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My gaze fell on Ram, the only other witch as skilled and powerful as Juniper—and he was the only way I could open a portal, even a garbage one that would get us killed. As his gaze met mine with eyes the same color as my best friend’s, I looked away. I hated that I needed this bastard.
I cleared my throat. “I’ll cast an invisibility spell, and we can look for a clothing shop.”
“Invisible? I can be a superhero,” Moe said. He placed his fists on his hips and stuck out his chest as though a cape should be fluttering behind him. “Just like when I worked at the Desney World amusement park.”
“You mean Disney,” I said.
Moe held his superhero pose. “No, it was definitely Desney. I was fired for stealing cotton candy and also because the park was shut down due to trademark infringement.”
“Which superhero were you?”
“Magnet-oh! With the power of magnets!”
I chuckled. “Good choice. You are magnetic.”
Moe beamed at me.
Elliot placed Beverly on the ground. “Why did they not see the lawsuit coming?” he mused.
“They lacked the power of Lawyer-oh! Who was bitten by a radioactive lawyer,” I said.
Elliot burst into laughter. The rich and deep sound made my skin feel warm and my insides even more fluffy.
I cast the invisibility spell around us, even around Ram, who surprisingly didn’t run off to whatever post-prison scheme he had planned. We strolled along the dark streets. After a few blocks, I recognized some of the shops and the distant castle on a hilltop. We were in Silver Springs.
It was strange to walk these streets. I wasn’t supposed to be out of prison yet, and it had been years since I had been anywhere with wide open skies and air that didn’t hold the stink of too many people in too small a space. I turned my face to the night sky and the smattering of stars; I hadn’t even been outside at night in almost two years.
“How long were you in for?” Elliot said softly as he watched me stare at the sky.
I sighed. “Too long and not long enough.”
When we came to a clothing store, I stopped and turned to Ram. “Do you have money on you?” He was paying off guards daily, so he must have some kind of credit card or bank card.
He furrowed his brow. “We’ll be breaking in, anyway.”
I crossed my arms. “I’m not stealing anymore.”
“You were stealing the entire time you were in prison!”
“That doesn’t count. Nobody is losing their homes or missing meals because someone stole their prison contraband. Hell, I probably saved some of your dumb assholes from the hole by taking their banned shit. Plus, most of them stole back their stuff. None of it mattered in the end.”
Ram frowned, and I could almost hear his thought process. Sure, he could blast down the shop door with no problem. But the stores in Silver Springs were magically warded to protect them from paranormal thieves like us. Once someone crossed the ward, it would send an alarm to the cops, spring a trap, or both. Ram could handle any trap and the cops, but did he want to spend his first hours of freedom being chased out of town?
That was where I came in. I could get us past the ward without it ever knowing we were there. It was one skill I possessed that Ram didn’t, and the only leverage I had over him at the moment. Maybe I shouldn’t push my luck when I needed his help to find Juniper, but I also resented him a hell of a lot.
“Well?” I said. “Are you going to play by my rules?”
Chapter 18
Ram’sfacewaspalein the light from the clothing store’s neon sign: Polly Esther’s. He nodded. “Fine, we’ll do it your semi-legal way.”
A thrill went through me because I had made Ram do what I wanted for once. I doubted anyone had gotten him to do anything since he was a little kid, and maybe not even then.
Ram crouched and pulled his cell phone from his sock. “I can pay through my phone.”
“Let’s see.”
He might claim he had no money after we had changed into new clothes. He sighed but showed me the wallet on his phone with connected credit and debit cards.
