Page 73 of A Subtle Scar
I sighed. “Me too.”
“We’re so fucked,” Hermes said.
I straightened my vest and looked from Ink Chandler to real Chandler. While the former was blowing us kisses, the latter was leaning over the table in Detective Rice’s office and writing something down while the FIS woman and Detective Rice looked over his shoulder. He was pointing at things, and Detective Rice nodded. I wondered what they were discussing.
“What is our plan for lunch?” I asked.
“Rome? Or do you think he’d like Paris better? We need to show him a good time.” Hermes glanced at the doughnut box that was now almost empty. “He barely looked at these. We need to do something that will properly impress him for more than five minutes.”
“Hmm, it’s going to be evening in Europe soon.”
“Exactly. Maybe he’ll feel tired after, and then we could find a nice hotel there. Extend the lunch break.”
I put a finger on the notepad, and Ink Chandler moved over to kiss it. He was so eager I was afraid he’d get smudged.
“You know, you’re an ass a lot of the time, but every once in a while, you show true genius.”
“Oh, fuck your frills and your underhanded compliments. Your cock isn’t too bad though,” Hermes said.
“I say we take him to Geneva.”
Hermes cocked his head. “Why Geneva? Because he went to school there?”
“Yes. Maybe it will trigger some nostalgia, make him feel good and at ease. Maybe he’ll want to show us the city.”
Hermes nodded. “That’s a plan. Every now and then, you are a genius too. And then you go back to being a Luddite and say things like you want to go clothes shopping at a thrift store.”
“Well, your shirts are all too small.”
Hermes shrugged. “But I look good in them.”
He did.
“I’m a good listener. Humans like a good listener in a relationship.”
“I also listen,” Hermes said.
I looked at him for a hard five seconds before I said, “Hermes, you should stick with shirts that are a size too small. I think that’s more your speed. Look, I think they’re done. Let’s show our boyfriend the spell, and then let us undertake the most thorough seduction either of us has ever attempted. And don’t you just fucking ask him if he’ll blow you.”
Hermes had the decency to look guilty. “Told you that, did he?”
I rolled my eyes and pulled the magic from the piece of notepad paper. When I lifted my finger off it, there was indeed an ink smudge there, and the image of Chandler was left desperately sucking the empty space. I flooded more magic over the paper, so the ink dissolved. If Chandler was desperate for us, that was fine, but I didn’t want anyone else to see him that way.
Hermes rose from his chair and met Chandler halfway. “Baby. Ready for some magic?”
“At all times,” Chandler said.
“Then I’ll show you all the magical things, baby,” Hermes went on.
He took Chandler’s hand, and before I joined them, I allowed myself a moment to admire the sight. Hermes and Chandler were opposites: one light, one dark, one golden-haired, one opal-haired. I’d gotten a taste of what it would look like to see the two of them meld, embrace, grow one in bed, but there was so much more there to explore.
“Let’s go,” I said and put my arms around the two of them.
Hermes teleported us to the subway platform first. It came into focus around us, the comforting airflow from the tunnels and openings to the world above us, the soothing illumination from the artificial lights, spilling over the tracks and travelers. The signs announced that this wasAsh St & Stonein a monstrously modern font that made me click my tongue.
Chandler took a step back and looked around. “I thought we’d be doing them in order. Is there any reason why we aren’t?”
Hermes nodded. “I think this will be the easiest one for you to feel out the spell, if that is actually possible. As I said, it is the old kind of spell, but it’s not as well made as even the worst thing Johannes ever did.”
