Chapter 19

19

I kept staring at the front window of my apartment, sensing someone inside.

I hoped it was Chas, not a pack member sent to annoy and harass me. I needed my books and a reading from the best witch in Baton Rouge. I heard nothing from Chas since Thorn brought her to his safe house, and I’m not sure, gauging from her last reaction, how she’ll feel about me showing up here.

Chastity might not be comfortable with me working for Thorn or the Syndicate, but she’s one of the few who’s managed to stay out of paranormal conflicts all this time, which makes me trust Chas over anyone else who could help track the missing piece. She’s been my ally the whole time.

Standing before my door, I got hit with the fragrance of simmering herbs.

I knocked and hoped I wasn’t hit by a Voodoo spell preventing me from entering my home. But no. The door opened. Chastity poked her head around the corner out of the kitchen. “I was expecting you. I’ve started without you.”

“You started what?”

She shot me a skeptical glance. “Are you serious? Your frustration took over my cards, and if I want a decent reading about the burning issues in my life, we’ve got to clear that up. So, I’ll help.”

“Wait. Aren’t you worried about getting corrupted by the Hand?”

Chastity’s mouth twitched. “It’s true you can’t stay long, and I spent hours taking a smudge stick to this place to cleanse it from your last visit, but Mama gave me a protection talisman. So let’s do this, and get it done.”

I surveyed the spread on the kitchen island, and my eyes strayed to the Queen of Cups. “I will never understand why you think I’m a cup with my hair.”

“Cards don’t always follow physical types. At times they signify personality and qualities. And you, my friend, will do anything for love. I’m Pentacles. Kye is the Knave of Swords, and your new boss Thorn—”

“King of Swords?”

“King of Cups. But I can’t say why, just yet.” She stirred the pot of simmering herbs on the stove. “This is a cleansing potion. The vapor floating through the apartment should dissipate—” She looked at me and pursed her lips.

What the hell? Did Chastity brew a magical air freshener to guard against me? But my best friend ignored my pointed stare and said, “What sense do you get from him?”

I shrugged and turned my attention to the spread and tried to interpret the reading the way she taught me. “Hey, this Six of Pentacles is in a weird spot. What does it mean?”

Chastity wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and draped it over her shoulder. “Something you’ll acquire that comes at a cost. Pentacles is money, right? And this is all a quest for you, so it could be something as simple as a toll bridge when you don’t have money on you, or it could be purchasing an item but being asked double what it’s worth.”

“So, it means a costly choice.”

“Uh, huh.” She tapped the counter. “When I was reading for myself, and you came up, the reading took a turn. What happened in the bayou?”

The horrible sight of Peta laying in an anguished Marvin’s arms struck me again. Whoever drew me out to the swamp was responsible for those deaths. “Where to begin? Someone tried to trick me. They must know about the artifact we’re searching for and are trying to stop me from getting it, but they can’t just use it as I did.”

“Why did you?” She sighed. “That’s the part I don’t understand.”

“When Kye sent me through a floor into the bayou, I nearly drowned. The artifact merged with me and saved my life. But now, I have to get it out of me, and I need all the pieces to do it.”

“Then let’s get this started.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with this? Because I intended just to pick up a few things?”

Chas closed her eyes and sighed. I got that helping me went against Chastity’s beliefs, but she was doing it anyway.

“A friend needs me. I can’t go into Syndicate houses or get in bar fights with the wolves, but I’ll help you find your artifact.” She sniffed the air and glanced toward the pot. “But not for about ten minutes.”

“I’ll grab a shower.”

“Here,” she said. Chastity reached into a cupboard and handed me a red-wrapped bar with a devil as an illustration and the legend, “Banish Evil Bar.” I stared at it.

“What does this do?”

“Just as it says. And gives a protective aura for a short while.”

I scratched my head. I’d seen nothing like it.

“It looks commercially made.”

“Mama recommended it. Now go take care of your business, because roomie, you stink.”

The bath suggestion wasn’t about body odor, not when the soap your roomie gave you specifically banished wickedness. I didn’t appreciate being treated like a dog that ran through the mud, but if it kept Chas happy, I’d do it.

“The bayou can have that effect.”

I headed to the bathroom and stared at my reflection. Nothing external had changed, but Chastity knew I was coming. It was new for my bestie to track me, which must also be due to my newly unlocked abilities.

I showered quickly, not even waiting for the water to get hot, and changed into a pair of terry shorts and a tank top. Pulling half my arcana library down, I search for a tracking spell that will separate the relic from any other magic used to hide it.

The scent of Chas’s concoction wafted through the house, spreading sunshine, light, and whatnot. Smudge sticks, magical evil deodorizer, and a banish evil soap bar? Way to make a gal feel welcome.

A bottle of wine later, I’m smudging the apartment with burning sage as Chastity cleansed and charged her cards. She could get drunk where I could not, but I enjoyed the taste. Always the good helper, I switched to snack duty and opened the next bottle. For us, alcohol and witchcraft mix. I don’t make the rules, but I love them, especially when Chastity has the foresight to pick up a nice Gewurztraminer.

“Bring the snacks. Magical work makes me hungry.” Chas sat at the counter and poured another glass of wine from the fresh bottle. She wiggled her eyebrows. “Keep the witch happy, and she’ll make you happy.”

