Bec
When I came to, I opened my eyes but regretted it immediately. I don’t know what they did to me, but my entire body ached as if I’d been sick. I also had a headache so bad I wanted to throw up. I slammed my eyes shut and focused on breathing through the pain. At least I could breathe now. The band Gale had put around my wrist was gone so the magic must not be active any longer. Did that mean I had a magic hangover?
0/10, did not recommend.
They were talking so I focused on that.
“This is all your fault, Lars,” Gale said. “I can’t believe you were so dumb as to steal the void-tie from Lomis.”
“Lomis left the tie sitting there,” Lars said. There was a distinctwhat else was I supposed to do?tone to his voice. “There were a bunch of them on the table. I only took one, I didn’t think he’d notice. I thought maybe he owed us more, you know?”
“Owed us more?” Gale said, sounding half panicked. “The man is dangerous! I told you not to touch anything he was working on in that house. Nothing! We had such a good thing going and now it’s all falling apart. If you hadn’t stolen that damn tie, we wouldn’t be in this fucked up situation.”
“Really it’s Leif’s fault!” Lars said. “If he hadn’t stolen the void-tie from me then we would’ve been able to give it back when Lomis realized it was missing.”
“Telling him your brother took it in the first place kept us from being killed right away, Gale said. She almost sounded like she was talking to herself. “But of course that fucking investigator got to the dog before we could. After I didn’t hear from her for a few days, I knew she was going to be useless.”
“Then I figured out that she had the dog!” Lars said, sounding proud. See, this proves that all the scrolling I do helps us.”
“You’re not doing it for some high purpose,” she snapped. “You found John’s post of the dog wearing the void-tie by accident.”
“Not by accident,” Lars said. “I always look at his account so I can say things to him. He’s uptight about my jokes so I like to give him a hard time.”
“You like being a bully,” Gale muttered. When she spoke again, it was with quiet frustration. “This was only supposed to be some property misuse and illegal importing. None of those are big offenses. Now Leif is dead.”
“It wasn’t just Leif,” Lars said. “Remember I found three piles of dust at the house when I was looking for Leif. I know that was my brother, his boyfriend, and roommate. Their wallets were in their clothes. That’s three people Lomis killed.”
“I don’t plan to be the fourth.” Gale said. “If anything, I’ll give you to Lomis, you're the one who took the void-tie.”
“I told you, I only planned to use it to get a little more money out of Lomis,” Lars said. “I would’ve shared it with you.”
“Except you had to brag to your brother about our business!” Gale snarled at him. I heard some shuffling footsteps and thought that she might’ve shoved him. That was confirmed when Lars let out a muffled grunt.
“Hey, stop that,” he said. “I won’t hesitate to hit you. You're being a real bitch right now, you deserve it.”
“I’m only being a bitch because none of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t acted like a complete idiot. I don’t know why I even brought you in as a partner!”
“You couldn’t do this without me,” he retorted, showing spine for the first time. “Without my job at the port, all those boxes would’ve been found and seized by customs.”
This explained so much. Part of me was highly satisfied that all the puzzle pieces to this mystery were falling into place.
The other part of me was scared I was going to be hurt or even killed. If I survived this, I’d never turn my back on an enemy again.
No, that was the wrong lesson. I’d never go into potential danger without backup.
What I wouldn’t give to see Marduk’s disapproving frown or hear Danzig’s frustrated sigh because then I’d know I was safe.
Gale and Lars were silent for a little while. I risked slitting open my eyes. They were standing not too far in front of me, facing each other both staring down at a phone Gale was holding.
“Do you think they’ll bring the dog?”
“They better,” Gale said.
There was a brief silence, then Lars spoke again. “What if they bring the dog, but he doesn’t have the void-tie on?”
“Then we wake her up and make her tell us what she did with it,” Gale said.
“Would you torture her?”
