Page 45 of Wicked Ties
“Do it fast.” Tilly sniffed the air and moved away from me. A loud crash and screams came from outside the tent. “Hurry.”
She froze in front of the shelf, like she couldn’t help herself. I turned toward the bottles and let my magic flow over them. I wanted to surround them in my own power, hoping it would cut them off from her power just like we did her protection spell. I could only pray that she was weakened and distracted enough and that my power was strong enough. As soon as they glowed with my neon-magic, I reached up and plucked one down. I cradled it into the crook of my arm, then grabbed the other two. When I turned back around, Tilly stood there with a thick book in her hands. It had gold, glittering pages. She wrapped both of her arms around it and held it to her chest like it was the most precious thing.
“What’d you get?”
Before she could answer, another explosion came from outside and the tent flew off of us. We stood there face-to-face with the Crone. Her eyes widened at the sight of me, then she swung her gaze to Tilly. I ran to jump in front of her, but Tilly turned and ran across the clearing with her demon speed. She was far away in a blur, then she scribbled something on the ground and tapped on it twice with her foot. The ground opened under her and she dropped into the hole, disappearing from sight.
“NO!” The Crone launched herself across the field, and just as the ground began to close up, she dove in headfirst right after Tilly. The ground closed and they were both gone.
Dead silence descended. We all stared at where they’d disappeared. My heart sank into my stomach, and panic assailed my body. “What in the actual hell?”
CHAPTER 19
TILLY
Roses? Daisies? Petunias? What is that?
Flowers of all scents swarmed my senses. I lay on the ground gazing up at the bright blue sky. Where am I? Wispy white clouds drifted over the sky in happy little patterns. A gentle breeze ruffled my hair, and the sound of birds chirping and bees buzzing was a symphony of peace here. I still held the book of contracts in my arms and squeezed it tighter. The smell of the River Styx is what drew me to it. When I was a demon, that smell was imbedded in my mind. When I found the contracts, I knew exactly what they were, and I needed them. This was for Maze. He deserved it. Sure, I wanted my spirit back, but some things were more important.
I sat up, and tiny flowers crept up my hand, over my arm, and wound themselves into my tangled hair. They bloomed big and colorful. A butterfly flitted in front of me and landed on my nose for just a moment before flitting away. When I rose to my feet, the flowers spread around me and parted. The garden spanned as far as the eye could see, rows and rows of flowers, with birds and bees happily flying around. There, just a few rows over, stood Liesin. He was bent over a tulip with a small watering can in his hand.
It wasn’t a big bulky one. No, this one was bright green with his name written in pretty bubble letters. The best part of all was that the I’s were dotted with little hearts. He continued to pour the water on the flower and didn’t even look up at me. “What do you want?”
I pointed to the watering can. “Very nice.” When he only glared at me, I continued. “Where am I?”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “This is my mother’s garden. She’s in the underworld. I’m making sure it doesn’t die.”
A chuckled escaped my lips. “With that?”
He moved to the next flower and sprinkled it with water. “She’s my mom, shut up.”
I stared at him for long moments, and he still didn’t say anything. “I thought we would be in the underworld. You know . . . fire. . . brimstone . . . lava.”
Liesin groaned. “Shows how much you know. This is my mother’s garden. They will die. No one wants to see an upset Persephone. There was an incident 453 years ago, and my father said it can’t happen again.”
This place was amazingly beautiful, peaceful, lovely. If I wasn’t in such a hurry to get things taken care of, I would linger here among the peace. “Can we go back there?”
A scream broke the silence, and the Crone shot out of the hole in the ground like a cannon ball. I tightened my grip on the book and braced for impact. She crashed into me, and we tumbled across several rows of flowers. Dirt flew in all directions and a huge trench stretched the length of her tackle.
Liesin cursed and marched toward us. But the Crone wailed and straddled my hips. She wrapped her hands around the book and yanked. It was like a kitten trying to paw at a lion. My lingering demon strength made my grip like a vise.
Liesin stood over us, his face turned a bright red and he opened his hand. The Crone lifted up in the air and froze there, not breathing. Her eyes widened and her breath hitched. He leaned away from her and looked her up and down.
“Aren’t you interesting. Feeding off souls that don’t belong to you to live. Wonder what Hades would think of that?” He motioned to the garden. “Wonder what my mother would think of this mess you’ve made?”
I scrambled to my feet, and he cast her aside. The garden consumed her, wrapping her in long thorny vines and tightening around her body. Huge leaves covered her mouth and stopped her from talking.
Liesin turned toward me. “What have you done?”
I sucked in a breath and brushed the dirt from Maze’s jacket. “This book is full of contracts for every deal she’s ever made in a thousand years, and they are all souls. I figured you might want them. You’re a soul guy. I need to save someone special to me. Thought you might want to make a deal.”
His eyes lingered on the book. “What kind of deal?”
I opened it and leafed through the golden pages. “I thought you might be able to destroy contracts dealing with souls.”
Liesin snorted. “You came to me to destroy them all?”
“I came here to get you to help me destroy one of them, and in exchange for that, I’ll give you the rest of these as a thank-you for destroying the one.” I wagged the book at him like I was in some kind of cheesy infomercial. But wait, there’s more!
