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The question brought his head up, and a flush climbed over his cheeks. “At myself, mostly.”
“What’s so funny?”
“I’m happy.” He rubbed beneath my eye. “Being here, with you, makes me happy.”
“You’re sure you’re not laughing at me?” I squinted at him. “Not even a little?”
“Maybe a little,” he allowed. “You were willing to burn off your face to get rid of that spider.”
“And I would have had no regrets. Giant talking spiders should not exist.”
The crease grew into more of a crevasse. “It spoke to you?”
“You didn’t hear it?” I scratched at my knuckles with my fingernails. “It told me to leave or else.”
“That can’t help the tourist trade.” He dumped his trash. “Did it say anything else?”
“‘You are not welcome here,’” I quoted it, trying to forget its beak-mouth. “‘Leave, and never return.’”
“That level of sentience is unusual in a creature that would choose to live in a sanctuary.”
Choose, because sentient creatures made their own choices. Meaning it wanted to be there. Unless…
“Do you think it could have been enchanted?” I scratched my nose on my shoulder. “Black witches have been known to use creatures as messengers.”
“An enchantment would explain why you’re the only one who heard it. Perhaps it’s keyed to witches?”
Uncertainty itched beneath my skin, but I couldn’t voice my concerns to Asa. Old secrets left a sour taste in my mouth, but I had held them too tight, for too long, to let go on the spot. Even if I wanted to air out the past, and I wasn’t sure I did, I had no idea how to throw open the painted-over windows to my soul.
The trust was in Mom’s maiden name, but if the spider had been meant for me, then my parents had set it on its path after they were married. After I was born. That had to mean, whatever they had caged, they didn’t want it disturbed.
Had Dad been the one who cast the spell? Had it been specifically targeted to me?
“Perhaps,” Asa mused, “it was a security protocol activated using your power.”
“To contain the creatures?” I snorted. “He was doing a fine job then, wasn’t he?”
“Or to banish visitors with enough magic to cause trouble before they harm the wildlife.”
“I’ll say again.” I laughed softly. “He was doing a fine job then, wasn’t he?”
Either I got the tone wrong, or Asa knew me well enough to tell when I was deflecting with humor.
“You think it was there to send a personal message.”
“Hard not to take a web to the face personally.”
The bite in my voice earned me a considering look before he resumed his task.
“What are we going to do about the cell in the swamp?”
“Do we have to do anything?” I wasn’t being flip. “We don’t know what’s in it, or who put it there.”
Though I was starting to think my parents had built it and that they hadn’t wanted me anywhere near it.
“A terrible power was hidden in that marsh. We don’t know if Delma discovered it, or if rogue Black Hats roused it first, but we have an obligation to ensure neither releases it. The contents of that cell are what brought them here.” He studied me. “The reason they brought you here.”
A tendril of shame wriggled through me that I would run away from this mystery while he ran toward it.
