Page 161 of Hell Breaks Loose

“Doesn’t matter now. We have five. What do you think the chances are that we need seven of them to open whatever it is that they open?” Tell teases.

“At least seven to one,” Ora quips, making finger guns at him.

“So we have…” I point to each one by size. “Tell’s family safe. Clive and the Block. Mom’s bracelet, Alaya’s heirloom, and Damon’s ring.”

“Where could the others be?” Gavin rubs his striking jawline. I just want to plant one right on his…

Focus.

“I think I know where to find one, but we can’t get it yet.” I sigh, spinning one of the rings around my finger on the hard wood surface.

Because I think it’s hanging around my insane aunt’s neck.

“And I’m guessing you’re going to keep that one close to the chest?” Tell sniffs, rolling his eyes. “Not that I want to go ask the “Herald” for a trinket any more than I want to see her every time I close my eyes. Crazy bitch is nightmare fuel. No offense.”

“None taken. I do need to see Aunt Rachelle, though. And put my foot up her ass for everything she’s done. As far as her contribution to the rings… I’ll share it when the time comes. In the meantime, we need to locate the sixth ring. And I need to locate the lock that they go to.”

“If there is such a thing,” Gavin rumbles, squeezing my hand as he passes by.

“Yay! A plan,” Ora cheers.

“Not a very detailed one.” Gavin. Always pragmatic. Maybe a bit of a downer.

“Where do we start?” Alaya. Always ready to act.

“All we know is that they belonged to the Seven. And we know that my dad got one from someone else. Which means there were seven hiding places. Check off the ones we know about for sure and it leaves us with…”

“No more than three possible locations?” Tell summarizes.

“Exactly. We just need to narrow down the possible properties belonging to the remaining three Sinful and go check them out.”

“Make that two,” Tell chimes in, scrolling through his phone. “I spent the bulk of the time you were gone reading Damon’s journal. Didn’t find the ‘vault’ or whatever, but I did figure out who he got the smallest ring from. And where.”

“Sweet!” Ora slaps the table.

“And are you going to tell the class what you found, Slenderman?” Alaya snips, knocking Tell’s baseball cap off his head with a well-aimed coaster.

“Yow! Watch it, Baby Firefly.”

“Oh, deep cut, rich boy. My body count isn’t quite that high, though.” Alaya chuckles.

“Cut the slasher crap, or save it for the Ghosts,” I snap, shaking my head. “You two are worse than Strode and Meyers.”

“Ha! I knew you were a fellow horror junkie. I’m Meyers in that scenario, right?” Alaya cackles.

I swear, they could be siblings, the way those two go after each other.

“Anyway,” Tell continues, “Damon left his relic with Cynthia. He all but says it between the lines once you know what to look for. It took a while to put two and two together, but he mentioned a secret meeting with one other Sinful in a couple of spots, one of the only ones he knew personally.”

“That rings a bell,” I confirm.

“Tyler Vand, super spy!” Ora whispers dramatically. Tell ignores her, deep in his story.

“Which let me put more puzzle pieces together. Long story short, it was ‘Fury’. Cross-referencing properties, satellite hacking, then figuring out the guy’s identity, I connected the dots, and found this old photo of…”

He is about to turn his computer around.

“Salazar Garcia”, Alaya says casually. “Yeah, he was one of the dudes I was called in to off a few years back.”

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