Page 231 of The Seven Rings
They chose the dining room, and Sonya brought in the kitchen tablet to take notes.
“Silly, maybe, but I see things better if I write them down.”
“Not silly,” Trey disagreed. “Sensible. And let’s be sensible on this aspect. Clover, if you know, is it safe for us to talk strategy here, tonight?”
When he heard Harry Styles and “Late Night Talking,” Owen lifted his shoulders. “I’d take that as a yes.”
“Okay then.” Because she wanted to stay sharp, Sonya had tradedthe idea of wine for a Coke. “We know, obviously, getting the rings back is, well, the mission. Now we know the order—we know it’s one at a time, from Johanna back to Astrid. So, it’s not a matter of going after Dobbs in the Gold Room—yay—but for me to go back through the mirror to each day each bride died, in turn.”
“For us to go back,” Owen corrected.
“Actually, I think it’s best if I go—”
“No.” His interruption was flat and final.
She tried again. “The reason for that is—”
Now all three at the table said, “No.”
She looked hard at Trey. “I should be allowed to state my case.”
“You’re outvoted, Son.”
“Let her lay it out,” Trey suggested.
“In four of the cases, I’ll be going into a bedroom, and two of those while women are in labor, giving birth, or have just had twins. It’s going to be shocking enough to see me, another woman.”
“If they see you.”
“Okay.” She nodded at Trey. “If they do see me. Marianne and Clover did, I know they did while they were dying. How would those women react with Owen popping in?”
“There’s a reason I can go through.”
“Agreed,” Cleo said. “Who was there to smash the evil spider before it took a chunk out of you?”
“That was the first time I knowingly went through. I’m more prepared.”
“More prepared, but,” Trey qualified. “The facts are, you have to go through, get the ring, get out before Dobbs can stop you. You might need help with that. Seven times,” he said before Sonya could object. “And each time saps you. If you miss any one of those times? Well, we don’t know what could happen.”
“We don’t know what’s going to happen if I don’t miss either. You think I’m being stubborn.”
He smiled. “Do I?”
“Look, Sonya, I’m going whether you like it or not. Might as well get on board with it.”
Clover chimed in with “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
“Listen to Mick,” Owen added.
“Step one,” Trey began.
“I call the mirror. Or I want or wish to go somewhere, see something. Which I am actively not doing now, because not now. Johanna first. She ran in the house and upstairs to change her shoes because they were killing her. Dobbs waited until she came out, and they were at the head of the stairs when…”
And it twisted in her belly.
“I know I can’t change what happened to her, or any of them. I know I have to accept that. I know after I take the ring, she’ll die. They’ll all die.”
“What you’ll do isn’t just breaking the curse, which is enough. It’s helping them.” Cleo reached out. “And everyone. Everyone who comes after us, too. That’s the focus, Son.”
