Page 30 of Soothsayer

I got into the driver’s seat, turned us around, and drove off into the night.

Chapter Sixteen

The smart thing to do would have been to keep going, in line with my original plan. After what happened with the cop, though, my eyes burned like my body was trying to cry and my magic just wouldn’t let it. The guilt didn’t abate after two hours, and I wasn’t about to hand the keys over to Sören again, so I pulled off the highway at the next hole-in-the-wall motel I saw.

“Why are we stopping?”

I didn’t say anything, just got out of the car and slammed the door shut. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to that fucking dick right now. I headed into the tiny front office, where a boy who couldn’t be more than eighteen looked up from his video game a little incredulously.

“Seriously?”

“I need a room for a few hours.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Dude, we’re not that kind of hotel.”

I sighed. I was so done with dealing with smartasses for one night. “I need a room. Period. Full fucking stop. How much?”

“We have to charge you for the full night.”

I put both my hands on the counter and leaned in. “How. Much?”

The kid didn’t intimidate easily. “Twenty-nine ninety-nine. Hey, why is your car bouncing up and down?”

I didn’t even turn around. I didn’t want to know. “Because there’s a freak with a short attention span in it.” I passed him thirty bucks. “Key.”

He rummaged behind the counter for a key. “Look, whatever your buddy is on, don’t let him shoot up in the room, okay? We had a heroin addict miss a vein last week, and she got blood all over the walls. Mom doesn’t like it when she has to wear a face mask to clean the rooms.” He handed me the key, attached to a battered plastic tag. “Number eighteen, last one on the left.”

“Thanks.” I turned around, and sure enough, Sören was sitting on the back of the car and bouncing it up and down. I throttled back the urge to murder him. It wouldn’t take, and I’d probably just die myself as a result, but—yeah.

“Knock it off,” I said as I rejoined him outside. The lingering warmth of the day had finally petered out, and I was chilly now.

“I’ve seen video where cars do this, except those ones leapt much higher into the air,” Sören said, still bouncing.

“Those cars are specialized. All you’re doing right now is ruining my friend’s shocks. So stop.” He stopped, to my surprise, and I reached in and got my duffel bag out of the back. “Our room is this way.”

“We’re getting a room?” Sören smiled brightly. “Are we going to have sex now?”

“Oh my god.” I wasn’t equipped to deal with this right now, I just wasn’t. It was too much. “No. Not going to happen.” I stalked off toward the room.

Sören trailed along behind me. “Why not?”

“Because,” I said as I inserted the key in the lock. The edges were worn down so far they were barely enough to get the pins to move, but it worked eventually. I stepped inside and said a silent thanks for the strong smell of bleach in the room. Bleach was better than a lot of what I’d smelled in other places like this.

“Because why?”

I turned on Sören, who was shutting the door with a look of distaste on his face. Apparently bleach wasn’t so comforting to him. “What are you, five years old?”

He looked at me, and his expression went still as misty purple rose up in his eyes. I froze. “Older than you,” he said, an edge of hollowness back in his voice. “Older than all of your short-lived kind. I was old when humans first stepped foot on our land of fire and ice. Consider that, as you seek to chastise me.”

I wasn’t going to apologize, but I couldn’t afford to be an asshole either. I tamped down on both my fear and my aggravation. “We’re not going to have sex because I don’t want to do that with you.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No.”

“You’ve had sex with this body numerous times.”

I shook my head. “That was with Sören, not you.”

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