Page 123 of Spellbound
Maddox arched an eyebrow. “You don’t know? You didn’t get a telepathic encyclopedia of knowledge on the afterlife when you became a goddess?”
Edmund shot him a look. “This isn’t Elle’s fault. She’s trying to help.”
Maddox shrugged. “Do whatever you want. I think it’ll backfire on us.”
Naomi clicked her tongue, placing her hand on her hip. “You know what, genius? You’re always telling everyone how brilliant you are? Well this is your time to shine. We’ll go save the gods, and you can figure out the after part.”
He choked on his coffee. “I know I’m good, but you’re talking about figuring out another afterlife. No one is that amazing.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know, Maddox, that sounded almost humble, by your standards anyway.”
Edmund chuckled quietly. “Maddox can’t do it alone, but together we can. Elle’s right.” He smiled at me, the corners of his eyes creasing. “We have dark magic in our veins. We have Naomi, a skilled magician.”
She suppressed a coy smile.
“If Elle thinks we need to seal the underworld, then we will, and I will make sure no one is ever getting out.”
“We need Alma,” Naomi said.
Edmund shook his head. “They won’t. They don’t get involved with gods or other realms. It offsets the politics of their system. No, for this we will need to go behind their backs.”
Maddox gasped, feigning a look of horror. “Good-guy, by-the-books Edmund wants to break the rules? I never thought I’d see the day.”
I suppressed a smirk, but my expression hollowed the second I thought about the stakes. There were so many things that could go wrong. “We’re going to Alexander first, and I’m going to need that dagger back.”
Naomi’s lip quivered. “I don’t know, Elle. If he finds out about Freya and sees you without her, he’ll kill your sister.”
“He won’t because I have a plan, so huddle in. We leave in an hour, and I need to make sure you all know what we’re doing.”
Naomi smiled widely. “I like this get-shit-done new-goddess Elle. I still can’t believe you’re a freaking goddess.” She rested her head against mine. “You’re such a badass now.”
Maddox emerged holding two ancient spell books, one of them the skin-bound grimoire we had once needed to catch the murderer, who ended up being Freya. It felt like a lifetime ago.
Edmund gave Naomi the dagger. “Are you sure you can perform the spell, Nai?”
She nodded. “Everyone always forgets magicians can perform spells too. It’s just a different style of magic.”
“Oh, I never forgot.” I smiled. “You’ve got this. Edmund, you got the dark objects?”
“Everything we need is in here.” He lifted his large brown bag. “Including the empty key.”
“Empty for now,” Maddox said. “Dora’s staying here to protect the mansion.”
“Good.” My stomach knotted. From the other side of the kitchen, Benji meowed. I liked to think it meant good luck. “Let’s pray this works.”
Maddox nudged me playfully as he passed, heading for the back door. “We don’t need luck. We have you.”
Naomi spluttered. “Was that an actual compliment?”
Maddox called as he headed out the door, “I’ll deny it if you tell anyone.”
My cheeks heated. “Edmund,” I said as he squeezed my shoulder on the way out. “Do you think the transfer box will work?” The box we used to hold a curse before transferring it to another object was simple, but it was the only thing I could think of to hold a soul, temporarily even.
“It’s the only option we have.”
I grabbed Naomi first, holding her in my arms. “I guess we’re doing the awkward carrying after all.”
She locked her arms around the back of my neck as I gripped onto her tightly. “I’m kind of excited.”
