10. Warwick

Chapter 10

Warwick

Pike looks at me like I’ve grown another head when I hand him a tote bag that weighs like I loaded it down with bricks. “Really? All of this?”

“Yes, I want him to have all of this.”

“Don’t be mean to him, Pike.” Lark frowns as he takes his lover’s hand. “And I’m coming with you. I have something I need to tell him in case he doesn’t know.”

“Call me when you get there,” I say.

“We will,” Lark says.

Before I can say anything else, they’re gone and I collapse onto the couch and Frankie hops into my lap. “This is it, girl. Moment of truth.” I stare at my phone, willing it to ring and we both jump when it does. “Unknown number.” Grinning, I answer. “Hello?”

The person on the other end, Ethan, sucks in a breath. “Wick?”

“Ethan.” It’s him. My Ethan . “I’ve waited so long to hear your voice.” Hear my name on your lips.

“Can we video chat?”

“Yeah.”

Almost immediately, we’re switched over and I’m looking into his perfect blue eyes.

“I wanted to look at you,” he says, and it seems like he’s sitting on a bench in a garden. He probably is. “I dream about you every night. It’s a relief to find out you’re real and not a figment of my imagination to block out trauma.”

I laugh because that’s exactly something he’d say. “Florence said you don’t know who I am. I hope to change that.”

“Same. I hate not having all my memories, especially ones I’m expecting to be pleasant once they’re all back.”

“They should be.” I can’t remember one bad memory between us.

“Tell me about us, Wick.”

The request throws me off-guard. “You’re my little witch that lights up my world with your smiles and curiosity. We’re stronger than this memory lock, I know it. We may be different people now, but I know in my heart we’re meant to be.”

“I think so, too.” And that grin I cherish so much graces his perfect face.

“Did you look through everything I sent you?”

“Not yet.” He leans in and whispers into the receiver. “They’re all watching me. I gave Pike a big bag for you and he snorted. Lark said he has something I need to know, but I had to see if I could talk to you first. We’ll get through this, okay? Nothing can keep us apart now, okay? Call me or text me any time. I’m working on my grandmother. I gave her an ultimatum. If she doesn’t drop the barrier, I’m telling the coven what she did.”

“Sold her soul,” I whisper.

“Exactly. Are you going to the masquerade party?”

“I wasn’t, but I am now, if you’re going.”

“I’ll fucking be there, Wick, with bells on. Okay, maybe not with bells on. That could be annoying.” Another heart-stopping grin. “I need to go talk to Lark so they can bring you my goodies. Do you wanna stay on the line?”

“If you’re okay with it.” I never want to let him go.

“Totally okay.” He pushes to his feet. I’ve never been to the Speller labyrinth, but I imagine it’s gorgeous. “Hey, thanks for letting me talk to him first. I’m ready.” Lark, Pike, and Florence all come into view.

“What do you know about freeing crossroads demons?” Lark starts and I suck in a breath. I hadn’t imagined that’s what he wanted to talk about, but I should have known.

“Absolutely nothing, but I’m eager to learn.”

Lark bounces on his toes. “You just have to destroy the crossroads.”

“That’s it?” Ethan asks.

“That’s it. I scratched our initials into the sign of Pike’s crossroads. He got sucked into some freaky magic and spit out like he’d been reborn. Now he’s an incubus.”

“Is that what Wick is, too?”

“Dunno,” Pike says. “We’re all actually a different demon type, but unless we’re freed from our crossroads we don’t know what we are. Most of us suspect Wick is part angel like Gabe, but we’ll never know until he’s free.”

“Do you want to be freed?” Ethan asks. “Being a crossroads demon is a lot of power.”

“Yes. I want two things in my life. You and?—”

“Freedom,” Lark says. “He can’t say it without consequences.”

Silently, I thank the Fae.

“Then, freedom you will have. Where is your crossroads?”

Lark and Pike sigh together, and it’s Lark once again that opens his mouth. “He can’t tell you and none of the other crossroads demons can tell you or even know where it is.”

“But Pike isn’t a crossroads demon anymore,” Ethan points out.

“No, but I never knew where it was to begin with.” Pike shrugs. “I’d tell you if I did.”

