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“That’s it?” I reply. “And what sort of compensation were you thinking of.”
He leans back in his chair and regards me quietly for a long moment before suddenly breaking the dark silence of the room with the sound of his deep voice. “Five thousand dollars for just a few hours of your time. You will be home by the witching hour,” he assures me with another of his tempered smiles.
My eyes narrow on him thoughtfully. “Five thousand just for that? Generally, I happen to believe that when something sounds too good to be true that it usually is. What’s the catch?”
Amusement lights up in his eyes and he chuckles in the first sign of genuine emotion from him. “It’s no trick, I assure you. It just has a high enough importance that it’s worth any cost. I must do this ritual tonight and don’t have time to waste looking for another girl to present my offer to. This was rather unexpected and terribly inconvenient,” he mutters darkly.
The tiny hairs on my arms stir to life at his tone and I regard him apprehensively for a long moment. On one hand he could be a crazy person looking for some idiot to lure in. On the other hand, there are some seriously committed magicians out there who spend obscene amounts of money on stuff I can’t even imagine purchasing. This is my chance to get a little nest egg going so I can eventually get out of my shitty little apartment.
“All right. You can wire it directly to my account.” I produce a card with my payment info on it and slide it over to him. “Once I see that the funds are there, you can give me the address of where I can meet you. I won’t be coming alone, but I will have my friends wait outside in case you try anything funny.”
“So very cautious. Very well.” He grins at me from across the table and removes a slender phone from his pocket and begins to tap on the screen. “Done.”
My phone dings in my tote. My eyebrows raise and I pull the phone out and glance down at it. My breath catches in my throat. He actually did it. Five thousand dollars deposited and cleared. My phone dings again and it’s from an unknown number with nothing but an address typed into the body of the message.
“I will see you tonight promptly at a quarter to midnight. The ritual will start exactly at midnight. Don’t be late,” he warns as he suddenly rises. With a brisk nod he leaves the reading room, the curtain fluttering behind him with his passage.
I stare after him and slowly begin to smile. Five thousand to be a warm body adding some power to a ritual. This night just keeps getting better and better!
Downing the last of the now cold pumpkin spice tea in my cup, I quickly stand and begin to collect my things as I hear the bell on the sign as it’s flipped to “closed.” I hurry out of the reading room with a giddy smile on my face. Damon may not be thrilled to pass his night waiting outside some building for me, but I know how to bribe him. A witching hour breakfast at Donna’s, one of few twenty-four-hour joints out now, is exactly the thing to win him over. Just a quick little ritual and I will be enjoying a stack of pumpkin pancakes with thick whipped cream and fried eggs with crispy edges.
This ritual is merely a bizarre speedbump in what is shaping up to be the best Halloween ever.
Chapter 3
The house Damon and I pull up to is creepy as fuck. Painted entirely black, lights under red shades give it an appropriately spooky ambiance beyond it’s general dark aesthetic, given its color palette.
“I don’t know, Cleo,” he mutters. “Coming to this place to start Halloween feels downright certifiable.”
I glance over at him inquisitively. “What do you mean?”
He nods toward the looming building. “This is the Gentry House. It has a bit of a reputation among locals. I was worried that this might be the place when I saw the address. Are you sure you want to go in there? There’s no shame in backing out.”
I scoff and shake my head at him. “It’s just a house with a colorful history. And this is easy money. All I’ll probably have to do is sit in a circle or on an altar somewhere and try not to look too bored while I wait for him to do his mumbo jumbo.”
My friend gives me a skeptical look. “For a witch, that is certainly a bit harsh.”
