Page 125 of Anchor

I think that’s the first time I truly understood what having a friend means.

I clung to that thought with all my being while I drove around the city and stopped at a drive thru to get food. The idea of eating wasn’t very appealing to me right now, but I needed my energy, and I wasn’t going to be able to sleep with this growling stomach.

Then I found a paid parking lot with extra security and a very loud alarm system that went off the moment anybody alerted the sensors, and since that was the safest place for me right now, that’s where I chose to sleep.

When the hamburger and all the fries were in my system, I lay in the back, closed my eyes, and I prayed with all my heart that Taland and I saw the end of this alive.

Chapter 25

Rosabel La Rouge

*Ladies’ and* Gentlemen’s Diamond Clubsaid the red sign, with the first two words obviously added only recently—the lights on them were fresh, much more intense than the others, and put closer together because there was not enough space. The building on which the sign was mounted was pretty big—five stories tall and wide—and there were a lot of cars in front. It was almost midnight, and I’d had to drive for about four hours to get here, but I’d found the place fairly easily online when I bought the phone.

Nothing about my life right now made much sense or even felt real, but I was glad for it. I considered ita breakbecause things were going to get real when I looked Radock Tivoux in the eye tonight and asked him where Taland was.

Oh, yes. Things were about to getveryreal for me soon. Goose bumps covered me completely at the thought of it. I’d been sitting in the car for a couple hours, parked two roads away just in case, but close enough that I could see the bright red light of that sign.

I’d eaten. I’d slept for seven hours. Not the best sleep, but it was sleep, nonetheless. The charm was with me and I’d renewed my own ward to remain invisible (hopefully) to the IDD teams who were searching for me. My ring was on my finger, and the bracelet around my wrist, too, covered by the sleeve of my jacket.

I was as ready as I was going to get, and if I overthought any of this for another second, I was afraid I’d never get out of that car, so I did it right away. With a deep breath and my teeth gritted, I jumped out and I kept walking until I crossed the street. Closer to the strip club. To that building.

To the Tivoux brothers.

We were in the outskirts of the city, with mostly warehouses around us, the highway not too far away. Just like Cassie said, the building was basically attached to a warehouse, but it was almost invisible against the darkness of the sky—or maybe because all the light was focused at the entrance of the club.

There were more people there than I’d have liked, but I didn’t let that stop me. I just reminded myself that I didn’t look like me, and I went ahead like I knew what I was doing, like I belonged here, like I didn’t really believe that I’d never make it out of this place alive.

At least Taylor would get her tree house while she was still a kid.

On my way out of Baltimore, I’d seen a carpenter’s shop with a big sign by the road listing all their services. Building tree houses was one of them. I gave the guy the address to Taylor’s trailer home and paid for everything. He said he’d be there the day after tomorrow. I’d have loved to see it with my own eyes, to see the look on her face when they made her her tree house, but at least I knew she’d get it. With it, she’d remember me hopefully in case I never saw her again.

After all, I was about to enter a strip club with no idea if I’d ever make it out of it in one piece.

Goddess, it’s just like walking into the Iris Roe again.

Three bouncers at the door. They looked down at my choice of clothing with a raised brow. I hadn’t bothered to change, just used the restrooms of a gas station on the way to clean myself up as well as I could.

They didn’t seem concerned about my age, though. Nobody asked for my ID.

It occurred to me that I could put a confusion spell on them, but I didn’t want to use magic if I could help it because people could see. So, I just smiled and I said my friends were waiting for me inside, and the bouncers were hesitant, but they let me through. They didn’t even search me, which was a shame, because I’d left the 44 in the car, thinking they would.

The inside of the club was incredibly loud, and all those flashing lights made me dizzy three seconds in. A long corridor took me to the main room, and I’d never been to this kind of club before, but fuck, this was intense.

It was just like Cassie said—ahybridstrip club. Strippers everywhere you looked—in cages extending from the tall ceiling, in glass boxes, some half filled with water, and on the three stages all around the large space.

The fourth corner was the bar.

People pushed me and stepped on my toes. People screamed and drank and danced like there was no tomorrow. I couldn’t tell you if they were human or Iridian, just that there wasa lotof them, and it took me a good long time to get to the bar.

By the time I managed to basicallyfallagainst the side of it, I was sweating, my hair sticking to my cheeks and my shirt sticking to my back, and my palms were a slippery mess, too.

“Are you going to order or not?!”

I looked up, still trying to catch my breath, to find a bartender was staring at me with his brows narrowed, the effectdoubled because of all the piercings on the left one. He must have been waiting a minute because he seemed really impatient.

I pushed myself up as far as I could and said, “I’m looking for Radock Tivoux.”

He pointed at his ears to say that he couldn’t hear me, and of course he couldn’t—the music in this place could wake the dead without the need for a necromancy spell at all.

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