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Ram’s mouth fell open. “I thought one of your people smuggled a portal into the prison.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, right. Just admit you’ve got Azea and the rest of your ass lickers doing your bidding still.”
“I don’t!” Ram said, exasperated. “I pay the prison guards to smuggle things in.”
His dark eyes panicked in a way I had rarely seen before. It made anxiety bloom in my gut and spiral up into my chest like a tornado of shit.
“I thought Juniper was creating the portals. She’s always trying to break you out,” Ram said.
I felt cold, like when sweat freezes and dries on your skin in winter. “No one is coming for us.”
“What?” Elliot gasped.
Beverly squeaked and stared up at me with those trusting animal eyes. I couldn’t stand to meet her gaze, so I turned to Ram. “I don’t know why you think I would know how to cast portal spells without a relic. You can’t even do it.”
“Fuck it, Alyssa, I’m not the be-all and end-all of magic, though I am very good at it.” Even now, he had to stroke his ego. “You’ve always done amazing magic. Stop acting like you’re a weakling just because some things come easier to me and Juniper!”
It was a classic Ram ploy. Tell them they’re special, and they’ll do whatever you want.
“You have to try,” Ram said.
Beverly grunted as though in agreement. Moe finally got off his knees to wrap his arms around my waist and nuzzle my neck. I wiggled closer to him despite the shitshow we were in. Might as well get some before dying.
“I believe in you,” he said. “I know nothing about portals except that they sound like fast travel in video games. Also, I searched closets for a portal to Narnia as a kid, but that never panned out, so clearly, I don’t know how to portal. I still think you can do it, though, because you made a giant skeleton hand grab me out of a prison, and that’s pretty cool.”
I squeezed his arm. “I appreciate it, Moe, but… belief doesn’t make something possible.”
Jag grabbed my hair and kissed the side of my head. “I love that you don’t take any bullshit.”
My skin goosebumped, and my clit throbbed as his hand fisted in my hair.
“If opening a portal is possible, you’ll figure it out,” he said.
“Please try,” Elliot said softly behind me. “I don’t want to die next to a jukebox that only plays a single Toto song.”
Moe perked up. “Is it the ‘Africa’ one? I love that song.”
“Umm… no,” Elliot said. “It’s… something else.”
I chuckled. He was a terrible liar. “I’ll try, but you better hope that whoever sent the portal into the prison finds us before the dimension collapses.” I shot Ram a look.
“It wasn’t me! I don’t even talk to our old gang anymore.”
I wasn’t entirely convinced, but it was clear I had to do something to save us. I broke out of Moe and Jag’s hold so I could think.
“Maybe if I recreate the magic circle and symbols from the Astrosmos, I can make a sort of makeshift one… assuming I can remember the symbols.”
Ram smiled and his eyes lit up. “That’s clever.”
It was, but I disliked any compliments from him. He used them to manipulate people—it was how he had talked a younger me into committing questionable acts for him.
“Look for something I can write with. Salt, glitter, pens, anything.”
We searched the room but didn’t even find a pencil or a book. Maybe I could use one of the vinyl discs in the jukebox, but the music already engraved in it might fuck with the spell.
“You can burn the magic circle into the carpet,” Ram said. “I’ll dispel the smoke into…” He glanced around, then grabbed a wooden box off a tie-dye colored coffee table. The box’s top held a photograph of two awkward-looking lizard aliens in mortarboards and tassels on their chests. When Ram pried it open, it screamed like a car alarm being tortured.
I winced. Moe covered his ears, and Beverly ran across the room to huddle behind Jag’s legs.
