AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I would like to,” I say fervently.
“He’s under the other witch’s spell.”
“I know.”
“But it’s you he likes.”
My heart starts to hammer against my ribs. “He does? He said so?”
“Didn’t have to. I’ve never seen him smile so much as when he was with you.”
Aw shucks… My eyes mist over. I don’t know what to say.
“If there is anything I can do,” she says, “for him, let me know.”
“I will.”
She nods. Tilts her head to the side once more, considering me. Eventually, she says, “Maere.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Maere said that Zoey owes her a favor for a tattoo.”
“Maere.” I turn the name over on my tongue. “I thought you told Sindri that you didn’t know who did it.”
“I have conducted further investigations in his absence.”
A smile pulls at my lips. “I see. What favor does Maere want from Zoey? Is it something I could give her?”
“And claim the favor for yourself?”
I shrug. “I’m trying to help Sindri. Zoey is in league with Ophelia. Any leverage will do.”
Her gaze turns pensive. “Maere is in love with Sindri. What she wants is him in her bed.”
Damn. That’s what happens when you’re in love with a pretty boy. This is a catch-22. Should I send him to this Maere’s bed to help him? Pass him around?
Uh no. No way.
This is another dead end…
Maere is in love with Sindri. Zoey wants Jason. And I grapple with an insulting fae tattoo on my back, a power I’m still trying to come to grips with, and a few cryptic pages in my cousin’s diary.
What to do?
When night falls, I sit in my room and compare the symbols in Ophelia’s diary with those in the book I’ve found—again. And again. After all, I managed to decipher Jason’s message, or so I think. I’ll solve this riddle, too.
It seems to me that she’s writing something along the lines of, ‘The heart demands all the blood in order to beat’—unless it’s ‘the center piece conquers the flow in order to float.’ I mean the second one sounds unlikely but I know nothing of spells. The symbols have many meanings each and there is no real grammar. What if it’s—I consult my trusted magical symbols dictionary—‘the central office will demand bloodshed to let everyone live?’
Is this even a spell? It sounds more like a random note.
And it goes on and on like this—cryptic and ambiguous, talking of vessels or veins and blood or wine, hearts or offices and limbs or buildings. I’m so ready to throw the diary across the room. The only thing keeping me from it is the fear that if I fail in this, then I’ll fail them.
It’s unthinkable.
Determined to crack this blasted code, I keep leafing through the dictionary, trying new combinations, hoping that I’ll find one that will clarify everything and tell me what Ophelia is planning to do…
… and then I’m falling back. Or so it feels. I don’t see the ceiling over me, don’t feel my head cracking on the floor, it’s just a sensation of being whacked with a bat over the head and the world going dark and shimmering.
