Page 15 of Witch Please
“At the River of Souls.” Charon spoke slowly and deliberately as if he was talking to a mentally unstable person.
“Oh geez, that was so much help, buddy. Thanks.” With a sigh I rubbed a hand over my face in hopes to remove the fog that was clouding my mind. My thoughts were racing, jumbling together until it was either do something to stop thinking or start screaming like the Mazzikin until they drove us to where they needed us to be.
“Actually, you know what? How about you take me to see Sissily and River now, m-kay? They don’t mind when I wake them up. I don’t care where or if you’ve seen my mother or not.”
Something akin to disappointment passed across his features but I was beyond the point of caring trying to impress him. I needed to find my companions and get the hell out of dodge before Charon decided we might be a good distraction to his boredom and kept us as pets.
“You do not fear me, Miss Byrne.” Pushing off of the wall he was leaning on, Charon moved across the room to the tall dresser on the opposite side. Reaching for a trinket box, he slightly lifted the crystal lid the color of blood, but paused so he could turn and look at me over his shoulder. “It’s quite refreshing, I must admit.” My cocked eyebrow made him smile at me sadly. “Ah, right on time.”
“Huh?” confused I frowned at him not sure which one of us was the mentally unstable one.
“Your companions are awake. I’ll take you to them now.” The demon picked out a stone from his trinket box and curled his fingers around it as if it was the most important thing in his life.
I was up and at the door before he was done talking.
CHAPTER9
“Do you stay here alone?” rubbernecking I followed him down a long dark hallway so close my toes kept bumping his heels. “Sorry, it’s pretty dark here and I’m worried I’ll lose you if I don’t walk close enough.” Awkwardly muttering my fifth apology in the last two minutes I curled my lips in a pathetic attempt of a smile when he glanced back at me.
“Yes, I am alone in this domicile.” Slowing down he turned to face me, and I jumped back like he would try to bite me. Embarrassment heated my cheeks, which he noticed immediately. “Having a healthy apprehension of an opponent you know very little about is smart, Miss Byrne. Nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Hey,” deciding to change the subject, since I was not a big fan of sharing my fears with randos, I asked something that bothered me from the moment we arrived over Lake Erie. “Do you know why the Mazzikin were acting so wacky when we tried to exorcise them? According to my gra…I think someone mentioned they might be cursed.” I finished lamely.
A sinking suspicion that the ferryman had an unhealthy obsession with my grandmother made me not want to bring her up if I absolutely didn’t have to. I don’t know what it was but every time he mentioned her priorly a spike of unease shot through my sternum warning me that something was off. The tight press of his lips displaying his displeasure confirmed my suspicions, but luckily for both of us he didn’t press the matter.
“Many things are not as they used to be in this realm.” After a long look he turned forward and continued down the hallway scratching absently at his abs. “It’s not just those that reside outside of the Underworld being affected. We all feel it.”
“Feel what?” the toe of my boot tapped his foot again and I mumbled a quick sorry hoping not to distract him too much. “A curse?” The skin on my arms pebbled from the thought. I shivered.
“It never ends well when the Fates get involved and try to offset the power.” Charon sounded distant, his tone raspy and hollow. “I told Lucifer a century or two ago that this was going to happen. But did he listen, of course not. What would I know about demon politics.”
The mention of the Fates sent a spear of dread straight to my chest. Deep down I knew he was talking about the book, the magic deep inside me perked up as soon as his voice got that eerie tone to it, but I ignored it. Let’s just all pretend that the pink elephant in the room did not exist. I was okay with it. Charon was okay with it. Hell, even the moving tapestry on my left was okay with it.
Wait what?
“Do the tapestries often follow your guests around here or am I in for a special treat?” My nervous snicker bounced off the stone walls and unashamedly I latched on to Charon’s arm when the said tapestry giggled back at me.
Throwing caution into the wind, I turned to examine the tapestry that seemed to follow us down the hallway. I regretted it the same second when multiple pairs of eyes locked on mine. The giggle continued to echo around us, and it irked me that the ferryman laughed in my face.
“It would appear that they like you,” a genuine smile graced his lips thankfully not showing the two rows of sharp teeth. “They are all just infant devils learning the ins and outs of the realm before they are allowed to roam out of the portals. They are harmless. For now.”
“Duly noted.” I sounded cool and collected, but my heart was drumming across my ribcage the longer we walked down the seemingly never-ending hallway. “Is it much further before we get to my friends? Not to sound ungrateful, but I have places to go and people to see. Can we just move this along?” Hoping to sound like less of a bitch and prove Sissily wrong, because I can totally be a likeable person, I slapped his shoulder good naturedly.
The slap exploded so loudly in the empty hallway; it made the stupid little devils in the tapestry shrink back. Charon froze, his foot lifted off the ground as he was trying to take a step and turned to face me painfully slowly. Until that very moment, I didn’t notice that I was still clutching his forearm with my other hand. Swallowing thickly, I followed his gaze and looked down to where my fingers were digging into his skin. Flickers of magic blinked in and out under my skin and trickled from my fingertips into the ferryman. Where my magic connected with his body his skin shimmered as if an illusion was being broken.
What my mortal eyes could see was the surfer dude with his perfectly formed six pack. What my magic showed me was a skeletal figure with gray leathery skin and black talons for finger nails as long as my arm. Gulping oxygen so I don’t hyperventilate, I released my hold on him one finger at a time.
“Nice visual effects you got. We have the same in our coven to keep the humans away.” Now that I have no physical contact with him apparently, I got more stupid. Instead of walking away like a normal person would, I elbowed him in the ribs and belted out a laugh to be the envy of a five-hundred-pound man.
Charon staggered back, his one eye widening, and I couldn’t help the gasp that passed my lips.
“I have been told that they dropped me on my head many times when I was a baby.” With a nervous chuckle I glanced left and right looking for an escape route in case he pounced. “It does damage to the brain I’ve been told.”
“We are almost there.” He mumbled after a long moment and whirled on his heel so fast I had to rush to catch up with him, so I didn’t lose him in the darkness of the hallway.
Miraculously, I managed to keep my mouth shut until we reached an unassuming door to our left. When I thought about it, there were no other doors the entire time that we were walking the long hallway. It made me wonder if it was a ploy that the ferryman did to keep me on my toes, and he could summon doors at any time he wanted and at any place in his home. This had to be it, right? It had to be his home. He was more at ease here than I was in Danika’s house. All my musings came to a halt when he opened the door and I saw Sissily standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips and a scowl firmly on her face.
“Whatever she told you. I assure you it is not as bad as it sounds.” My best friend stabbed her forefinger in the ferryman’s face. “She has a condition, and we forgot her medication back at the house. She’s more docile otherwise.”
