Helen’s eyebrows went up, and Marcus blinked a couple of times. “I was unaware we’d forged other plans,” Marcus said.
Lucky sighed. Marcus had a way of making the simple sound much more complicated. “He came up with this one in the kitchen this morning,” he said, scowling at the island counter as though the space alone was to blame. “I’m pretty sure it was Kayleigh’s fault for trying to make coffee drinks. Can you believe she didn’t even rinse out my blender?”
And with that he went to the sink to run water in it, aware that Helen had joined him, standing close enough to bump shoulders with him.
“So,” she said, casting a glance at Marcus, who made shooing motions with his hands. Lucky might have rolled his eyes, but he was busy pretending he hadn’t seen it.
“So what?” he asked, trying not to respond.
“So how was it, dear boy? Did you enjoy yourselves?”
“I hope so,” Lucky muttered, feeling heat steal up his cheeks. “I just agreed to follow the guy into the great purple abyss. I hope we at least had fun.”
She sighed. “Let’s focus on the having fun for a moment, then move on to what you think Scout has committed you both to doing.” Her voice softened, and Lucky had to stop running water to hear her. “Did you and Scout connect? You were both looking pretty cozy when we came in, and the bed looks… slept in.”
Lucky grunted. “Are you momming me?” he asked suspiciously. “I don’t remember Auntie Cree doing this, except for the first day of high school. This is what having a mother feels like, isn’t it?”
“I certainly hope so, sweetie,” Helen replied, chuckling. “I mean, I definitely failed the last time I was put in a situation like this. I’m hoping I’ve learned a thing or two since then. Are you ever going to give me an answer?”
What would it hurt? “It was great,” he answered baldly. “I… it was everything I thought it would be, and I wish I’d done it sooner, except then I wouldn’t have done it with Scout.” He let out a big breath. “But Ididdo it with Scout, and I guess that means I need to stick with him and not bail on him when he scares me.”
She gave him a half smile. “Okay, then. So, good on the sex, but you’re scaring me on the pillow talk. What did he suggest?”
Lucky set the blender pieces in the dishrack, careful to turn the blade assembly upside down to keep people from grabbing them when it was put back together, and turned around to lean against the sink. Marcus was seated at the island, indulging in one of Kayleigh’s donuts and waiting for him to go on.
“He wants to go to the clearing and hold mine and Kayleigh’s hands while you guys do—” He waved his hands a little. “—hedge-witch protective things. He thinks that he can talk with one of the spirits to see if there’s something we can do to put the people in the trap at rest. He… he really thinks that’s important.”
Helen sucked in a startled breath, and Marcus’s eyes widened enough for Lucky to actually see their color.
Brown. The old man had very deep brown eyes.
“That’s… that’s—”
“Good idea, right?” Scout urged, breezing out of the shower in Lucky’s pajamas and a T-shirt. Lucky realized he’d gone in to wash without his own clothes and had to give it to the guy—he could make an entrance as well as an exit. It must have been an occupational hazard of being a magician.
“It’s terrifying,” Helen snapped, scowling. “Why on earth would you even try to do that?”
For a moment, Lucky wanted to cheer. Hurray for having people on his side!
“Because, my dear,” Marcus said softly, “he wants to help the spirits and protect the island as well.”
“The way I see it,” Scout said excitedly, seemingly oblivious to the look of hurt Helen was currently shooting Marcus, “is that something in this island wants to keep people safe. There’s really no way Alistair wouldn’t have found me by now, and Lucky’s got mobsters hunting for him, for God’s sake. This island wants to protect secrets. But that big… whatever. That big negative force hanging over it isn’t protecting the soul trap. It’strappingthem there, stuck in that limbo, reliving their losses day after day after day. I think if we could free them, give them a choice, give them a chance to rest… well, I think that would be a good thing, right? If we set their secrets free, I don’t think that dark force will have any power over them.” He smiled a little sadly. “Wouldn’t it be great if Henry and Tom could meet again? I’d really love that, wouldn’t you?”
Lucky groaned, loudly and with great irritation.
“Look at him,” he told Marcus and Helen. “He’s so cute! And he’s so earnest. And he only wants the best and—gah! Why don’t I have an answer to that?”
Helen sighed, regarding Scout with troubled eyes. “There isn’t one,” she said faintly. “When you see a great wrong, you should do whatever is in your power to right it. You, Scout, and Kayleigh are uniquely positioned to help do that. Scout’s not wrong.”
Scout tilted his head. “But…?”
Helen shook her head. “But Lucky’s right to worry too. It’s dangerous. And you’re conveniently leaving out the fact that by saving these spirits, you may be releasing the thing that keeps secrets safe on the island. I would hate it if we went to all this trouble and suddenly Alistair and Lucky’s mobster, Skaggs whoever—”
“Skaggs is dead,” Lucky reminded her. “This could be Danny Ellis and the Kelly boys, or the Shanahans. I honestly didn’t catch their names.”
“Well, whoever they are, they could be the ones after you,” Helen said shortly. “And they could suddenly find you if you take the spirit trap off the island. Have you ever thought of that?”
Scout shrugged. “I-I mean, Kayleigh and I were raised practically in captivity because Alistair thought it would make him a more powerful wizard. I wouldn’t wish that, even on a spirit, in the name of my own safety and power. I think my emotional connection to Lucky and Kayleigh will keep me from getting lost, and I think this—this quest to free the people in the soul trap—might be the thing that saves our souls.”
