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“The spell makes me know things I can’t explain.” She shrugged. “Okay, history lesson later, nerd, magic time now.”
I feigned offense, but she’ll ask me about it at some unrelated time and be my very own TED talk audience as I geek out about the history of the wolves in the region.
She frowned.
“Yes. It supposedly sank on a boat, but when I went to the area where the boat was, I didn’t find the relic, only a hollow echo.”
“What else?”
I shrugged. Again, I’m unwilling to tell the tale of Peta’s death. When I think of it, I’m sick at heart and not at all proud that I, or rather the Hand, had a part in her demise.
When did I start hiding things from Chastity?
“There’s a huge amount of power behind the hiding spell, sweetie. Are you sure you want to track it without Thorn at your back?”
“No. I’m just a contractor.”
OMG, it’s became far too easy to lie to my bestie.
“And he’s busy. Or, as he told me, ‘You don’t need me, and I have a business to run.’”
She touched the end of the pendant to the moon-charged salt water and handed it back to me. “Okay, you know what to do. Focus on the relic, relax, and let the pendant fall where it may.”
I took a deep breath, cleared my mind as she taught me, and opened my thoughts to the relic. The mark between my breasts warmed, distracting me, and I glanced up at Chastity to see if she noticed.
“Just breathe and focus.” She isn’t even watching me. Chas kept her eyes glued to the pendant dangling over the atlas map.
I concentrated again, and the necklace slowly spiraled, then faster, then wider, until it appeared to be swung it in circles though I hadn’t twitched a muscle. Chas muttered a few words, and the wild swinging tightens again, pulling the entire chain down to the map.
“Well, this could be a problem,” she said.
I opened my eyes and peered at the point on the map she had marked with a highlighter.
“That’s the trade district?” I asked.
“Yes.” The corner of Chastity’s mouth twitched, and her forehead wrinkled as she stared at the map as if attempting to divine more intel than the ordered lines on the map provided.
“Why did your forehead crinkle? Is there a problem?”
“Only if you don’t have anything to trade.”
I scratched my chin, wishing I had a deep understanding of the cards that Chas possessed. I think she’s missing parts of the message, but not having been trained in card reading, I can’t second-guess the professional.
“Can you tell me who traded it?”
Chastity shook her head as if trying to shake off a bad feeling as she picked up the cards from the table and deftly shuffled them.
She pulls out the cards, and I roll the map up and set it aside out of the way. Chastity shuffled before pulling three cards, then five, then laying several out in an array I know is a spread Chas created.
“I’m not the High Priestess, am I?”
“Not this time. This is a woman of incredible power, beautiful and vicious, and her plan will turn the world upside down.”
“The entire world?” I scoffed. “Sounds like it’s above my pay grade.”
Chas sighed. “No,chérie. She will turnyourworld upside down.”
As if summoned, the one woman I’ve ever been jealous of came to mind.
