Page 45 of XOXO

“This is pointless. We fix the stone quickly and no one will be the wiser,” she growls and resumes dragging me along.

When I first spiraled, she gave this momentary frown like she was unhappy I was upset. Now, though, she’s more focused than a double dose of ADHD meds.

Brynn forces me up the mountain, and a brisk yet interminable ten minutes later, she’s charging through the house. She heads directly for the storage room at the other side.

“How do you even know where you’re going?” I ask.

“I had an hour to wander around, remember? Jay showed up only a few minutes before you.”

“Why would he show up if he was relieved of duty?”

“He couldn’t read the note.”

Blood vessels burst in my skull. No this bitch did not.

“So you believe and excuse when Jay can’t read Miri’s handwriting, but when I do it you act like I’ve committed a capital offense?”

The storage room door flies open so fast that wind from the door whips her hair. She whirls me by the hand into the crowded warehousing area. Wire shelves lined with opaque plastic create winding corridors.

The insulated metal structure is easily the size of a suburban strip mall. Aside from the open area near a stone worktable and drawers for tools, the aisles are egregiously small and leave little room for my futile flailing.

The overheads flicker, but they’re bright enough to see where we’re going. They also cast creepy as fuck shadows. It’s bad enough to have the jarred organs out, but to have them subtly illuminated is more Halloween than Valentine’s Day.

Dust clogs the air while we disturb the sediment merely by walking through.

“There’s no point in rehashing it,” Brynn says. “Let’s find the replacement stone and be done with it.”

I harrumph at my companion but squeeze my way to the workstation where the card catalog is.

Yes, that’s right, the High Witch really likes her old-school systems. We’ve tried to have her upgrade to digital several times, but she always defers. My theory is she’s worried we’ll find all the stuff she has hidden if we make a meaningful attempt to clean it out.

The drawer groans in its tracks and my fingers fly over the cards until it comes to the right entry.

Moonstones, prepared—Quantity: 2

Quadrant 3, Aisle N, Bin Gamma

Truth be told, I’m relieved there are any moonstones at all. They’re incredibly difficult to come by. They could have lost their charge by now. They fade so quickly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the ones in the bin are dead. Someone is supposed to check all of the expiring stock monthly, but I’m often that someone, and well . . .

No sense defeating myself just yet. We’ll retrieve the moonstones. It’ll charge enough in the night to survive the daylight.

No one needs to know about our little mishap.

Brynn follows behind me for once until we make it to the correct aisle. She skims fingers over the boxes and bins while we search for the right location.

“There,” I inform her.

“Fucking finally,” she mutters.

We both reach for the shoebox-sized plastic bin.

When we each get hands on it, I yank it to take control.

This is my coven and my mistake.

She might not even have clearance to be in here.

Except that Brynn fucking Hathaway also tugs on the box.

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