Page 57 of Too Cursed To Kiss
Britannia turned from the passenger seat and glared atme with pursed glossy lips the color of crushed pomegranate seeds.
“Yeah, how was she invisible?” Britannia asked.
Wald ignored her, his lips curling on one side. He pulled onto the highway. “I’m not dead because Britannia healed me. It’s one of her abilities. We’re going to Britannia’s hotel to drop her off, and then you and I are continuing on our way back to Oregon as planned.”
“What about food? I’m hungry again.” I was about to ask about the marble and the ring, but instead, I returned Britannia’s smug look. I’d almost forgotten I wasn’t supposed to talk about the marble.
We got to the hotel. A chic boutique place. Britannia didn’t even toss a backward glance as she walked away from the car. Whatever she was up to, she had it planned without the need of us, which made me extra super uncomfortable.
“What does the marble do?” I asked, bursting with questions as I slid into the passenger seat.
“The marble, as you call it, is an artifact with a sort of phased effect where you are still able to view this world and time but are in a safe place. The holder of the artifact is cloaked unless they speak or move too fast for it to keep up.” Wald said it matter-of-factly, but jeez, it was hard to wrap my head around. So basically, invisibility with limitations. Why was I feeling like I was playing a live action role-playing game but with real blood and monsters? I glanced around, like one of them would jump out at me from an invisible shadow. What if people, or things, were watching me when I didn’t know it? “How many of these artifact things are there?”
“One.”
“Wait. Only one?” That dampened the odds of lurkers.
“It’s an artifact. Something made by an old power. They are not easy to come by.”
“Well, that makes it crystal clear, thanks,” I said, pouting at the way he’d delivered it, like I was dense. A sign for a burger joint whizzed by, and hunger pangs gripped me. “I actually do need food. Whatever you see first,” I said, changing my own subject.
Wald chose a taco joint. I was good with that. I got a burrito slightly smaller than my head. It was hellaciously messy, and I took pleasure in wiping my hands on Britannia’s trashed catsuit. Mouth full of burrito, I rattled off the list of my remaining questions.
Wald pulled into the mall’s parking lot and drove into a space between two sections of stores reserved for deliveries.
“You weren’t kidding? We’re actually going shopping?” I had my hand on the door release, thrilled to be getting out of the car.
“Sort of. You do look like you could use a new outfit. You’d better let me handle it though. The store cameras might land you in jail.” His jaw twitched.
I flopped against the seat. “Then what am I supposed to do? Wait here in the sweltering car?”
“If you use the marble, you’ll find the heat isn’t a problem. Besides, it will keep anyone from seeing you,” he said with a smirk, opening the door.
I crossed my arms with a scowl. Alone and feeling like I was being watched, I cupped the marble in my palm. Closing my eyes, I scrolled through the details of the last twenty-four hours, or was it thirty-six? Forty-eight? I added up the hours. Two days and almost twelve hours. Sixty hours of complete chaos. The humdrum life I had resigned to was destroyed. Even if by some miracle I was cleared ofthe string of murders, I was still likely fleeing a warrant. But a magic ring was going to fix everything. I guffawed at the exact moment I noticed the security guard in the rearview mirror.
He was looking around for whoever had laughed. Skirting the driver’s side, he paused to take a photo of the license plate, then walked around the car. He stuck his head in through the open window and peered into the back seat.
“What the hell are you doing?” Wald clanked down the metal stairs with two shopping bags, one pink and one black. A man wearing overalls followed him, carrying a store mannequin of a svelte young man, which was naked except for a daffodil yellow babydoll-length negligée with marabou trim. The hem blew up, revealing matching panties withAnxious & Hornyembroidered on them. Yellow was not my color. They should probably sayAnnoyed & Horny. Had the mind-reading thing failed?
The security guard, a middle-aged paunchy lout who had no interest in pissing off a guy who looked like Wald, stammered an apology and a half-assed explanation that the car needed to be making a delivery or pickup to be parked here, and he’d had a report to check it out.
Wald ignored him and popped the trunk open. “Just set it here,” he said to the man holding the mannequin, gesturing at the side of the car. “Well, as you can see, I was making a pickup.”
The dismissed store worker nodded at the security guard before he retreated up the metal steps.
Wald opened the car door and set the two shopping bags on the backseat. I craned my neck trying to see inside. Black tissue hid whatever was in them. The security guard, apparently satisfied, got back on his people mover and whizzed off. I thrust my hand with the marble into my pocket and openedthe door. I got to the trunk in time to see the mannequin had been stuffed into the velvet-lined box.
“Why are you putting it in the box?” I asked as Wald closed the trunk.
“Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Somewhere they are less interested in us,” he said, nodding at the cameras but not looking at them.
“Right, right.” I got back into the car. “And wherearewe going now?” I asked. Wald pulled out of the parking lot, turned at the next light, and pulled into the lot of a motel.
“Oh,” I replied with a silly grin. I had high hopes this time we were going to get to try out the bed.
