I felt a large arm wrapped around my stomach and jerked me forward as I screamed. I looked up seeing Silas’s body shooting towards the surface as his pointed ears slunk back against his thick locs that grew long down his back, and the scales on his skin hardened. My scars opened and closed, breathing in the water in every part of my body until we reached the surface. Silas was the first to pull himself up out of the water with everyone standing around watching. His thighs were thick with scales and veins covering his legs as he flipped his shrinking locs back until they were comfortable sitting against his shoulders. He turned around to help me up.
“I didn’t think you’d actually get in,” he said, wiping his face down with his hand. “You good?”
“Baeeee?” I hissed with a low whisper. Looking around, I mean mugged anyone that dared to stare at me before turning back to him. I cupped the side of his face, brought his head closeto my lips, and whispered in his ear. “I heard Maggie…and I think…I think I saw her.”
Looking back at him, he stared at me with a slight jump of his brows. He couldn’t pretend to be interested if he tried.
“You sure? That pool is meant to fuck with your head a little,” he said. Looking back at everyone, I leaned in close to him again.
“It was her,” I stated. “I’m sure of it.”
Silas rubbing his hand against his ear, getting the rest of the water out when he cut me a look.
“Alright so what are you gonna do about it then?”
The race back to the grounds just before sunrise felt like a race against life and death. I was sure that was really Maggie trying to communicate with me. I wasn’t going to even question how I was the only one that can see or hear her. Not right now. I needed to get the message to Namir but the first person or thing I ran into was Quan. He was sitting at our usual spot underneath the tree when I quickly ran up to him. He looked up, resting on his bent front paws as he silently hissed at me.
“Where the hell is everybody?!” He shouted before standing up with an arching stretch of his back. “I come back and see–––”
“Come back from where?” I asked. “Where are you coming from this time because as far as I know? You’ve been MIA.”
“I’ve been with Namir.”
“I’m sure,” I nodded before looking around. “Is he back here yet?”
“What? You’re gonna try and sleep with him behind Maggie’s back now?” He asked.
I stared at Quan with my mind briefly going to kicking him in the side and watching his body fling in the air like a football through a goal post. Instead of going off like I really wanted to, I knew my man was coming up behind me, so I chose peace. Not everything needs to be a fight but the way I could yank him by the tail and toss him like trash? He wasn’t worth it though.
“Don’t ever disrespect me or Maggie like that again,” I said before turning to walk off. “I’ll tell him.”
“Wait a minute?!” Quan yelled after me. “Tell him what, Asha?!”
Himora Clarke
Nobody was sure how long it would take for the spell to be broken. With the last bit of dirt covered the evidence of a body being in the backyard, we stood around in neutral silence. The men were tired from digging then replacing the dug-up dirt back. The women seemed drained emotionally and the one child that was brought here was apparently in the house trying to use the bathroom.
“How long before we know the contract is broken?” Namir asked as he picked up the shovels.
“We won’t know until we come back,” Solomon said with a wipe of his forehead.
“Does it really fucking matter at this point?” Bellamy asked in the corner of the backyard. “It’s not going to work anyway.”
“Instead of pouting like a bitch and bringing everyone else down, why don’t you go sit in the car?” Namir asked.
“I’m the strongest mythic here,” Bellamy cracked as he blew cigarette smoke through his teeth. “You all wouldn’t know how to defend yourselves if you were attacked.”
“I beg to differ,” Harvey said as he stepped back into the backyard. “Souxie is awake by the way.”
That was the cue for everyone to walk back into the house and question the succubus witch who sat at the dining room table holding her head. Her eyes returned back to its natural color as well as her pale skin, regaining some of her melaninback to her face. I looked at the time, looked back at the pile of dirt collecting like a mound in her backyard before it suddenly shrunk into the ground, as if relaxing from the weight of the dirt. Solomon and I were the only ones left to see it as we shared the same look. Bellamy sucked his teeth as he walked in with a new attitude, but it was obvious to anyone with eyes, he was growing more anxious by the second.
“I got the chance to say goodbye to her,” Souxie could be heard saying. She nodded her head with a small smile before looking up at the nymph. “She was so happy to see us.”
“Did she say anything about Maggie?” The nymph asked. “Did you get a chance to ask her about Maggie?”
Souxie’s smile slowly dropped as she shook her head.
“I heard her say,where is Maggie? That’s when everything went dark,” she admitted with a sniff. “She was so happy at first. Her usual excitable self just as we first met her. It felt like…finally, you found me.”
