10. Pike

Chapter 10

Pike

It takes a few slices for Trick to realize I'm not here to do unspeakable things to him. He keeps side-eyeing me as he wanders the roof. I let him do as he pleases since I'm not sure how often he gets the freedom.

"Drake will be mad if I fly away," Trick says as he sits in the seat beside me. His big blue-gray eyes look up at me as if to challenge him.

"As long as you're still tethered to him, he'll always find you. And you can't leave town if you want to live."

"I can hide in the woods. Drake hates the outdoors."

"He may hate the outdoors, but he doesn't need to go searching for you. He just needs to tug on the tether and you'll be back in his clutches like the other night."

Trick slumps and takes another slice of pizza. "He wasn't so bad in the beginning. But I don't know what happened. I did everything he asked me to. Then he started hitting me. And…" Trick squeezes his eyes shut. "He started hurting Ava because of me. I don't know how to make it up to her."

The knowledge breaks my heart. "I'm so sorry, Trick. Some people are just rotten."

"Drake's rotten to the core." Trick finishes his slice and tips his face to the sun. His wings glitter in the light. His hair rides softly on the wind.

I want to put him at ease, so I chose to tell him my story. "We're alike, you and I."

His brows scrunch. "I don't understand. You're a crossroads demon with freedom."

I snort as I swallow my last bite. "How wrong you are. I have more freedom than you do, yes. But I'm bound to a crossroads. And unlike the rest of my brethren, I was bound at fifteen instead of twenty."

"Why?"

"I was a dumb kid and pranked the king of the crossroads demons. Which may have resulted in a part of his tail needing to be amputated. I swear the prank never should have gotten as out of hand as it did, but it did. Poe punished me by binding me to a crossroads at fifteen instead of twenty, like everyone else. Fifteen-year-olds, demons or not, aren't mature or wise enough to take on the burden of a crossroads."

"I'm sorry." Trick holds out his hand and I take it.

"It's okay. Poe and I are on great terms now. It probably has more to do with the fact that my first deal I snagged a soul. No demon of any type has been able to bargain for a soul in at least two centuries. Poe gave me a house and let me pick a Hellhound, and he's been friendly ever since. But the problem is I haven't had a deal since that first one. No one has summoned me until you."

"And I can't even make a deal. Will my soul work? When it's free, I mean." Trick's voice is soft. He's nibbling on his bottom lip and staring off into space when I look at him.

I rub my thumb along his. "We'll come to that later. Right now, we need to focus on getting rid of the tether so you can make a deal."

"How do we do that?"

I explain what Poe told me and watch as Trick's shoulders slump and his wings droop.

"I have no idea what the anchor might be or how to create a new tether."

"Neither do I." My tail slithers and wraps around Trick's waist. "Sorry about that."

The most joyous laugh bubbles from Trick. "No problem." His grin is infectious. "At the Winter Court, there was a demon guard that used to pick me up with his tail. I was a kid, and it was like a ride."

"So you grew up in the Winter Court?"

Trick nods. "I was born in the Autumn Court, but mother moved us to the Winter Court when my brother and I started getting older. She never was too sure who our fathers are, and she didn't want us to commit accidental incest should our tastes lean towards men. Like I said before, I was a courtesan-in-training." His smile drops. "The day I fell through the veil, my brother was introduced to the Winter Court as a courtesan. I ran off with a boy my age during the party. We… had plans. But?—"

"You fell through the veil and couldn't get back."

"It sealed behind me." Trick pushes to his feet and paces in front of me. "I thought I just tripped, but everything was so different when I got to my feet. The other boy wasn't there. Drake was. He had iron shackles and I don't know. I couldn't understand him and he talked so softly I thought he was a good guy. He said something and nodded, so I nodded, too. He put the shackles on me, pricked my finger, and made me drink some weird concoction."

My heart drops. "Fuck." I pace next to him. "He must have asked you something that needed consent."

"But I didn't understand him. That's not consent."

"No, it's not." I stop and Trick bumps into me. I face him and get lost in his eyes. "We'll figure it out."

"Is there a way for you to be unbound from your crossroads?" Trick's question throws me off and I take a few steps back. "I'm sorry." He holds his hands up. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"No. Noone has ever asked me that. I don't think anyone has ever asked a crossroads demon that question. Everyone assumes we're happy as we are. But we're cursed. We're not supposed to be crossroads demons. Every one of us comes from a line of demons that pissed off the king of the realm. We're cursed to a crossroads until?—"

My lips seal shut and I forget to take a deep breath before magic steals my mouth and nose. Trick gasps and stumbles back. I always forget we're not allowed to tell how to free us. I hold up my hands. Hopefully, Trick understands everything is okay. Don't be afraid, I try to tell him with my eyes.

"You can't tell me, can you?"

I shake my head. Trick watches as my nose and mouth slowly come back. I take a breath, trying to keep from sucking it in harshly. Trick grabs a water bottle from a cooler I hadn't noticed and passes it to me.

"What if that's our bargain? You get me home and I free you, too?"

I swallow a too big mouthful of water and choke. Trying to imagine Trick destroying my crossroads is comical, but if he's free from Drake's influence, his magic will be stronger.

"It's not a ridiculous idea," Trick says.

"Went down wrong," I wheeze out.

"Oh. Okay. I'm not a weakling." He crosses his arms and I can't help the grin. If I don't watch it, he'll steal my heart.

"Never thought you were weak."

"Good. Because I'm not." Trick nods and plops back into the seat by the table.

We talk for hours until the sun goes down and Trick starts to yawn. I have no idea how long we've been outside, but he seems brighter for all the sun he's gotten.

I teleport us back to our designated room and immediately hate the idea of leaving him at noon. But what can I do? I let Frankie back in. She promptly lopes over to the bed and crawls in. Trick laughs and follows suit, then pets the bed beside him. "There's plenty of room for all three of us."

Trick cuddles up to Frankie, and she licks my cheek as I lay next to her. What would life be like if this is what I had to look forward to every day?