Page 60 of Poison Ivy
“Fuck off, Bram,” I state, and give Ivy a look that she can’t understand. Running my fingers over the sketches of the runes, I bring them to life and snatch the stone in my fist. “I’ll talk to you later,” I say quietly.
“Leaving already?” Torin asks. “You couldn’t tear yourself away from her last night.”
“Let’s go,” I say, ignoring him and shoving him and Bram back the way we came. With their backs turned, I throw the rune at Ivy. It whizzes to her, and she catches it, startled, holding it in her fist.
30
IVY
I stareat the small stone in my hand, feeling the slight buzz from the magick running through it. What the hell is this?
“Everything okay?” Josh asks, coming up behind me.
I quickly close my fist around the stone, hiding it from view. “Yeah, fine. Just trying to keep away from the drama.”
“Fuck, yeah. Your new beau has decided he doesn’t like Vex’s face the way it is, so he’s going to rearrange it.” Josh snickers and throws an arm over my shoulder as he guides me towards our next class. “Do I have to go all big brother on you and tell you that Tate Blackwell is a bad boy? Because I’m an only child, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
I snort as I grin at him. “No, you don’t need to do that. I know who he is.”
“Sure?”
“Positive. And he’s not my boyfriend,” I lie, feeling the flare of the inscription on my lower back protest my words.
“Whatever, bitch, just be careful.”
I force a smile. “I’m good. Promise. We should get to the lecture.”
As we walk to our hall, my mind goes back to the stone in my fist. I need to figure out what it means and why Tate gave it to me so secretively. But I can’t exactly examine it with Josh right next to me.
Halfway to the lecture hall, my phone buzzes. I drag it out and see it’s a text from Ramsey:Target located. Sending details now. Clock starts when you receive coordinates.
My heart rate spikes. This is it. I have twenty-four hours to eliminate Walcott Ashford, and I still have no idea how I’m going to pull it off.
Slamming my hand to my head, I feign a headache and, make an excuse to Josh and hurry off, hoping he will one day forgive me for all this lying. Once I’m clear, I sprint over the quad towards the grassy area before I hit the pavement and cross the road to my house. When I’m inside, I pull out the stone Tate gave me and examine it closely.
Intricate runes are carved into its surface, glowing faintly with magical energy. I recognise some of the symbols from my studies of runic magick, but others are completely unfamiliar. Whatever message Tatewas trying to send, it was clearly meant to be hidden from prying eyes.
Frustrated, I toss the stone onto my bed and pull out my phone to check Ramsey’s message. The coordinates ping through, along with a brief description of the location - an abandoned cottage in the middle of the forest that surrounds Thornfield. Hiding in plain sight, I guess. At least, this should make it fairly easy. No witnesses and all that.
Kneeling down to get the box out from under my bed, my hand brushes against the stone, and suddenly, it starts to glow brighter. Startled, I watch as the rune splits into several smaller ones, and they rearrange themselves before my eyes.
TRAP. T ORDERED THE HIT. BE CAREFUL.
My blood runs cold as I read Tate’s warning. Torin put out a hit on his father just to trap Poison? What the fucked-up kind of shit is this? It’s not like they couldn’t find me without going to such extreme measures. They have before, plenty of times… unless this is less about me and more about Walcott.
“Double fuck,” I growl, grabbing the box and standing up, disrupting the runes which drop to the bed and then rejoin to form one stone again.
Torin ordered the hit as a trap, but I still have to carry it out or risk my soul with my bosses. This is a clusterfuck.
But nothing is going to change the facts, so I need to start prepping my gear. If I’m walking into a trap, Ineed to be ready for anything. I open the box and search through it, knowing that I need way more offensive weapons than usual. I have my poison ivy vines, and whatever Tate gave me, but I’m not trusting my life with that. I need more.
My hand falls on a vial of holy water, and I pause, my eyes narrowed. An idea brews, and I smile before opening my bedroom door and walking down the hallway to the plug-in air freshener at the top of the stairs. I yank it out of the socket and go back to my room, removing the empty refill, I grip the wick and pull it out slowly. It smells strongly of lavender, and I cough, placing it on the desk. I pour the holy water into the empty bottle and refit the wick, then I slot the bottle back into place.
“Voilà,” I murmur, pleased with my handiwork. This will work to weaken Walcott if I’ve got my hands full with Torin and Bram. Mind you, it will also weaken Torin, so bonus points there. Next, I grab a second vial of holy water and a small injection and fill it before putting it in my small bag with the plug-in. It’s nearly full, so my next weapons need to be chosen with equal care. Walcott Ashford is not only a very old and powerful vampire, but he is also the head of a vampire-mage coven. So, I’ve got two vampires and a dark fae to contend with.
“Choose wisely, little mouse,” I mutter, digging through the box. I won’t have my stiletto blade because I’m not going to be tripping through theforest in heels, so I grab a set of silver throwing stars and stuff them into the bag, plus a vial of powdered rowan into my pocket - it won’t kill a fae, but it’ll hurt like hell, and lastly, I grab a small pouch of mountain ash. It won’t do much against vampires, but it might buy me some time to escape if things go tits up.
They’ve given me a day to get this done, but no time like the present, the sooner it’s done, the better. I shift to Poison and yank open the wardrobe to search for something appropriate to wear for bashing through the forest.
