Page 60 of Seas the Reckoning

“Well, that’s obvious! I have no intention of actually marrying one of these sods,” Starla insists.

“Of course not! That’s what I’m saying. If he is going to press for the wedding soon after the weekend ends, then we need to get the map and be ready to leave the moment you’ve satisfied your end of the deal.”

“I guarantee the councilman is going to be watching me like a hawk. If he wasn’t busy trying to figure out the mysterious source of the fire, he’d already have someone tailing me. He’ll get around to it soon enough.”

“Never. And Danger. And Pickles. But I can tell you more about that later,”

“Your dog and⁠—”

“Yes.”

Starla kicks some gravel from the garden path.

“I missed the valkyrie wolf? This night gets worse and worse!”

“By tomorrow night, we’ll be on our way, and you can leave this all behind you,” I say.

I know it’s not that simple, but it’s something to look forward to.

Starla grins as she responds.

“My father’s not going to be happy when he doesn’t get his way.”

“True, but he can’t really stop you once you’re off the grounds. If you satisfy your part of the deal you made, there’s no potential repercussions from the witch council, right?”

She frowns.

“I’d imagine most members here are in his pocket, but technically I could get other members from anywhere involved … it’d be a hot mess, but we could do it. Our biggest issue is short-term. Even if we get the information we need for your curse, we still have to get from here to there. He’ll undoubtedly come after us. I can’t imagine he’ll give up on me so easily. There’s almost no way we’d get back to Zyra’s house undetected.”

Unease coils in my stomach, and I envision Lottie’s smiling face freezing in fear. She’s been through enough. We can’t bring danger to her doorstep.

“We’ll find another way. I’ll text the guys. Surely one of them can manage to steal the information from your father’s office, if we’re both going to be under greater scrutiny. We just need to keep our heads down until we leave tomorrow. Then we’ll have the guys meet us wherever we need to go.”

Starla chuckles.

“What?” I ask.

“Just thinking about how you’re getting more flexible. This kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants planning would typically send you into a tailspin.”

“I’m sure I’ll have a crash-out later. But that’s another problem for future me.”

“Future us. Friends support each other,” she says.

It wouldn’t be the first time I managed to get through a stressful scenario only to have an anxiety attack rear its ugly head afterward. But anticipating it won’t prevent it, and we need to get this done.

Starla takes a few deep breaths.

“Running a bit low, here. We need to wrap this up soon. The councilman will be busy tomorrow, but he’s bound to have someone watching his office door, along with the gardens. Not to mention his wards. How will the guys get in?”

I run a hand over my dress.

“Pocket portal. Yes. Pocket portal! Starla, I have a pocket portal!”

“What in the world is a pocket portal?”

Her eyes are flickering like dying embers.

“Later. But I can get it to the guys, and they can get in the office without going through the door. That’s all you need to know. Then, when we have the coordinates, we just need an exit plan. All we do know is that it’ll be an island or something out in the sea. I may not have a location, but I know my family and Inktus were somewhere in the North Sea.”