Page 154 of Veil of Blood and Bone

“Coffee,” I tell her. “I'd rather have an entire luxury yacht of coffee.”

“I’ve already got a pot going.”

Audra doesn’t move from the table. From the way she’s got her forearms resting and crossed and her neck slung down, she appears a swan ready for the ax.

Caffeine will fuel my logic, I’m sure of it. Something has to work. Blacker than pitch dark roast generally provides the kick in the ass I require, but today, it’s not the black gold that throws me eagerly into the line of fire. It’s my sister herself.

The ghost of dark circles above her cheekbones, the pull of her skin over bone, the lank way her curls fall...

Her youth, her vitality, has been ransacked long before now, but the stark reminder stings.

“I shouldn’t have—” I start.

She shakes her head with an inhale. “It’s not your fault, Helene. There are things...whatever is happening to us....” She trails off with a moan, rising to rub her temples. “I don’t remember much but I know it wasn’t me. It was different from a normal seizure. And I haven’t had those in a long time.”

My throat clogs, my hand stalling on the handle of the coffee pot. “No, you haven’t.”

I know what I have to do.

We’ve got to escape.

“Where are your crutches?” Ignoring my favorite mug, I reach for the dented travel cup on the middle shelf of the cabinet.

“They’re outside the door, I think. I’m not sure.”

I’ve got a change of clothes in my purse. I always keep something there in case...

Mom’s go bag.

She taught us more about survival than anything else. How to run, how to make each move count. How to go when the money was up.

I inherited more from her than I want to admit. The strangeness, the call to use the stones, the paranoia, those are her legacy in me. Part of the hypervigilance includes being ready for whatever the unexpected or unforeseen shit the universe tosses you faster than a four-seam fastball.

I fill the travel mug to three quarters and the rest with creamer.

“Get your coat,” I tell Audra.

“Why?”

Heart racing, skin cold, my eyes fall on the door separating us from the dark bedroom.

The phantom of a snore reaches us.

Audra is alive. Relief hits me, intense and immediate. Get her out of here, and she’ll stay this way.

No more nightmare for either one of us.

It starts and ends with me.

“How much money do we have together?” I ask instead. “Right now? I think I’ve got about fifty bucks in my wallet. I can put more on the credit card.”

“Helene, you’re scaring me.”

I’m spooking myself. But time is ticking, and if we can’t make it out the door before the men wake, then we’ll never leave.

We’ll never escape this surreal version of existence. The monsters will keep coming, whether they wear the face of a lover or not. Audra will never be safe.

Whatever those Norns want with her, they’ll target her repeatedly, as long as we’re around Nicholas, Forest, and Wren. Then I won’t be me anymore. I’ll be her. Hellevi.