Chapters (50)
- Cover
- Roc Books by Jacqueline Carey
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
I wondered, too. But right now I had more pressing matters to deal with. Stooping, I finished gathering the scattered contents of my messenger bag. I wrapped up the graveyard dirt, coffin nail, and tooth in the tissue and stuffed it gingerly back into the leather sack, ready to dump it back out at the first twinge of pain. I wouldn’t even have bothered if the nail wasn’t already poking holes in the tissue. But it seemed that Jojo had spoken the truth, and the charm was well and truly broken.
“So what happens now, Daise?” Jen asked me.
I took a deep breath, slinging my bag over my shoulder. “First, I need to tell Casimir that he can call off the coven. Second, I need to talk to Sinclair before I confront Emmy. I can’t leave him out of this. He needs to decide where he stands.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Jen offered. “Because I’ll be there if you do.”
“I know.” I gave her a quick hug. “You’re the best. This, I think I can handle. But I couldn’t have gotten through this morning without you. Don’t tell anyone how badly I freaked out, okay?”
She returned my hug, then did the lock-the-lips-and-throw-away-the-key gesture. “I’ll take it to the grave, Hel’s liaison.”
It was the first time Jen had ever called me by my title, and I have to admit it felt a little weird. Not bad, just . . . weird.
“Thanks,” I said. “Consider yourself the first member of my own personal Scooby Gang.”
Like most everyone else our age in Pemkowet, Jen and I had grown up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. “That would be a lot cooler if I wasn’t totally the Xander.” She smiled wryly. “No skills to offer but loyalty and a smart mouth.”
“Yeah, and life would be a lot easier if I had Slayer super strength,” I said. “But we make do with what we’ve got.”
“True,” Jen agreed. “And it could be worse. We could be stuck with Stacey Brooks as our unlikely mean girl ally Cordelia.”
I shuddered. “Perish the thought.”
Seventeen
As soon as Jen left, I hustled back to the Sisters of Selene to update Casimir. Beneath his heavy makeup, he flushed with anger. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut for the space of a few breaths, his long, crimson-lacquered nails digging into the counter.
“Daisy, I am so sorry,” he said when he’d collected himself. “I jumped to a conclusion when I should have taken the time to do the research.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I lost my temper and it made me careless. I should never have left my bag unattended, not with dauda-dagr in it. And you warned me that you didn’t know a lot about obeah.”