Page 31 of A Lost Light

I met her eyes and tilted my head, curiosity taking over once again. “You don't trust me, but you are still kind to me. A conundrum. But a happy one.”

She huffed a laugh. “Conundrum? You really are a nerd, aren't you?”

I rolled my eyes. “I simply like to be--”

“Well informed. Yeah, I get it,” she finished for me. “Well, have you ever heard the saying 'curiosity killed the cat?'“

I gave her a disappointed look. “Of course. But no one ever seems to remember therestof the saying.”

She arched her brows at me, and I obligingly recited thefullsaying. “Curiosity killed the cat, butsatisfactionbrought it back.”

She shook her head as she silently laughed at me while everyone else continued to argue around us. “I don't think there's much satisfaction to be had, in this case.” Her expression grew serious. “I'll tell you where we are. Because, honestly, there is precious little immediate harm you could do with the information.”

I put a hand over my wound and sat forward to hear her more clearly over the ruckus in the room. I couldn't help it. I loved knowing secrets. Important information. Useless trivia. All of it. But I never could have predicted what she was about to say.

“We're in a pocket world that I created,” she told me flatly. “And I'm not even sure how long it will last. I've already had to patch it up once. It's entirely possible the whole thing will implode before the SA or the cultists find us. So… do with that information what you will, I guess.” She shrugged.

I blinked at her, my face so close to hers I could see the faint freckles that were scattered across her nose and cheeks, and the flecks of green in her dove gray eyes. “Well.”

She sat back and arched a brow at me. “Still think it's lucky to stick around?”

I thought about that for a moment, feeling out my magic. But nothing had changed. The gentle warm hum of good luck continued on, despite the chilling news of my insane surroundings. “Yes,” I said slowly. “Yes, I think I do, if you don't mind.”

She studied me for a moment, maybe trying to figure out if I was mentally unstable. “Okay, then. Let's find you a guest room, I guess.” She rolled her eyes. “Goddess knows there's enough of them in this moldering old monstrosity of a house. Though we'll have to put you on the third floor. We're out of rooms on this level. Just… watch out for boobytraps, okay?”

I stared at her. “Boobytraps.”

She nodded. “And don't go into the basement. The stairs will eat you.”

She was… serious. “Okay,” I said slowly.

This was the mostintriguingsituation I had come across in a long time. How novel.

Oleander helped me to my feet and led me toward the door while the argument behind us slowly wound down. Then she ledme all the way to the end of the long hallway and up another flight of stairs. A swirl of smoky black tendrils coalesced just outside the door to the room that would be mine, and we paused. The tendrils formed into the shape of a man with pitch-black skin, blue-black hair, and red eyes with black sclera, wearing an immaculately tailored black suit. He smiled at me with terrifying gray shark teeth, and a surge of fear rippled through my entire body.

“Just remember, little cat,” he said in a smooth, deep voice that gave me goosebumps. “I know where you sleep.”

“Ambrose,” Oleander said in a warning voice.

The man winked, then he disappeared in a swirl of shadows.

“Ignore him. Ignore all of them,” she advised me as she pushed open the door to my new room. “They're idiots. Sorry for the dust. We've been slowly cleaning the place up, but we haven't gotten to the third floor yet.”

I glanced around the large, lavishly appointed room, everything intact under preservation spells, but covered in a fine layer of dust. I shuddered at the grime. “Is there a couch I can sleep on downstairs? Or a rug, maybe?”

She chuckled and shook her head. “Believe me, you're better off dealing with the dust. The assholes will leave you alone in here. If you tried to sleep downstairs in the common areas, they'd drive you batshit crazy with their bullshit.”

I sighed. I supposed this was the price of intrigue and adventure.

“I'll send Zhong up with some fresh linens, soap, bath stuff,” Oleander said calmly. “He loves doing all the homey household stuff. He'll change the bedding for you while you wash up.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank you.”

She just shook her head and left me alone in my new room with the cobwebs and the spiders.

Chapter 16

Andy

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