Page 47 of Expensive

“How do I get a meeting with Sarah? Is she booked out or something?” I ask.

“No, it isn’t like that. She doesn’t have a schedule or anything. But visiting her is dangerous. She’s always in the same place, but she doesn’t always exist. It’s a side effect of the magic she’s used. She simply disappears much of the time, and if she disappears while a client is in her house, they disappear with her, and they don’t always come back.”

I guess that answers the question of why Kim and Sarah don’t live together anymore.

“Is there anything we can do to decrease my chance of disappearing?” I ask.

He pauses. “Yes. A binding spell. But it will cost you—”

“I can get you more cash if you give me a few days.”

“I’m not talking about money. When you purchase a spell, you don’t just pay the warlock, Andrew. You have to pay Magic. She requires a personal sacrifice that’s equal to what you’re asking for from Her. If you want to be bound to this plane for a few hours, I’d say that a beloved personal possession may do the trick. Something you’ve had since childhood or means a great deal to you. Or you could sacrifice your hair if you don’t have anything like that. Just understand that it won’t ever grow back if you give it to Magic.”

“My… my hair?”

He nods. “Or a few teeth.”

My stomach churns again. “No… I…”

Frankie. My heart aches at the idea of losing him. It’s hard for me to relax unless he’s in my arms.

But Timber bought me that stuffed ice dragon. Maybe I can learn to relax with that instead.

“I have something. Not with me, though. I’d have to go back home to get it.”

“That won’t be necessary. As long as the object belongs to you, all you need is a physical representation of the item. You could do a quick drawing of it, and that would be adequate. Magic is accustomed to claiming things that aren’t in the direct vicinity of a spell.”

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s how it was with all my omega father’s things, including the images of him in our photos.

“Okay. Where is her house?” I ask.

“She and Kim own their own island. It’s safer to travel by air, but we’ll have to be careful that Kim doesn’t see us. She finds it annoying when people perform a binding spell to ask Sarah for spells when they could just ask her instead.”

So they do live together. At least on the same island. It’s all so strange.

“Where is the island?” I ask.

“Off the coast of Maine. Warlocks call it The Flickering Candle.”

The Flickering Candle. I’ve heard of that before.

“Isn’t that…”

“The origin of memory magic? Yes. That’s what Sarah specializes in. She wrote most of the memory alteration spells that warlocks use today.”

“But I thought the Founding Fathers purchased memory magic to fool Tory spies during the Revolutionary War.”

Howard stands. “They did. From Sarah. While we can’t be sure, we think she and Kim are over four hundred years old.”

“But how—”

“I mentioned that Kim is evil. Somehow, she’s used her magic to keep them alive this entire time, despite Sarah’s protests. As you know, ice dragon shifters can’t survive after their fated mate has died unless their bond is surgically removed by a doctor. And Sarah has altered their bond so a surgeon can’t remove it. That means Kim has to keep them both alive if she wants to continue living.”

I’m not sure I understand. “If Sarah wants to die, why would she alter their bond like that?”

“Because Sarah knows Kim is evil, and she’s trying to kill her.”

Oh. That’s terrible. And here I thought my magical tie to Edward Monroe was bad.

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