Page 46 of Road To Runes

"I don't want to talk about it," I said. "Go away."

I listened for her but heard nothing, so maybe she had respected my wishes.

Grabbing a blanket off my bed, I wrapped myself up in it and pushed open the door to my secret workspace. I couldn't wallow. If I was going to feel miserable, I needed to channel it intosomething productive. Taking a few minutes every so often to cry into a tissue, I got to work on one of the overdue grimoires.

The methodical construction of the spell books allowed me to sink into the numbness that slowly smothered my grief; not destroying it, but keeping it at bay for a while. I worked the dyed blue leather and punched holes into it with a little more force than necessary, fixed the metal clasps in place, and cast a spell to meld the rounded crystals into the cover.

I ran my fingers over the cover, testing where the leather met the crystals to ensure they were embedded correctly. Testing the clasps, I gave them a few solid tugs and snapped them into place a few times in case they didn't quite fit each other. But as ever, Laura's craftsmanship knew no bounds.

Eventually, I had to get up out of my nest to my cabinet of collected powers. Tissues trailed along the floor with me as my blanket caught them, and I reached up into the glowing shelves to grab the power I needed. This client had chosen an interesting perk for their grimoire; to make whoever tried to steal their spell book lose all memory of why they were there.

I sat cross legged on the floor and unscrewed the jar, tapping into my power to guide the ball of magic into the biggest crystal on the book's cover. The grimoire quivered, each crystal lighting up as the power seeped into the rest of the cover.

I paused as I screwed the lid back on the jar. One touch with my bare finger and maybe I would forget everything Asher had said to me that night.

Slamming the jar down next to me, I gritted my teeth. I was supposed to distract myself from what had happened that day and still the memories crept in. Besides, even if I forgot what Asher had said, he might still find a way to tell me all over again.

"Why do you care?" I snapped at myself as I grabbed a packing box from the pile behind me. "Why do youstillcare?"

I had aimed to get over Asher in a matter of months and over half a year later, his rejection still cut as deeply as it had on day one of our separation. All I wanted to do was flee; get as far away from here so that he couldn't hurt me again. And how dare he come back tomyhome and treat me this way in the first place?

I packed up the grimoire, groaning when I accidentally taped my hand to the box while wrapping it. Maybe it was time to get some space. The timing made sense; with the Franklins already getting their claws into an investigation, I could stand to take Troy's power elsewhere while things died down. That, coupled with the fact that everyone wanted me to quit stealing powers to put in grimoires and that Asher would always come home whether I liked it or not, made me feel as though a little distance would do us all some good.

Penny didn't need me. While I had prepared myself to take care of her, Edward had taken the reins on that one. The only one who really needed me was Hecate, and even then she would probably be fine here without me. Maybe it was time to go somewhere to decompress for a while. Somewhere with more sun and fewer memories.

A timid knock sounded on the door, and it opened with a small creak. Hecate trotted in, jumped onto the table, and then onto the box I had just finished taping. She leaned up on her back legs and pressed her paws to my chest to nuzzle my face.

"How did you get in?" I asked.

"I brought someone to help me open the door."

"You can open doors by yourself. Why are you getting other people to do it for you?"

"All right, I needed some backup,"Hecate said.

"Is this a bad time for me to step in, then?" Penny poked her head around the door, her face falling at the sight of me. "Bea...what happened?"

I sniffed and turned away to stack the box on top of the other one. "Nothing."

"That's clearly not true." Penny slipped inside and shut the door. "What happened? Hec said you and Asher talked and-"

"Penny." I turned around, my eyes already burning again. After all that crying, I assumed the tears had dried up. Apparently not. "Ireallydon't want to talk about it."

She made her way around the table and wrapped her arms around me. "Okay. But I'm going to hug you for a bit. Is that okay?"

"Sure." Under Penny's comforting embrace, I sank to the floor, more tears dribbling down my cheeks.

Hecate jumped down onto my lap and nuzzled at my neck, and for a moment, I crumbled in a tiny cocoon of friendship.

With sleep not an option that night, I gave up trying at about 3am and clambered as best I could over Penny who had insisted on sleeping in my bed that night. Hecate stirred and watched me with starlit eyes as I dressed and took the grimoire box. I waved to her before closing it.

I drove off to the nearest teleportation circle, shooting straight through to Detroit. I kept the hood of my baggie hoodie low as I headed toward Belmont. The dodgiest part of town was the easiest place to offload my goods, but I didn't want to linger. As soon as I had deposited the grimoire into a public locker, I shot a text from my secret phone to the buyers.

With that, I drove off into the night. For a long time I drove with no direction, not wanting to return home, especially not when everyone would wake up in a few hours. Eventually, when I felt I had put enough distance between me and the clients about to pick up their goods, I stopped at a twenty-four-hour diner and slid into a booth.

The floor was sticky, but the damp swipes on the table suggested someone had cleaned it recently. Content enough with that, I leaned my elbows on the table and grabbed a menu. A black coffee and a plate of bacon and eggs later and I leaned back in my seat, heaving a sigh.

Out here in the world, where nobody knew where I was, the pressures of my problems lifted off my shoulders. Not gone, but no longer suffocating me either.

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