Page 14 of Okay, I Regret a Little
Chapter 11
Wren
T
hese bitches. I can’t believe I used to like some of them. The ones I only tolerated because of Astrid I could understand. Some of these assholes were quick to kiss up to Astrid, and I thought I could count on their loyalty. Astrid was barely dead, and we were back at work. No one said her name.
Things were shitty in prison, but they let us mourn our dead.Someoneshould have asked off work duty so we could go to the prison temple they had for the witches to celebrate Astrid since they all thought I was in solitary. We shouldn’t have been in here doing shitty prison labor, washing sheets for one of the big five-star hotels for pennies in our commissary.
Cyrus brewed all the hooch for the prison coven. Everyone had their little snacks they liked Dakarys and Rajack to get that the commissary didn’t sell. We should have been in the temple sharing food, hooch, and stories about Astrid. We would have joined hands and chanted that her spirit had a safe passage in the afterlife.
We did that a lot when we were at war with the eagles—every single witch. Even if Astrid took them in and no one like them, we still went to the temple, and everyone found something nice to say, even if it was just about their hair because it was a shitty person who bit it.
It should have been done for Astrid. She had been good to every single witch and warlock here. And I couldn’t bring it up now because I needed these bitches to think I was on their side. Still, my entire mouth tasted like bile during my shift in the laundry room. They might want to pretend like it didn’t happen, but I never would.
Trying to eat around them at dinner was miserable. All I wanted to do was start stabbing people with the plastic spork they gave us to eat with. They wouldn’t give us metal utensils since we were all criminals, but I could scoop out a few eyeballs with the spork before it broke off in one of these asshole’s skull.
Karin had been one of the first to betray Astrid and buddy up with Venus. She appeared to be running the show while Venus was in medical. I guess Venus promised her the role of her second. Don’t ask me what she promised the rest of these dicks.
Karin was going to be useless as a second when people started coming for Venus. And she owed Astrid her life. Karin was in here for hurting her kids. If that got out, she would have been murdered. Even the serial killers in here took offense at hurting children. The prison gangsneverworked together on anything unless it involved killing someone like Karin.
Iwanted to kill Karin when I found out. There was just shit you didn’t do, even if you were a criminal. Astrid pulled her aside and got some story about how it was all this massive accident, and Karin was super broken up about it. Karin was one of those witches I didn’t like and didn’t trust, but Astrid did, so I didn’t arrange an accident for her.
I regretted that now. Karin was sure quick to turn on Astrid after she kept her secret. I was the only other witch that knew the truth about why she was in here. Before Venus, I would have told you if I leaked that to the rest of the coven, they would turn on Karin. Now, I wasn’t so sure.
You didn’t want someone like Karin as your second. She had no problem terrorizing children, but she was a coward here in prison when it came to adults. Karin was totally useless in here. I had serious questions about who taught her magic. She couldn’t defend herself in a fight, and she had contributed nothing new when we had our cuffs off to teach anyone new magic. Astrid let her help with a potion once, and we both knew she was the one who messed it up.
“So, Wren. The sphinx and the gargoyle seem to like you. We need you to smooth things over with them so they resume deliveries until Venus is out and we make our move on the fox. We still need them to get us stuff after we take the fox out. Venus has her sights on the mailroom, but that can wait until that stupid fox is dead.”
Gods, the witches in here were fucking stupid. No one got contraband in here before those two showed up. Some people had tried swallowing drugs in a balloon by kissing someone they put on their visitors' list. That was tricky, and they only allowed visitation once a month in here. That would typically work in a human prison, and I’m sure people tried it here because they saw it on television or in movies. Supernaturals were amped up in every way, and those balloons tended to burst and kill you unless you got it out super-fast.
It wasn’t just that people were super grateful for their little black market. People took things they wanted in here. No one had come for their business until Venus because no one could figure out how they were doing it. They had a hard no about bringing drugs in, but they found everything else people wanted.
And no one knew how, so they hadn’t killed them to take over their little business. Also, most people weren’t willing to fuck with two men who spent that long in Scorchwood. As badass as people liked to pretend to be in here, we saw the news on the prison televisions about how bad things were in Scorchwood. We also knew when they started arranging transfers out of there, a ton of inmates couldn’t be accounted for.
They certainly didn’t break out. The Warden had disappeared, and a lot of the guards were dead. They interviewed who was still standing when the dust cleared, and no one could account for the sizable inmate population that just didn’t exist anymore.
Dakarys and Rajack had probably seen some shit. Not even I could get the jump on them if I wanted them dead. If Scorchwood riots were anything like Silverhold riots, those two could probably take on all the witches if they came at them together. How did I not notice how fucking stupid the other witches in here were?
“I’ll talk to them, but I would think twice about fucking with those two. They’ve spent a long time in Scorchwood, and I doubt they are going to spill how they are bringing in contraband.”
Karin just tossed her lank hair over her shoulder.
“Venus knows a few potions that could get them to talk. She’s promised to teach us a few things Astrid would never allow. She’s said she can figure out how to get things in to neutralize our handcuffs. We’ll rule this entire prison if we have our magic.”
I was trying so fucking hard not to laugh at Karin and take her eye out with my spork. The rest of the witches and warlocks were nodding like they actually believed that horse shit. Did they seriously do Venus’s dirty work and kill Astrid because they actually believed she could give them their magic back?
Every single gang in Silverhold had studied those cuffs. Astrid and I were cellmates. We looked at ours long after they cut the lights out. After Dakarys and Rajack started up their little side business, we tried different potions and totems. We didn’t want to give anyone false hope like Venus was doing and let them know we were trying. Maybe that could have prevented all of this.
I already knew Astrid knew way darker magic than Venus did. Astrid was in here because she got a little liberal with her curses and some people died. Astrid might not have taught anyone here what she knew, but we were close. I knew things about her the other witches here didn’t.
And I knew if there were dark magic capable of nullifying these cuffs, Astrid would have known it. I had one ace up my sleeve. Rei’s handcuffs weren’t keyed correctly. I saw it with my own two eyes. Someone got lazy during her intake.
I might not have access to my magic, but I was sure as fuck going to take advantage of the fact that she still had hers.
