A hunter who hesitated was dangerous, and one who cared was almost catastrophic.
Below them, Merlin’s Gate pulsed faintly beneath the town, ancient magic stirring restless beneath the surface. Both women sensed the magic as it changed, morphed in reaction to the drama. Baba Yaga sighed heavily.
“I was hoping for at least three more days before disaster.”
Fate smiled faintly. “You are in Krakens Hole.”
“True… it’s why I love it here.”
A loud shriek echoed from below as Blackbeard attempted to “recreate authentic pirate acrobatics” from the roof of the Ferret’s Mott. He immediately fell through a laundry line.
Baba Yaga watched thoughtfully. “Ten quid says he loses the hat before sunset.”
Fate held out her hand instantly. “Accepted.”
26
The note arrived foldedinto the shape of a very aggressive swan, and Edith stared at it suspiciously from across the kitchen table as if it was going to get up and tap dance across the surface.
“I don’t trust that.” Binky looked up from his toast.
“You don’t trust most things,” she stated, but she agreed with the bird.
“Correct.”
The paper swan sat there innocently. Which somehow made it worse. Edith poked it cautiously with the end of her knife, but nothing exploded. That was encouraging.
Slowly, she reached out and picked it up, gently she unfolded it. The handwriting was sharp and neat.
Meet me at the park at dawn.
We need to discuss how to get your family to back off.
Come alone.
S
Edith read it twice, and then a third time, and at the S on the bottom her pulse quickened slightly.
Spencer.
A stupid warm feeling immediately tried to appear in her chest and Edith crushed it violently.
No… absolutely not. She was not getting excited over notes now. What was she? A teenager crushing on a boyband member…
Still… Her fingers lingered on the paper. Because part of her, a very reckless part, actually trusted him. Which was bloody insane. Certifiably so, and completely irrational as well as potentially life-threatening.
But… she remembered the way he’d looked at her in the park and the fact he could have tried to take her already and hadn’t.
Binky narrowed his eyes at her from across the table. “Why do you look like you’re about to make a bad decision?”
Edith folded the note immediately and placed it in her pocket. “I’m not.”
“That’s exactly what people making bad decisions say.”
“I’m offended by your accuracy.”
Binky squawked suspiciously but Edith ignored him, because there was no way she was telling anyone.
