Page 8 of How to Entice a Fiend

“I won’t tell the others that you’re here. Do you have somewhere else to go? Finn said you’ve just been moving around the city eluding people… or him, he’s not quite sure.”

“A bit of both,” I say. “One can only suffer so much of his happiness in their life.”

Orin laughs and then pats me on the back, which I quickly move away from. I’d rather no one touches me if I have the choice. “I won’t tell Finn you’re here. Just stay for the night. It’s supposed to sleet tonight, and you’re going to drag that girl around in it?”

I don’t actually have another place lined up and the previous one is now compromised. “If you don’t mind watching her, Ryleewill stay here. Once I find a new place, I’ll come back and see if she wants to go with me.”

Rylee’s grip on me tightens. “No! Please don’t leave me. Please? I promise I’ll be good. I’ll never go outside without your permission again. I’ll be so careful. I won’t cry about the cat anymore.”

I kneel in front of her. “Rylee, I’ll be back. I’m going to simply find us a different place to stay. You can stay here until I do.”

She hugs me tightly. “I’m sorry. Please don’t leave me. I’ll be really good. I promise. Please. I’ll be the best ever.”

“I’m not leaving because you were bad or you have to be better. I just don’t have a place for us to stay tonight.”

“I don’t care. We’ve had nowhere to stay before,” she says. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t need anything else.”

“How about just for tonight?” Orin says. “Both of you, come on now.”

The only thing that could ever get me through that door is the look on Rylee’s face at this moment. I sigh, unsure how it ended up like this as Orin giddily guides us into his house. He seems far too pleased to let me, a man he should never trust, into his house.

“Just… show us to a room, we won’t make a noise,” I assure him.

“Nonsense! Let’s get you two cleaned up, and then we can watch a movie! How’s that sound?”

“Ooh! EnderlovesMoana!”

“Do I?” I ask, pretty suresheloves it and also loves to torture me by making me watch it over and over.

“We could sing to it!” Orin says, like he just wants to make my day worse.

Dammit, I stepped right into hell, didn’t I?

“Yes! En, will you sing with us?” Rylee asks.

“Does it look like I’ll sing with you?”

That just makes her laugh and leap at me, expecting me to catch her, which I do. Then she grabs my face in her hands. “I’m going to show youallaround.” And she leaps back out of my hands. Like… why even jump into them if she’s already moving on to the next thing?

She drags me after her, and for some reason, I just follow, and I can’t tell whether it’s out of fear that she’ll burst into tears if I don’t or whether I’m just willing to appease her in any way she wants because I didn’t like the way I felt when I thought she wanted to leave me for Orin.

“This is the pool. This is the best part! Orin and I have these little blow-up things and then Orin was like pow! And then I won!”

“Sounds like it was rigged,” I say.

“Nuh-uh, I won a hundred percent.”

“Yeah?”

“One hundred percent,” she declares. Then we’re off again. “And this is the the-ater room.”

“Why do you say it so strangely?”

“Because it’s a fancy theater. Theeeeeater. Fancy.”

“Ah yes, I definitely thought you were speaking fancy when you said it like that.”

“How about I show you two to your rooms so you can get cleaned up and continue the tour after?” Orin says as he starts upstairs.

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