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“The woman you were taking care of?” He nodded and Lily reached out to rub his arm. “Do you have anything of hers, something important, I can probably find her.”
Adam started darting around the room frantically, but Melody stood still and swallowed hard. Slowly, she pulled something from her pocket and cleared her throat. “Will this work?”
Adam spun and caught sight of what Mel was holding. Ella’s necklace. The bronze coin of Isis that she wore constantly. “How did you get that?”
“She gave it to me before she left. She said she wanted to leave something behind to be remembered by.”
Lily took the necklace from Melody and headed out onto the balcony overlooking the ocean. “This will work perfectly. I can feel her connection to it.”
Adam followed, watching his son’s witch wife pull out various bobbles and bits from her purse and start the task of drawing her magic and focusing her mind. Quietly, he patted Melody on the back as she moved next to him. “I’m sorry, Mel, I shouldn’t have lashed out.”
“It’s okay, I’m a demoness, I think I can handle a little rough housing.” She rubbed her neck and glanced down at his hand. “Why didn’t you ever tell me you are a dragon, boss?”
He shrugged. “I guess I just didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself. It’s easier if everyone just thinks I’m some happy-go-lucky goofball who can’t hold a job and bumbles around as a hotel manager. They tend to leave the unassuming ones alone.”
“You don’t have to hide yourself. I get that you’re always trying to make amends to your ex’s, and you let everyone use you as their emotional whipping boy because you feel guilty about your failed marriages, but you’ve got to just be yourself, boss. Ella deserves to have the full, hundred-percent authentic you. And you deserve that for yourself too. You’re not the cause of all of their problems, you were a man who was new to this world and trying to do what you were told to do. End of story, you don’t owe anyone an apology for doing your best to navigate a world with so much riding on your shoulders.”
He chuckled. “Did you take a psychology class?”
“I’m an old demon who’s watched a whole lot of shit go down since the start of man’s time. You live your life. You go get your mate, and please find a way to save her.”
Right then, Lily jumped to her feet and clapped. “Found her.”
“Where?” Adam and Mel asked in unison.
Lily held out her phone with a map on it. “Here, at the glowing red spot. She held out the necklace to Adam. This will glow brighter the closer you get to her.”
Adam took the necklace and smirked, seeing the spot on the map. “I know exactly where she went. Thank you, Lilybet, you are a lifesaver.”
He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran out the door without another word.
* * *
The Uber pulledup to the parking area of the meadow that Adam had taken her too. In the streams of light from the setting sun the entire hillside looked warm and peaceful. Ella thanked the driver and handed over all the cash in her wallet as a tip.
The driver’s eyes widened at the handful of money. “Ma'am? Are you sure you don’t want change back?”
“Nope, it’s all yours. Thank you again for the ride.”
He wrinkled his brow as if contemplating something, and she knew immediately he was suspicious. But if she knew anything about people, it was that they seldom want to get involved in other people’s crisis. Yeah, it probably looked bad to hand over all your cash, she was sure it set off some red flags, but she was banking on the indifference of people to give her a pass and that her driver would leave without any further questions.
She’d been wrong.
“Are you okay? Are you sure you want me to leave you here?”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” She grimaced, wanting this conversation to be over quickly.
“You’re not going to— you know, hurt yourself, right?”
“Oh no, I just want a quiet evening on the hill.” Technically it wasn’t a lie, she wasn’t going to hurt herself, but she had no control over what her body was going to do over the next couple of hours.
The driver finally shrugged and waved goodbye. Ella sighed, thank goodness that was over. She started the long walk up and enjoyed the peacefulness all around her. The sound of the breeze, the rustling of grass, chirping birds. It was perfect.
A perfect place to die. Far away from everyone she’d met, far away from doctors, and gods, and people trying to save her. This was her chance to go out on her own terms, without dragging anyone down with her.
Something deep inside told her it was going to be painful, something she was not looking forward to, but she hoped that the hands full of pills she’d swiped from Adam’s medicine cabinet would take the pain away once things took a turn for the worst.
As she drew closer to the top of the hill, Ella stumbled, her body started to stiffen again. She groaned and kept going, making her legs bend and keeping her momentum. She could rest when she got to the meadow. When no one could see or hear her cries of pain.
