Page 225 of The Seven Rings
Trey’s level decreased fractionally when he saw it reach her eyes.
“Where else are you hurt?”
“Since I’m not going to strip down in front of my favorite cousin, I’ll show you later. Bruises here and there, but that’s starting in the middle.”
Clover went with Lizzo’s “Good as Hell.”
“Yeah, we were.”
Sonya carried the cutting board over to Cleo. “Chopped, minced, diced. I’ll start. You guys want out again? Okay, okay.”
“Sonya,” Trey said when she walked to the door to let the pets out.
“I was having a really good day,” she began. “I think she likes to take swipes on my really good days. I’ll tell you why it was, and is, a really good day after. I’d been up in Cleo’s studio, where she was also having a really good day. Then I’m back at work, moving right along, when Clover sounded the alarm.
“I’d barely noticed the cold creeping in, or that damn floor fog she likes to do. Thanks.” She took the glass of wine from Owen. “And she was there, like when I went through the mirror and saw her with Patricia. Sort of gliding down the library steps. Like something with no feet. Like a snake.”
She drank some wine and told her tale.
Trey moved over, ran his hand over the back of her head. “You’ve got a bump here.”
“Do I? I missed that one.”
“Did you lose consciousness? Any double vision?”
“No, and no. I hit hard, and it hurt, but no concussion, no broken bones. Bruises, Trey, just bruises. You’re making me want to jump ahead, and we need Cleo to take over because it’s a ‘meanwhile, up in the studio’ sort of thing.”
“Meanwhile, up in the studio. Clover. Actual Clover, standing in front of my desk.”
Cleo dumped some of the wine Owen had opened into the pot, gave it a stir. Then she picked up her own and turned to the others.
“She told me Dobbs had Sonya trapped in the library, and was hurting her. She said: ‘We need help.’ Not Sonya needs help. We. I got the BB gun out of the desk—”
“You had it in your desk?” Owen interrupted.
“Since the last bird incident, yes. I ran down, but I couldn’t open the doors. I said they had to help me get them open, and they did. That crazy bitch had Sonya dangling off the floor, and she freaking smiled at me. Said she’d take two for one, and actually laughed when I pointed the gun at her.”
“She didn’t laugh long.”
Cleo grinned at Sonya. “She sure as hell didn’t.”
“The BBs worked.”
Now Cleo turned her grin to Trey. “My grand-mère’s magic BBs did. I shot her four times.”
Turning, she picked up a little dish from the counter. “Obsidian, two black tourmalines, selenite. Sonya found these when she went back up to the library.”
“Got tweezers, not touching them, because ick. Dead witch blood on them.”
“They went right through her,” Trey murmured. “Did some damage first.”
“They hurt her,” Cleo confirmed, then smacked Owen’s hand away. “Don’t touch. We may be able to use the blood on them. They scared her, and on the third and fourth hit, she went screaming into a panicked whirlwind, and poof.”
“And not a sound out of her since. Trey.” Sonya reached for his hand. “She hurt me, she scared the living fuck out of me. But I’m sitting here drinking wine. And dead witch aside, I’m betting I’m a hundred percent before she is.”
“You could’ve been here alone.”
“I never am. And I honestly believe if Cleo hadn’t come to the rescue with magic BBs and dead aim, the others would’ve found a way. They’re stronger, Trey, you have to feel that, too. They’re just more here.”
