We passed the foot-high wall that divided the graveyard from the backyard. Pixies were everywhere, the sunlight flashing on their wings. This was really uncomfortable, but who else could I talk to? My mom? “So,” I said softly, angling us to the tall gate that led to the street, “you think it’s my fault she went running to Piscary? Because I can’t bring myself to hurt her if she loses control and I won’t sleep with her?”

Keasley grunted. “Ivy thinks like a vampire. You should start thinking like a witch.”

“You mean like a charm?” I offered, recalling Ivy’s aversion to them, then flushed at the eagerness in my voice. “Maybe one to mute her hunger or calm her without hurting her?”

His head went up and down, and I slowed our pace, seeing him start to labor. “So what are you going to do?” he asked, his hand landing on my shoulder. “I mean today.”

“Plan something out and go get her,” I admitted. I didn’t know what to think anymore.

He was silent. Then, “If you try, he’ll tighten his grip on her.”

I went to protest, and he pulled me to a stop, facing me. His dark eyes were thick with warning. “You walk in there, and Piscary will make her kill you. Trust her to get herself out. Piscary is her master, but you are her friend, and she still has her soul.”

“Trust her?” I said, shocked he thought I should do nothing. “I can’t leave her there. He blood-raped her the last time she said no when he told her to kill me.”

A soft hand on my shoulder pushed us into motion. “Trust her,” he said simply. “She trusts you.” His chest rose and fell in a sigh. “Rachel, if she walks away from Piscary without someone to assume his protection, the first undead vampire she runs into will use and abuse her.”

“Like Piscary isn’t abusing her?” I scoffed.

“She needs protection as much as you do,” he chided. “And if you can’t give her that, you shouldn’t condemn her for sticking with the only person who can.”

Put that way, it made sense. But I didn’t like it. Especially when, if you thought about it, Piscary was protecting me through her. Oh, swell…

“Give her a reason for her to get herself out and she’ll stand with you,” Keasley said as we reached the wooden gate. “You know what that will make her?”

“No,” I said, thinking it made me a coward.

He smiled at my sour expression, then took his thermos out of the bucket. “It will make her into someone no one can manipulate. It’s who she wants to be.”

“This is crap,” I said as he lifted the latch and the gate opened. “She needs my help!”