“Okay, just a tiny kink. We’ll figure it out. Can I get a hint?”

“I’ve never tried that.” I push to my feet. “Mine is a gravel crossroads.” We all wait and hold our breaths to see if my mouth and nose disappear. When nothing happens, I continue. “You used to walk to me with a giant backpack. I could see your house from my crossroads. Well, Cordia’s house.”

“That narrows things down quite a bit. And the semester is over for a long fall break, so I should have plenty of time to search.”

“We’ll make it, Wick. I promise.”

Ethan keeps his promises. My heart settles, knowing we’re in this together again. “We will.”

“Okay, I gave Pike my gifts to you. I haven’t looked at what you sent me yet. I want to look through things together, unless you think that’s too cheesy?”

“Not at all.” I blink, trying to will my tears away. “Will one of you hug him for me?”

Lark crosses over to hug Ethan and squeezes Florence’s hand.

“Thank you for all this,” Ethan says.

Lark takes Pike’s hand and they’re in front of me again, as if they hadn’t left. Lark rushes over to me and hugs me. I breathe in Ethan’s scent. It’s a hint of cinnamon with a dash of something more masculine I can never figure out.

“Thank you,” I croak out and Pike hands me a tote bag nearly as big as the one I sent to him. I snort and Frankie hops off the couch with a grumble when I pat her bottom to move.

“I hope you like everything,” Ethan says from the cellphone. I’m assuming Florence holds the phone because he’s on the ground, using the bench as a table as he spreads out all my gifts.

Pike snatches my phone from me so I can rummage through the bag. The first thing out is a container of Jolly Ranchers, all cherry. “How?!”

“I dunno, I had a feeling and went with it.” Ethan gasps as he holds up the bag of sugar cookies I baked fresh this afternoon. “My favorite.” He snorts. “But I guess you knew that?”

“I did. And knowing you, you haven’t had any in a while.”

“Years,” Florence says from behind the phone.

The next thing he pulls from the bag are a few photos I had Sparkle take of me this afternoon, then I printed off. I figured Sparkle knew what the best angles would be with how he likes to preen for others, and I was right. Though he wanted me to get naked, I just wasn’t comfortable with that. And I didn’t think Ethan actually wanted naked pictures. “You are exquisite, Wick.”

My cheeks heat and I’m not sure if he can see it through the phone camera, but my brother whistles.

I pull a few more things from the bag and gasp at a copy of a book I haven’t been able to find for ages. “Again, how?! This one’s impossible to find.”

“Another guess. I had it in my collection and I’ve read it so much I have it memorized. So I wanted to pass it along. My gut told me you’d appreciate it.”

I hold it to my chest. “I’ll cherish it forever.”

Pike snorts above me, but Lark elbows him. “Do you forget how I cherish your first gifts to me?”

The demon blushes and bends down to kiss Lark. “Forgive me?”

“Of course,” Lark and I both say together.

Gift after gift is like we never stopped being together. It’s like Ethan can look into my soul without us being near. I take my phone from Pike.

“Can we have some privacy?” I ask and push to my feet.

Ethan takes the phone from Florence and takes a few steps into the maze.

“It’s like we never separated,” I say.

“I want my fucking memories back,” Ethan says, tears streaming down his face. “I want to know why I don’t know you, and I feel like my heart’s been ripped out at the same time.”

“We’ll be together again. I know it in my bones.”

“I do too. And I’ll be at that masquerade party whether my grandmother approves or not. I’ll find a way, so wait for me.”

“Until the end of the world.”

Ethan’s crooked smile soothes my sadness. He yawns.

“It’s been a lot of adventure for you, my little witch. Off to bed with you.”

“I know you’re right, but I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’m here, just a call or text away.”

“I’ll take you up on that. And the first thing I’m doing when I wake up is searching for your crossroads.”

“Don’t wear yourself out, Ethan. I want to dance with you at the party.” I keep kissing to myself.

“I want that, too. So much dancing. It’ll be great. But before that I’ll be texting you nonstop. Something has to trigger my memories.”

I hope he’s right. “But for now, you need sleep, my sweet Ethan.”

“Good night, my demon.”

“Night, little witch.”