Page 50 of Road To Runes

I sniffed again and looked into her eyes, the confessions ready to spill from between my lips.

Chapter 25

"It's...okay," I muttered, swallowing all my fears and anguish in one uncomfortable gulp. "I'm okay."

I couldn't do it. No matter how badly my gut told me to tell her everything, I just couldn't. In my state, I couldn't even decide why. I trusted Priya with everything, she was like a sister to me, even if I didn't really know what that felt like anyway. Hiding it all away just felt safer. This way, there was no judgement, no advice to make me doubt my decisions, and there was no chance of this getting back to Asher.

Swallowing hard, I lowered my chin to my chest. If Asher found out what I had done, he might come back, and at that moment, I couldn't have imagined anything more painful.

The urge to confide in her stood no chance against the weight of the awful possibilities that my future might take if I did.

Priya squeezed my hand and pursed her lips. "You're not okay, honey. And that's okay. I know you've needed some space lately to deal with everything and we're all really proud of you."

Another fresh wave of tears emerged, and I wiped at them with my sleeve. I wished she would stop being so supportive… and I wished she wouldn't stop at the same time.

"Thanks," I muttered. Creaking floorboards upstairs had me getting up from my seat and slipping my hand from Priya's. I didn't want anyone else seeing me like this. One witness was enough. "Can you take breakfast from here?"

"Of course I can." Priya's chair squeaked on the linoleum as she got up. "I'm here if you need me, okay?"

"Thanks."

I left the kitchen, scrubbing my eyes with my sleeve, wondering whether I had done the right thing.

The next few weeks I spent climbing the walls of the hole I had fallen into. Or rather, the hole Asher had thrown me into and walked away. But framing my situation in that way made clambering out all the harder.

Penny and Hecate spent a lot of time with me, and we often monopolised the TV in the living room wrapped in blankets, surrounded with snacks and drinks. Sometimes Priya, Laura, and Edward joined us, and although something in me wanted to hide away and wallow, the time spent with them elevated my mood and allowed me to forget about my troubles for a while.

Despite still having an outstanding grimoire job, I had begrudgingly stuck to Asher and Hecate’s advice not to go power-hunting. The customer would just have to wait. What were they going to do, give me a one star review?

I had decided not to mention the deal I had struck with Asher's contact to anyone, not even Penny or Hecate. The mark was easy to hide and there was no taking it back now anyway. No exit clause. The secret burned a hole in my good mood, but I reminded myself, whenever it really seared into me, that I made the right choice. I checked my phone too often for any word from them, and when a notification popped up, it was an email telling me I had a new grimoire commission.

"What is it?" Penny asked, chalking up her hands as an attendant fixed her harness.

She had taken the leap and go climbing with me every day that week, despite the amount of times I had tried to talk her into it before for her to back out.

Hecate had happily stayed at home, although she had moaned about her lack of freedom in the past few days. Penny had reported seeing the private investigator still walking the halls of the university, and until he lost interest, Hecate couldn't leave the house.

"Just work," I said, stowing my phone away in my bag.

I really had to stop checking it when I was out doing recreational stuff. It ruined the vibe.

I leaped up the climbing wall with little regard for preserving energy. Like every day lately, I wanted to return home so tired that I stood a chance of falling asleep. Nothing short of absolute exhaustion would do. If the thought of Asher didn't keep me up, remembering the deal I had struck with his contact did.

"How do you make it look soeasy?" Penny panted, raising a shaky foot up to the next foothold.

"I told you, if you do it enough, it just happens." I swung onto an overhang and dangled there for a moment, careful to shoot her a teasing grin as I did so. "And it's handy in my line of work."

"Bookbinding?" Penny laughed, but then her face fell when I raised my eyebrows at her. "Oooooh."

The grimoire making didn't present nearly as many risks as stealing the powers to put in them. And the ability to climb helped me keep up with Hecate when we went burgling.

I clambered up and down the wall as Penny heaved her way up, step by step.

She had really come out of her shell since leaving home. Priya, Laura, and especially Edward had made her feel so at home that she didn't even mutter about not paying rent anymore. After a few days of silence, her mum blew up her phone with demands to come home and how uncomfortable 'her friends' made Carl feel. Boo hoo.

I had expected Penny to dip back into her cocoon for a bit after that, but instead she blocked the number and didn't look back. Surrounded with the positivity of everyone in the house - with the exception of me, of course - Penny thrived. Her school marks had jumped up a notch and I even caught her admiring her own butt in my mirror one day. Gods, why hadn't I kidnapped her years ago?

"We're getting ice cream after this," Penny said once she reached the top. She puffed as she wrapped her arms around the metal bar and pulled a face, her eyes widening at the sheer drop.

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