Page 56 of Anchor

I swear, I couldn’t catch a fucking break.

“Because everybody sucks and my head is killing me,” I said, and when I saw the cups in her hands I almost cried for real. “You brought coffee.”

I was supposed to bring coffee this time, but there she was—my guardian fucking angel as far as I was concerned.

“Of course, I did. I knew your lazy ass wouldn’t, and I amnotwasting my break without caffeine. I still have another three hours to go in this shithole.”

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed the steaming coffee from her hands. “I wasn’t lazy, but I didn’t want them to get cold while I waited for you.”

She raised a brow when she sat on the bench. “That’s whatmagicis for.”

I hadn’t been shocked by simpler words in a long time.That’s what magic is for.

I looked down at my hands, my father’s ring that was too big for my finger but somehow it never slipped. I was always subconsciously holding it with my thumb even when I was walking. Even when I wasn’t paying any attention to it. I never once lost it because it was my anchor. I was tied to it—my magic was tied to it. Or it had been, and I had always been very aware of it, had always relied on it.

Until I became Mud and Icouldn’tanymore.

“A simple heating spell, andvoila!Nice and steaming,” said Cassie, showing me her cup and the steam curling up over it.

I forced a smile on my face. “I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all.” And I did, but that wasn’t the reason why I hadn’t even considered using a heating spell for coffee. It’s like I had gotten used to the concept of living without magic in just a week—never mind that the Iris Roe had felt a hundred years long.

“Who could blame you,” she said with a smile. “If I hadthatmany people waiting for me outside, I’d be irritated as well.”

I flinched. “How many people are there exactly?” Because I hadn’t really cared to look.

Cassie laughed. “Reporters and a lot of Iridians as well. They’ve come to ask for money. They made glittery signs and everything.” She nudged my shoulder when I closed my eyes. “Hey, cheer up. It’s fine—they can’t get through the gates. Not here and not at your mansion.”

Another flinch. “Not my mansion.”

“But you could get your own now. You’re stinking rich,” Cassie said. “Cheer the hell up, woman!”

If she only knewwhyI couldn’t get my own mansion, even my own studio apartment no matter how much money I had in my pocket.

“Tell me something, Cassie. A story. Anything at all—tell mesomething.” Because I needed a distraction from my own mess that I calledlife.From these questions haunting me. From thissicknessthat had plagued me for two days now.

“Okay, okay, I got a story for ya. There were once these siblings, Aurelia and Zach Mergenbach—whom I know personally, mind you—and they saved three kids from a burning house in the most spectacular way. These kids were left home by their parents, who were at an event, right? And the little fuckers found a lighter in the kitchen. And one of them, the youngest—I will not be naming names—accidentally set the curtain on fire. The flames spread and spread, and they couldn’t get out, and they cried for help, but nobody could get close.

“Until Aurelia and Zach came, and you know what they did?” Her eyes sparkled, and she spoke so fast she held my attention effortlessly. “They pulled up the water from the neighbor’s pool—all of it at once—and threw it on the burning house. Just picked up the water and moved it!”

Cassie laughed, and the sound was so warm and inviting that I found myself smiling, too. Her energy was something else.

“Saved the kids though the house was already ruined,” she said between laughing. “And that’s magic for ya, Agent La Rouge. It’s quitemagical.” Again, she nudged me with her elbow and winked.

Impossible not to laugh. “Lame story.”

But she didn’t care. “It’s true.” Though I had no idea if she meant that about the story, or about it being lame, and she didn’t give me a chance to ask. She just threw back the rest of her coffee—she drank all of it like that, while it was still steaming—and stood up. “Break’s over. Gotta go back to the Vault. I’ll see you in a bit.” She leaned down and actually kissed me on the forehead. “Cheer up, Ro. For serious.”

By the time she walked down the hallway, my heart was beating in my fucking throat.

And before I knew what the hell I was even doing, I left my cup on the bench and stood up.

“Cassie, wait!”

Ten minutes later, I found myself in the Vault again.

Blame it on the curiosity. Blame it on a momentary lapse of judgment. Blame it on whatever the hell you want—but I wentto the Vault with Cassie again, straight across the red line on the floor in the middle of the room to the artifacts and objects under the second level of protection, and to the cabinet full of drawers near the boxes in the wall that I’d almost knocked down last time. Easy enough to find, even though the others near it were identical because the one I was looking for was right across from the veler.

The veler was still right there where I’d last seen it, and so were those drawers. Six in total, two of them empty, and in the last one…

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