like helping couples grow closer together. Seeing how my advice helped you guys really made something come alive in me. I’ve decided I’m going to pursue being an intimacy counselor.” Ivy crossed their legs, appearing resolute.
“I can’t believe it. That would be so perfect for you,” I insisted.
“I’m not sure what path I’m going to take yet. I love entertainment, and running the club was so much fun, so I think it might be a blast being an intimacy coordinator on film and theater sets, to make sure the actors are comfortable and to help stage romantic scenes.” Ivy tapped their pencil on the table. “But I also considered becoming a sex counselor, so I can help couples find their way back to each other again.”
“You’d be amazing at that. Your advice was great for Charlie and me. Imagine all the other couples you could help!”
