Page 53 of Handcuffs and Hexes

There would be choppers in the sky to watch and make sure no one came and disrupted the efforts, and more importantly, this plan had to be thrown together quickly so that the criminal types wouldn’t use the operation as an excuse to rob a bank at the other side of town. The EA would have to send those deemed unable to work on or near The Breach to cover the officers pulled from their usual patrols. It would be a huge operation, one that required everyone to work together.

It wasn’t guaranteed to work, but it was worth a try. The only problem for me was that I’d need to get close to The Breach again, something I dreaded.

“You can’t be serious,” exclaimed Alfonzo. “You are talking about working with common witches!”

“What’s wrong with witches?” Sybil asked, her tone ominous. “I could neuter you with a single thought.”

“Not you,” the nerdy shifter sputtered. “I mean the commoners.”

What a way to backpedal. Commoners? Was this guy serious? He reminded me of the WEC with their talk about being the world’s elites. I guess the EA was really still ass-backward in other parts of the world. Or was it just the head office?

“And not just the witches, but the other monsters,” he continued. “We are supposed to work in secret.”

“Umm, I hate to break it to you, but they dropped the Secret part of the Enforcement Agency when The Wall fell,” I said. “I don’t see anything wrong with working with the public and other private businesses like Redrock Protective Services.”

If I were throwing myself into The Breach, I’d want the gargoyle brothers to be there to stop me.

“But it’s not orthodox!”

“Do you have another plan?” Nina asked.

That shut him up. Clearly, the head office’s plan had been to send Oblivious Palivius to take care of the problem. Now that he had failed, there was no backup.

“Then it’s decided,” Nina said firmly. “We fight this thing together.”

And that meant I was going to have to face The Breach head-on.

Chapter 26

Hazel

“Ohshoot,Ileftmy wallet in the cruiser,” Mike said, his hand still patting his pocket.

“That’s okay, I’ll grab it,” I said.

Griselda, the owner of our favorite coffee shop, The Witch’s Brew, held out the chip reader to me as I dug my Visa out of my wallet. I held my card over the screen, but nothing happened. So I tried the top of the machine.

“Sorry, machine’s finicky today,” Griselda said apologetically. “Here, let me do it.”

She took my card and then tried a few times herself, her eyes focused on my card until there was finally a beep.

“There you go.” She handed my card back and then got to work making our drinks.

There was a chime from her phone, which was propped up on the counter, and she peered at the screen.

“Can you turn the sign off and lock the door for me while I make your orders? Turns out you two are my last clients of the day.”

“Oh?”

“I’m being called in to help with that Breach thingy. About time too. That thing’s a menace.” She continued frothing the milk.

Ah, she must be in that civilian network of magic practitioners they’d planned to call on. Tommy and Eugene had come back from their meeting full of hope. They’d come up with a plan, and they’d started organizing it right away and wanted us to be ready for this afternoon. I was glad Mike and I managed to get our caffeine fix before they sent out the word.

Mike kept asking me if I was okay since I was less talkative than usual, and I’d blamed it on caffeine withdrawal. So here we were.

In reality, that shitty and unfortunate conversation right before I packed my bags, called a cab, and hightailed it out of Seth andLiam’s home was living rent-free in my head. I couldn’t believe that was just yesterday. It felt like so much longer.

But then again, my entire concept of time when it came to those two was totally and utterly warped. My time with them passed in a blink of an eye, but it felt like we’d always been together. Getting back home, everything felt so awkward, like I was a stranger there even though nothing had changed except in my head. And sleeping alone was difficult. There was so much room on the bed. And my pillow didn’t conform to and support my neck the same way Liam’s soulstuff did, so I woke up with a wrenched neck for my first day back at work.

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