Page 49 of Wicked Warlock
“Dustwick heir. I’ve been expecting you.” She looked over my shoulder at Kylian. “Dark Prince.”
She crooked her finger, inviting me toward her tent. Kylian lowered his voice. “You sure about this one?”
“I’m sure.”
The crone held the flap of her own tent open, and I walked past her and right in. At the sight of her stone altar covered in blood, I knew I was in the right place. Dark magic wasn’t our normal way, but to get what I needed I would make it mine. Skeletons of animals hung from the ceiling by long frayed strings. Threadbare rugs covered the ground, each one overlapping the next. A single broken-down couch sat at the far end of the tent.
She hobbled past me. “What brings the mighty to my tent?”
Right down to business. I could do that. “I need you to remove a soulmate mark.”
The crone chuckled and remarked, “There is a price to pay.”
It would be well worth it. “I will pay it.”
“I want death.” She hobbled toward me, moving faster than I thought possible. She placed her thumb on my forehead and suddenly I wasn’t in the tent anymore. I was in an alley. It was dark and cold. A woman screamed and I hurried toward her just as a man came running out. He collided with my shoulder and stumbled back. I got a clear look at his face—shit-brown eyes, shit-brown hair, and scruffy five o’clock shadow. He turned and sprinted for the street. I hurried farther into the alley where the woman lay on the ground, tugging her dress back down into place. She curled in on herself and tears streamed down her face. I walked toward her. Suddenly, there was a sharp flick on my forehead, and I was back in the tent with Kylian and the crone staring at me.
“Is he the one?” I ground my teeth together.
She gave me a single nod. “He too will pay a price for his actions.”
The world would be a better place. I cracked my knuckles. “What’s one more?”
Chapter 24
Astrid
“We have to go now!”
Tuck nodded. “How do we get to him?”
Ophelia and Cross ran up to us and she threw a pendulum at me. “With this.” She waved a laminated rolled-up piece of paper at me. “And this.”
“How does it work?” I held up the pendulum and let the purple-colored crystal dangle from the long, thin silvery chain.
Ophelia unfurled the paper, revealing a map of the world. She laid it on the edge of fountain, holding down the corners to flatten it. “All you have to do is hold the pendulum over it and ask it to show you where he is. It should do it with no problem.”
“But my powers are gone.” I shook my head. I needed this to work now and fast. “One of you should do it.”
“It’ll work for you, Astrid.” She nodded toward the map. “You’ll see.”
I took a deep breath, trying to quiet my worry for him and just focus on where he was. I let the pendulum drop down and it started to circle wildly. Show me where Beckett is. The pendulum swung around and around then shot from my hand and came to stand on its point in the middle of the mountains in upstate New York.
“Why would he be there?” I looked up at Cross, Ophelia, and Tuck.
Just then Maze and Zinnia burst from one of the hallways and charged out into the courtyard. Maze looked pale and shaken while Zinnia was breathless with her face full of worry. Maze sucked in a breath and blew it back out. “Time for you all to leave.”
Ice ran through my veins, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that my world would be turned upside down. “What? What’d you see?”
His face paled. “It wasn’t good. It’s very chaotic. You need to get to him before he does something else.”
“Something else? What’s he already done?” They all stood there silent as the grave.
Maze shook his head and didn’t answer. “I’ll call if things become clearer.”
Logan jogged out toward us. He stopped and sucked in deep breaths. He’d already been through so much.
“You don’t have to come with us. You should rest. You’ve been through a lot.”
