I released a dry laugh and looked at Esther. Like me, she wasn’t convinced but shrugged, offering a wordlesslet’s see how they do.
“Fine.” I tossed the hammer down by the post and started toward a grazing Frog. “Then, while Esther and I work on repairing the stable doors, you guys get to work here.”
“Oh, now?” Rae asked. “Like we’re starting right now?”
“Like, yeah.” I shook my head and bit back a disbelieving smile. “When did you think you started?”
“After a couple more hours of monitored practice?” She held her hand over her eyes, trying to block out the sun and meet my gaze after I mounted Frog. Esther followed my lead, getting on Kat. She was more sluggish than I was, not excited about putting them to the test. She knew that if they did it wrong, we’d just have to come out here later and fix it. But from my experience, the fastest way to learn was to fail.
“And delay the wonderful fun you’re about to have? I don’t think so.” I teased and turned Frog toward the stable. “Get to work. I’ll check on you soon.”
“What’s the quota?” Rae called after us.
“Just work until the sun sets.”
“That’s a lot of hours!” Nico noted.
“All the hours, really!” December added.
“I know!” My laugh got lost in the wind. Esther tried not to smile too much until we were out of sight and eyeshot of them.
“Think they’re going to finish at least ten posts before the day’s end?” she asked.
“I give them five tops.”
“How much?”
“Winner gets ten bucks and a pass on tonight’s dishes,” I said.
Esther grinned. “Deal.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Finishing evenone post felt like a miracle. It was a surprise that the team completed eight of them.
“It’s concerning that we took over two hours to do that,” December said, panting.
The posts weren’t the prettiest, but they were sturdy. And that had to be good enough for the first day.
“A concern for another day,” I decided, struggling to catch my breath as well.
Octavia seemed pleased enough with our work to invite us to have stew tonight. And Wilson seemed to pity us enough to offer us their showers. So, while the rest of my team got cleaned up in the house, I opted for the RV’s shower. I wanted quiet, a breather from the constant chatter overlapping my thoughts.
The demon’s trap hadn’t been going well. No matter how many times Daylan walked me through it, I couldn’t get the words to the ritual right.
“Your cadence needs to be faster,” he’d scolded. “You think this thing’s going to wait for you to put it in handcuffs?”
“Sorry, I didn’t know a string of tongue twisters was the prerequisite to taking down something from hell.”
“Well, now you know. So, figure it out.”
I was part of a hunting family who’d had the highest success rate of any hunter in the Guild and beyond. I had a team with an incredible amount of potential. A career that could stabilize if I gave it time. And the ability to talk to people in a way that most would dream of. This was a good life. I had a good life. And I helped people have good lives, too.
Once I got back on track, I could help Octavia start her good life. Win back her power. Fulfill her dream.
That thought crashed down on me like a thousand tons. I was underneath the rubble, bleeding out in sheer agony.
Because anytime I saw that woman, I needed to be more. To give from a well that’d dried up long before I realized.
