Page 160 of The Hunt
I hung up a moment later and sent a text to Jenna.
Me: Adira and Mom confirmed the soft opening for Mom’s club will be tonight. Want to skip school and go shopping in the city with me?
Jenna: Yes! Does Adira approve?
Jenna’s immediate reply made me smile. There was no way she’d been awake before my message.
Me: My mom is asking her now. I’ll keep you posted. Feel free to come to the Quills’ instead of going to the Academy.
Jenna: I’ll see you at seven.
Mom: Adira approved the outing. I specifically requested that Mrs. Quill portal us and act as our chaperone so I wouldn’t be tempted to peel the skin from Adira’s face and make her eat it.
I wrinkled my nose and shook my head as I connected the similarities between Adira’s threat and the one I’d issued to Dewy a few hours ago.
Me: Thank you! I’ll see you at 11.
Settling into bed, I put my phone aside and thought again of how Ashlyn had broken my thrall on Eugene with a kiss.
* * *
At seven o’clock sharp,the doorbell rang.
“Eliana,” Mrs. Quill’s voice rang throughout the house. “Jenna is here.”
I hurried from my room and waved her up from the top of the stairs.
“Do you girls want anything to eat? I could make something chocolate if you’d like.”
Jenna’s eyes indicated her interest.
“Sure. Can you call us down when it’s ready?”
Mrs. Quill agreed as Jenna hurried up the stairs to join me. Her excitement was palpable. Hopefully, that wouldn’t dim when I asked for her help.
“I can’t believe I’m skipping school,” she said when I shut my door. She held her arms out and spun around. “You won’t believe how close I came to not being able to go. My mom was dead set against it. At first, I thought I’d woken her up too early to ask and she was in a bad mood, but nope. She was worried about me going to the city with you and your mom. I’m pretty sure she was picturing some kind of weird girl orgy or something.” She laughed. “Like either of you would need to take me to New York to make that happen.”
Jenna had a point. If Mom was hungry, location didn’t matter.
“What made your mom change her mind?”
“Raiden. He showed up at our door and said I needed to go with you.”
Some of her humor faded.
“Mom didn’t like that and pulled him into another room. The closed door wasn’t enough to keep me from overhearing their whispered conversation. Raiden said that I needed to go to distract you from Fenris. He thinks Fenris is under your spell.”
I sat on my bed.
“I think he’s right, and I need your help to fix it.”
“Me? How?”
“Well, when I accidentally did the same thing to Eugene, Ashlyn kissed him to bring him out of it.”
Jenna’s eyes rounded.
“You want me to kiss Fenris?”
