Page 28 of Okay, I Regret a Little
Chapter 22
Rei
W
e were back in our cells for count. Faust was never there for the night count. I think he left after dinner and the overnight crew took over. Hopefully, he didn’t see us meeting in the mailroom.
Wren was itching to try the spell. We hopped on my cot, and she grabbed my hand.
“If this works, you’ll be my new best friend.”
“If we get out of here, you won’t need me to do magic.”
“It’s more than that, Rei, and you know it.”
Yeah, I knew it. This was about the part where I freaked out and ran. It was getting complicated with four people here, and my fight-or-flight instincts weren’t kicking in. I hadn’t intentionally sabotaged anything before they could hurt me first. And I didn’t want to, which was just bizarre.
“Let’s do this,” I said, squeezing her hand.
“If this works, I’m going all out.”
Wren started whispering rapid-fire chants. I felt my magic stirring, and my skin started tingling. Was it working? The lights dimmed slightly. I was probably the only one who noticed. It was that slight. I could hear the foxes laughing and talking around me like nothing was going on in my cell.
What was Wren doing? She just kept going. She chanted the same phrase four times, but she changed the name. She used my name, hers, and Dakarys and Rajack. That wasn’t part of the deal. I didn’t let go of her hand and cut off her access to my magic. Wren was part of our team, and I needed to trust her.
She let go of my hand and collapsed against the wall.
“You’ve got some potent magic there, Rei. A girl could get addicted.”
“What did you do?”
“All the witches here have a curse on them. They might think they are whispering, but it will amplify everything they say. People around them will hear it. I picked that one up in middle school to take a bitch down.”
“What else did you do? You said our names.”
“Oh, that? That was an all-in-one protection spell and blessing. I asked the goddess to protect us all from the witches and bless us in our escape plans. It’s up to her whether she thinks we are worthy of it. Technically, we’re all criminals, but we’re going up against worst criminals and the man himself, so maybe we’ll get lucky.”
“That’s reassuring. I heard you say Venus’s name. Did you kill her?”
Wren shook her head like I was supposed to know this.
“Witches can’t kill like that unless we have something from the person we want to kill. Hair works best. There’s no way to make it look natural. The guards would know there’s someone here with access to their magic. We can’t risk it.”
“So, what did you do, then?”
Wren just laughed.
“It’s so petty, but she’ll never figure out it was magic. I also learned this one in middle school. She’s going to get a rash from her bra that’s never going to heal, no matter what she does.”
I started laughing. It was petty, and it was perfect.
“Wait, why is Venus still in medical? Can’t witches just heal away most injuries?”
“Totally, but not in Silverhold. They don’t have a witch or warlock working in medical. They could. Plenty of my people are healers and would work here to help the disenfranchised. They just won’t hire them. Astrid would offer healing during our yard time for a price. One of the witches will heal Venus whenever they decide to give us yard time back. For now, she’ll just have to suffer.”
“She didn’t plan that part very well, did she?”
“Oh, I have a feeling she did,” Wren said. “Whisper and the foxes beat the shit out of her. The longer the witches look at her like that, the angrier they will get. She’ll use that.”
