Page 23 of How To Summon A Memory
“Totally okay.” He pushes to his feet. I’ve never been to the Speller labyrinth, but I imagine it’s gorgeous. “Hey, thanks for letting me talk to him first. I’m ready.” Lark, Pike, and Florence all come into view.
“What do you know about freeing crossroads demons?” Lark starts and I suck in a breath. I hadn’t imagined that’s what he wanted to talk about, but I should have known.
“Absolutely nothing, but I’m eager to learn.”
Lark bounces on his toes. “You just have to destroy the crossroads.”
“That’s it?” Ethan asks.
“That’s it. I scratched our initials into the sign of Pike’s crossroads. He got sucked into some freaky magic and spit out like he’d been reborn. Now he’s an incubus.”
“Is that what Wick is, too?”
“Dunno,” Pike says. “We’re all actually a different demon type, but unless we’re freed from our crossroads we don’t know what we are. Most of us suspect Wick is part angel like Gabe, but we’ll never know until he’s free.”
“Do you want to be freed?” Ethan asks. “Being a crossroads demon is a lot of power.”
“Yes. I want two things in my life. You and?—”
“Freedom,” Lark says. “He can’t say it without consequences.”
Silently, I thank the Fae.
“Then, freedom you will have. Where is your crossroads?”
Lark and Pike sigh together, and it’s Lark once again that opens his mouth. “He can’t tell you and none of the other crossroads demons can tell you or even know where it is.”
“But Pike isn’t a crossroads demon anymore,” Ethan points out.
“No, but I never knew where it was to begin with.” Pike shrugs. “I’d tell you if I did.”
“Okay, just a tiny kink. We’ll figure it out. Can I get a hint?”
“I’ve never tried that.” I push to my feet. “Mine is a gravel crossroads.” We all wait and hold our breaths to see if my mouth and nose disappear. When nothing happens, I continue. “You used to walk to me with a giant backpack. I could see your house from my crossroads. Well, Cordia’s house.”
“That narrows things down quite a bit. And the semester is over for a long fall break, so I should have plenty of time to search.”
“We’ll make it, Wick. I promise.”
Ethan keeps his promises. My heart settles, knowing we’re in this together again. “We will.”
“Okay, I gave Pike my gifts to you. I haven’t looked at what you sent me yet. I want to look through things together, unless you think that’s too cheesy?”
“Not at all.” I blink, trying to will my tears away. “Will one of you hug him for me?”
Lark crosses over to hug Ethan and squeezes Florence’s hand.
“Thank you for all this,” Ethan says.
Lark takes Pike’s hand and they’re in front of me again, as if they hadn’t left. Lark rushes over to me and hugs me. I breathe in Ethan’s scent. It’s a hint of cinnamon with a dash of something more masculine I can never figure out.
“Thank you,” I croak out and Pike hands me a tote bag nearly as big as the one I sent to him. I snort and Frankie hops off the couch with a grumble when I pat her bottom to move.
“I hope you like everything,” Ethan says from the cellphone. I’m assuming Florence holds the phone because he’s on the ground, using the bench as a table as he spreads out all my gifts.
Pike snatches my phone from me so I can rummage through the bag. The first thing out is a container of Jolly Ranchers, all cherry. “How?!”
“I dunno, I had a feeling and went with it.” Ethan gasps as he holds up the bag of sugar cookies I baked fresh this afternoon. “My favorite.” He snorts. “But I guess you knew that?”
