Page 124 of The Tenth Muse

There is no way.

I take the phone from her hand and disconnect the call but she shakes her head, “It doesn’t matter, he has my phone’s location. He’ll find us.

“Why? You’re an adult? Right?” I look down at her phone screen, a family photo with a man that seems vaguely familiar but the date itself confirms it.

Two days passed while we were asleep.

No–not asleep.Enchanted, or something.

Your body still functions regularly when you’re asleep, and this… this was like being frozen in time.

“Yeah, I’m twenty five.” America derails my thoughts, her eyes fixed right at Chewie, “That’s not the point, and he’s going to take her away if he sees her.”

I scoff, crossing my arm over my chest, “Your father has no power in my shop.”

“You don’t understand,” she fidgets with her fingers, “My father is Truman Corsetti.”

The name rings a bell but I can’t quite figure out which one. “And?”

America sighs, “The senator”

My stomach sinks to the pits of Hell.

“Get out.” I point to the door, every inch of my body dripping in cold sweat, from fear.

She’s right.

If her father sees Chewbacca he’ll take her away.

Men like him are the very reason I moved Chewie from the shop storefront to the backroom, hidden from plain sight. Onceshe got too big I couldn’t answer questions anymore and the attention she brought could only chance negative things for us.

America’s eyes well with tears, but she nods, understanding that the situation isn’t fair for either of us. She backs away, but just as she turns to the door to leave Chewie shrieks a banshee sound, a shockwave of pain rippling through my blood vessels and knocking us both to our knees.

The agony is perpetual, it feels infinite, like its seeping into my bones, making its home there just from the suggestion of her leaving.

“I-I don’t think I’m going anywhere, Runa.” Her laugh is dry, there’s no humor there, only fear.

So much fear.

“How much time did you say we have?” My brain is already working double trying to figure a way out of this.

She looks down at her phone, her hands shaky from the nerves, “Thirty minutes, maybe forty five at best.”

It’s not enough time, but I’ll make do, “Help me load Chewie into my truck.”

six

. . .

America

“How did we lose two days?”I’m trying not to freak out, but I can see Runa has no idea either.

Moving a seven-foot plant that weighs as much as three golden retrievers is no easy feat, both of us are wheezing on the truck bed, Runa in one sharp motion swings a dusty blanket over the plant to conceal it.

I’m so confused about it all, suddenly so much more disoriented than before, the powder’s effects seeming far headier than either of us realized.

“It makes no sense.” Her voice drops to a grave tone.

---