Page 232 of The Seven Rings
“I’ll stay focused. I know I have to. I don’t know how I’m going to talk a new bride out of her wedding ring, if she sees me. If she doesn’t, it seems to me pulling off someone’s ring is going to give them a big-ass jolt.”
“Get it, get back,” Owen said. “No hesitation, no regrets.”
“Seven times, cutie. And we have to assume that’s one after the other. It’s a lot on both of you.”
“I don’t get spinny the same way Sonya does.”
“Seven times,” Trey reminded Owen.
“And it’s different this way, Owen, when I, sort of, pull out. It’s a little rocky. It didn’t last as long, but we’ll have to go right back through again.”
“Ever sailed in twelve-foot seas? I can handle rocky. Seven times. Lather, rinse, repeat. We’ve got that.”
“Will she know?” Sonya wondered. “When we bring back the first ring, will she know we have it?”
“How could she? For her it’s then,” Cleo pointed out. “Once you bring it back, it’s now.”
“Which is why it makes sense going last to first. Trickier,” Trey conceded. “We know the rings add to her power. She’ll still have six before you go through again.”
“So we can’t waste time. We won’t,” Sonya promised herself. “If they see me, I just take the ring. I’ll hate it, but I’ll do it. And you’re all right. I might need help with that. This has to be right, doesn’t it? This has to be the right way.”
“I’m listening to Mick, too. What I want?” Trey picked up his coffee. “I want to go in, take her down, yank the rings off her hands, and kick her ass. But.”
Cleo danced her fingertips on the table. “You might still get a chance to do that last part.”
“Don’t toy with us, Lafayette. I owe Dobbs a good ass-kicking.”
“Then I’m going to weigh in. We agree Sonya and Owen go through the mirror, seven times. And yes, one after the other, as close together as they can manage. We can’t know exactly what’s going to happen on the other side. I trust they’ll get the rings because they’re meant to. But we can’t know how that affects the now, not really. Another reason it makes sense to go last to first.”
“If I started with Astrid, it could make changes down the line. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“And time runs different there than here,” Trey pointed out. “That’s another factor to consider.”
“So is the three o’clock loop.” Linking her hands, Cleo rested them on the table. “It has to be done, all the way done, before three. If we start at midnight on Samhain, just one second after midnight, that’s three hours to do it, and to finish Dobbs. Because breaking the curse, that’s a lot. That’s monumental. But it doesn’t end her. It ends her curse, but not her.”
“And it’s not over, not done, until we end her. Got something for that?” Owen asked.
“Maybe. It’s something I’ve been thinking about. And I want to consult with my grand-mère. Another reason we wait until Samhain.”
“It’ll be the four of us. It’ll take the four of us.” Sonya looked around the table. “If I’m sure of anything, I’m sure of that.”
“We all wear protection. Don’t give me that look,” Cleo said when Owen rolled his eyes in her direction. “I’m coming down firm on that. I’m asking my grand-mère to send something for you and Trey.”
He may not have subscribed, but Trey shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt. We need to bait her. Assuming she doesn’t come hard that day or the day before? We need to bait her into blowing some of her power, energy.”
“Drain the battery some.” Owen nodded. “Good call.”
“And that’s for you and me.”
“Even better call.”
“Now, wait—”
“No. Sonya, how many times have you and Cleo, or just you, had to deal with her on your own? Let her come at Owen and me. It’ll distract her, put her on the defensive, and weaken her. That gives you and Owen a better chance, then the four of us a better chance.
“We’re ending this, and her.” He gripped both of Sonya’s hands. “Then we’re going to live our lives. You, me, Owen, Cleo. The brides? They go, they stay, who the hell knows. But they’re free.”
“What if she hurts one of you before we can do all this?”
