Page 21 of Vicious Little Vows
My skin prickled as we reached the pond. This was it. Maybe we’d finally figure out where the Realm Breaker was hidden. Of course, Penelope probably wouldn’t tell us until we were actually ready to go there, and that was if she agreed to work with us at all. I definitely wasn’t fond of the plan, but she’d seemed sure she could use me to get the sword, and use me tousethe sword. She couldn’t do that if she didn’t know where it was.
We both stood at the edge of the water, its mostly serene surface rippling with bubbles and the tiny legs of swimming bugs. More insects buzzed in the trees, and I could swear I heard the laughter of nymphs on the wind, echoed by rustling leaves and creaking branches.
“Maybe she changed her mind,” I whispered.
“Shh.”
I pursed my lips, wishing we could get the show on the road. I knew Mistral and Gabriel would be careful with the latest disaster, but it was still troubling to think about them observing it without me. And with Crispin. I stood to lose all three of them in one swift wave of gray. The sooner I could get back to the Bogs, the better.
I jumped as the water rippled, then a bullfrog surfaced, letting out a surprisingly loud bellow before splashing back down. Before the water’s surface could settle, Penelope’s face formed like a reflection in a mirror.
This time I didn’t jump, but I did step back a few inches, stopping as Sebastian’s eavesdropping bubble popped up around us.
“Did we have to meethere, brother? There are frogs in here.”
“They can’t actually touch you,” he sighed.
“No, but I still got an eyeful of that frog’s plump green ass before it sunk out of view.” She wrinkled her pointy nose, and I decided it wasn’t actually like seeing her in a mirror. It was like she was in the water, floating on her back just below the surface, though there was land where her body should have been.
“Perhaps if you had not attempted to steal my celestial, we could have met in a more comfortable setting,” Sebastian said tersely.
I thought the setting was plenty comfortable, but I didn’t say so out loud.
“Let us not squabble over the past.” Penelope’s reflection wavered, her dark hair drifting around her face. “My imp tells me you’d like to bargain.”
“Yourimp?” I balked. Sebastian had left that part out. Glancing at him though, I realized that he hadn’t known.
Penelope’s eyes danced with amusement, or maybe it was just the sun glimmering on the water. “I had to give you someway to contact me, of course. When you inevitably hit a dead end.”
Sebastian’s mouth had sealed into a grim line. “Of course,” he snipped, pretending he had realized who’d summoned the imp to our realm. “I’ll be quick with our terms so that you might escape further sightings of plump frog asses.”
He laid out our plan. Penelope would need to lead us to the Realm Breaker, and we would work together to claim it. He didn’t detail that we’d be killing my great grandfather, or that he even knew that’s who we were after. Once we had the sword, I would willingly use it to create whatever pathway Penelope wanted—which was going to be a problem with Elizabeta and the potential of more shadowy monsters—but it was a problem for another time. Because if my great grandfather managed to kill my mother, he’d reopenallthe pathways. Surely preventing that was the lesser evil. We just had to make Elizabeta and Harry—the leader of the werewolves—understand.
I’d gotten so lost in my thoughts that I startled when I realized both Penelope and Sebastian were looking at me with identical expressions.
Penelope repeated her question. “What of the angelic, Lucas?”
I frowned, unsure why she was asking about him. As far as I knew, he was still with Marcie, trying to cover up my mom’s trail. “He’s not part of our plan.”
“But he flooded you with magic. With him, you will surely be able to reach a far realm. My brother alone may not be enough.”
I resisted the urge to look at Sebastian for guidance. She obviously didn’t know about the conduit star, and I certainly wouldn’t be telling her. She had already tried to steal a magical well from the nymphs. If she could use the power I had access to through the guys, she would.
“Just leave that to us,” Sebastian cut in. “I would have no reason for offering you this bargain if we were not capable of reaching the blade.”
I sure hoped he was telling the truth. I had been working on jumping. Power-wise, I thought we could do it. But I wasn’t great with directions.
Penelope considered us both, her image rippling in the breeze skimming the pond. “I’ll send my imp to you to fetch the contract. If I deem it worthy, I will sign it.” The water splashed around her, and she lifted out of the pool, perfectly dry, if a little see-through. Though she wasn’t entirely corporeal, I could see her whole body now. She wore a tight black coat with a victorian collar, a pink cameo pendant at her neck.
She leaned toward me, but Sebastian stepped between us.
“I would have a word with your celestial.”
Sebastian kept one arm back, pressing against the side of my waist to keep me behind him. “She can hear you perfectly well.”
The trees rustled around us, and I caught snippets of distant voices, like a radio station coming in and out of static. They seemed like they were outside the eavesdropping bubble, but I couldn’t be sure. Could they hear us through the earth at our feet? Or maybe from the water? Heck, maybe it was the bullfrog listening.
I looked around Sebastian as Penelope sunk halfway down into the water, her wary eyes on the trees. Ringo straightened on my shoulder, emboldened by the hint of the nymph’s presence, even though it meant they might have heard something they shouldn’t. Troubling, but also fun seeing Penelope cowering.
