Page 53 of Wicked Witch of the Wolf
Hell.
While she unlocked the door and whispered a chant to disable the alarm, I tried calling Ronan again. My call went straight to voicemail. It didn’t even ring.
“He still hasn’t answered?” She stepped aside and allowed me to enter.
“No.”
“We’ll find him.” Her expression, usually a cross between bored, evil queen, and evil, evil queen, softened. She smoothed a stray hair out of her face and picked up one of the boxes on the doorstep.
I picked up two, and together we brought in Bronwyn’s delivery, whatever it was. There was no return address, and the packages were oddly light given their size.
“It’s fabric,” Margaux said. “A fae blend that looks like heavy brocade with the weight of a feather. I recognize the shipping label. Some of the Druids in the area make use of it.”
Once we’d brought in the boxes, we weaved through the shelves in the storeroom and headed for the front of the store. “Best not to speak too much. I’m not entirely sure what she’s got stocked in here right now,” she whispered.
Bronwyn had once told me not to make direct eye contact with some of the items in her storeroom, so I knew Margaux wasn’t being dramatic.
I shut the door to the back room behind us, and Margaux made a fast dash to the secret office behind the counter. She rearranged the stones the way Bronwyn had, and the door opened.
“How do you know how to do that?”
“I told you,” she said, “I filled in for her.”
“You saidonce. Bronwyn gave you the combo to her hidey hole after you worked one measly shift?”
Margaux didn’t respond. Shady-ass witch.
The room looked like it had the last time I’d seen it. Except for one thing.
No Bronwyn.
“Did she leave anything here that might help us find her?” I rifled through the papers on her desk, but it all looked like regular business type stuff. Invoices, bills, and bank statements.
Margaux faced me. “I’m going to ask you to do something.”
“From the tone of your voice, my answer is going to be a resounding no.”
She set her shoulders, gave a brief nod, and walked out of the office,taking the door with her.
I circled the desk and ran my hand over the wall where the door had been. There was no opening, no indentation, nothing.
“Margaux,” I yelled, “what the hell are you doing?”
Her muffled voice came through the wall. “We can search for her in all the places on Maya’s list, which you know is going to take all day, or we can find her now. Every moment we waste is a moment we don’t have to look for your Ronan.”
“Don’t do this.”
“We know Desmond has her, Betty. The only way to find her fast is for me to face him. It wasn’t enough for him to humiliate me in front of the coven. He knows I could take it back by force if I chose to. He wants me alone. He wants the gloves off. He wants me dead.”
Shuffling sounds, like someone moving things around in the next room, snagged my attention.
“What are you doing?”
She didn’t answer for a few seconds. Every one of them felt like an hour. I checked my cell phone. Ronan still hadn’t called. He was missing, and I was trapped in this stupid office. I wanted to kick the shit out of Margaux, the wall, and myself for trusting her.
“I’ve left a charm for you on the counter.” Margaux sounded distant, as if she was moving away. “You can let yourself out of theroom now. A simpleopenchant will do it. Don’t forget to put the charm on, Betty. Don’t be stubborn about this.”
I pulled myself together, recited theabierto ahorachant my abuela had taught me as a child, and stumbled out of the office.