I set a tray full of sliced and soft cheese, nuts and fresh berries, fig jam, and honey in the center of the counter and grabbed a pack of crackers and crostini from the pantry. “Stuff your face, kid, there’s more in the fridge.”

“When did you go shopping?”

I glance at her, then at the food. “I didn’t. I thought you bought all this.”

She loaded her plate and bit into a strawberry. “There are perks working for Mr. Thorn. His people take care of you.” She dug into the brie. “But is the reward worth the risk of the jobs you’re doing? That’s a right mess you’ve gotten yourself into with the Hand of Belial.”

I sputtered a laugh. “Yeah, it is, but we knew that already. Thorn’s actually been civil about it though.”

Chastity huffed with irritation.

“All right, party time’s over. Let’s get you the location of the artifact and out of this apartment. I don’t want to be up past midnight smudging this place again.”

She shuffled her cards with a dexterity a Vegas croupier would envy. For the briefest moment, I consider telling her about my ‘other’ mark, but considering her freakout at Thorn’s safe house and knowing it won’t help Chas to like Thorn at all, I zip it and get the map out for her tracking spell.

“Where’s the scrying pendant I gave you?” She reached for it as I pulled the clear quartz from my pocket. She held it between her fingers, and I waited quietly.

“Okay,” she says finally, focusing on the spell she cast. “I think this next… artifact… it didn’t sink in the harbor when whatever ship it was on went down.”

I shot Chas a skeptical glance. This observation went way beyond card reading.

“And did you get the name of the ship?” I’m saying this facetiously, but she answered in all seriousness.

“The Eclipse, yes. It was a werewolf-run smuggling boat that—”

“Are you kidding? How do you know that?” How could she have figured all that out from the single tracking spell?

“The spell makes me know things I can’t explain.” She shrugged. “Okay, history lesson later, nerd, magic time now.”

I feigned offense, but she’ll ask me about it at some unrelated time and be my very own TED talk audience as I geek out about the history of the wolves in the region.

She frowned.

“Yes. It supposedly sank on a boat, but when I went to the area where the boat was, I didn’t find the relic, only a hollow echo.”

“What else?”

I shrugged. Again, I’m unwilling to tell the tale of Peta’s death. When I think of it, I’m sick at heart and not at all proud that I, or rather the Hand, had a part in her demise.

When did I start hiding things from Chastity?

“There’s a huge amount of power behind the hiding spell, sweetie. Are you sure you want to track it without Thorn at your back?”

“No. I’m just a contractor.”

OMG, it’s became far too easy to lie to my bestie.

“And he’s busy. Or, as he told me, ‘You don’t need me, and I have a business to run.’”

She touched the end of the pendant to the moon-charged salt water and handed it back to me. “Okay, you know what to do. Focus on the relic, relax, and let the pendant fall where it may.”

I took a deep breath, cleared my mind as she taught me, and opened my thoughts to the relic. The mark between my breasts warmed, distracting me, and I glanced up at Chastity to see if she noticed.

“Just breathe and focus.” She isn’t even watching me. Chas kept her eyes glued to the pendant dangling over the atlas map.

I concentrated again, and the necklace slowly spiraled, then faster, then wider, until it appeared to be swung it in circles though I hadn’t twitched a muscle. Chas muttered a few words, and the wild swinging tightens again, pulling the entire chain down to the map.

“Well, this could be a problem,” she said.

I opened my eyes and peered at the point on the map she had marked with a highlighter.

“That’s the trade district?” I asked.

“Yes.” The corner of Chastity’s mouth twitched, and her forehead wrinkled as she stared at the map as if attempting to divine more intel than the ordered lines on the map provided.

“Why did your forehead crinkle? Is there a problem?”

“Only if you don’t have anything to trade.”

I scratched my chin, wishing I had a deep understanding of the cards that Chas possessed. I think she’s missing parts of the message, but not having been trained in card reading, I can’t second-guess the professional.

“Can you tell me who traded it?”

Chastity shook her head as if trying to shake off a bad feeling as she picked up the cards from the table and deftly shuffled them.

She pulls out the cards, and I roll the map up and set it aside out of the way. Chastity shuffled before pulling three cards, then five, then laying several out in an array I know is a spread Chas created.

“I’m not the High Priestess, am I?”

“Not this time. This is a woman of incredible power, beautiful and vicious, and her plan will turn the world upside down.”

“The entire world?” I scoffed. “Sounds like it’s above my pay grade.”

Chas sighed. “No, chérie. She will turn your world upside down.”

As if summoned, the one woman I’ve ever been jealous of came to mind.

“Could the high priestess be a demon? I was recently introduced to a succubus by the name of Samara.”

She reshuffled the deck and set out a row of three cards. The High Priestess, the Devil, and the Queen of Swords.

“Well, shit. No Cups, huh?”

“Oh no, chérie. You must fight for this one.”

I pull up the map of the trade district on my phone and focus on seeking. “I think I know where to look. Anyone I should be wary of in the black market or is this the easy part?” I grinned at her.

She doesn’t laugh. Nor did she return my smile.

“Moira,” she said with deadly seriousness. “Si waka ka!”

My smile faded. Chas was right because this situation was nothing to joke about. To find this demonic artifact in the black market, I need to deal with Moira. Compared to Chas’ Good Witch of the North, she’s the Wicked Witch of the East. Besides having her fingers in nearly every black magic black market deal, she hated the pack and the Syndicate. And she extracted a high price for her cooperation.

I’m in deepkaka.