Page 19 of The Most Wanted Witch

He turned to me. “Fine. You can have your month. But if you want to hold us to the letter of the law, it works both ways. We’ll be expecting collateral during this extension.”

“No,” Hawk replied.

I didn’t know what Xazier wanted, but clearly it was going to be a disadvantage for us.

“It’s not up to you, is it?” Xazier asked. “You know the rules. She brought up the clause. She’ll be the one to offer the collateral.”

“What’s the collateral?” I asked.

Xazier smiled. “You. If you fail to get the situation under control in the month given, we get Xestandyou.”

Helen was lucky that I didn’t have a hammer right now. I’d be taking a swing at her gears for leading me down this road. What had she been thinking?

“Do you agree?” Xazier asked me.

“Don’t,” Hawk said.

“If I don’t?” I asked, avoiding Hawk’s gaze.

“If you don’t agree, we take Xest tomorrow as planned.”

“I agree.”

I expected a flash of magic but didn’t get one. Wasn’t that what normally happened when you made a deal in Xest? Xazier didn’t seem to notice, so I certainly wasn’t going to bring it up.

“You have one cycle to rectify the problem,” Xazier said.

“One cycle. Not a minute sooner,” Hawk said, his anger clear.

Looked like we’d be brawling again tonight.

“You’ll need to provide updates in the interim. Once a week should be sufficient. If you need to reach me in the meantime, just call my name into the fifth wind. I’ll put you on my contact list.” Xazier walked out. The second he went through the door, he disappeared into thin air.

No one in the room spoke. Hawk didn’t need to say anything. The expression in his eyes said it all before he turned and walked away from me.

ThatI hadn’t expected. Yelling and fighting? Oh yes.

“I was trying to help,” I yelled at his back.

“You didn’t. You walked into a setup.” He disappeared into the back room, and then the outer door slammed a second later.

Oscar was shaking his head at me. “What the hell is wrong with you? You can barely defend yourself half the time, and now you think you’ve got it all covered? You’re letting that freak stuff go to your head. You’re human like the rest of us, not invincible. You need to think before you talk. Maybe youdon’thave all the answers.”

“I didn’t think I did, and what the hell is your issue?”

“You act like it, that’s my issue.” Oscar walked away.

Bertha was trying to smile. It was warm but not encouraging. She clearly thought I’d stepped in it as well.

“I don’t know why they’re giving you such a problem, kid,” Musso said, lifting his stocky shoulders.

The tension began to ease.

Then he continued, “I mean, how are you going to learn if you don’t screw shit up sometimes? You might take a couple of lumps, but you’ll be okay.”

“I’ll fix you a nice dinner and a big breakfast in the morning,” Bertha said, encouraging Musso to head toward the stairs.

What did that mean? Was she trying to feed me my last meals? Did she think I was going to die or something?

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