With all of my history of mental health issues and the time I spent inside a psych unit, I have this mental image of my sister, figuratively locked away in a dark room with a tiny window of light far above her head that she can’t reach. She’s sitting on a cold floor, held captive in a straitjacket, with no way to break free.
My stomach rolls over at the imagery, and I manage to shake it off as Carrick presses Echo. “What else?”
“That’s it. I swear it.” She turns to look at Maddox and the money he’s holding up high. “Now, give me my money.”
“You hear anything else,” Maddox says, “You find me. I’ve got more of this for you, understand?”
“And,” Carrick intones darkly. “You speak a word of this to anyone that we were here, and I’ll destroy you.”
Fear flashes in Echo’s eyes, and she nods. Maddox starts to hand her the money, but something occurs to me and I exclaim, “Wait.”
Without hesitation, Maddox pulls the bill back before she can nab it. Echo’s attention comes to me, loathing flashing in her eyes.
“You walked by my coffee shop a couple of weeks ago. You were talking to someone and pointing at the door. Have you been telling people about me?”
“Who would I tell about you?” she retorts snottily. “You’re not even that interesting.”
I glance at Carrick because his bullshit-meter seems to be working best on Echo. He frowns at her, unsure of what to believe.
“Then why were you pointing at my shop?” I demand.
The look Echo gives me makes me feel like a dumbass as she drawls condescendingly. “Because I really like the coffee there, and I was telling my friend about it. I had no clue you owned it.”
There’s no telling if this is the truth, but really… what does it matter? We know someone is after me by the mere fact the protection spell on my house was broken. Coincidence or not, a Dark Fae got into my house and killed Adira and could have easily killed me.
“Stop in next time and I’ll buy you a cup,” I mutter, taking a step back from her.
Maddox reaches out to hand Echo the hundred-dollar bill, but faster than I can see with any real clarity, Carrick’s hand shoots out and plucks the money from Maddox.
He holds it before him, staring hard at Echo. “There’s more where this comes from if your information is good. But let me also make something else clear… if I find out that you’ve been talking to anyone about Finley—fae, daemon, light or dark—your life is forfeited and I’ll make it painful. Do you understand?”
The enmity I was feeling from her earlier dissipates, and I can actually sense her fear. I wonder if I’m more of an empath than we had originally thought or maybe Carrick is just so freaking scary that there’s no ignoring the vibes of terror she’s putting off over his threat. Echo nods hastily at Carrick, and he extends the money toward her. She hesitates, perhaps thinking it’s a trick and he’ll kill her now.
He pushes it at her, forcing it into her hands. Echo doesn’t say a word, but pivots on her foot and darts deep into the camp to get away from us.
“Let’s go,” Carrick says, leading us back the way from which we’d come. “We still have a hunt to do.”
“A hunt?” I exclaim, jogging to catch up with him. Titus and Maddox trail behind. “I thought this was our hunt.”
Carrick doesn’t even look at me, his tone bland. “That was a fact-finding mission.”
“So we’re going somewhere else?”
True to form, Carrick ignores my question, instead saying, “I hope you learned an important lesson back there?”
I glance back at the encampment. “Um… bring lots of bribery money?”
Carrick stops abruptly and I have no choice but to do the same as his hand latches onto my arm, stopping my momentum. Titus and Maddox walk past us.
Leaning into me, Carrick warns, “Do not get aggressive with any form of fae or daemon. You stepped into Echo without any regard for your own safety. Had she wanted to, she could have hit you in the chest with enough force to rupture your aorta. You completely underestimated her, and you could have been seriously hurt.”
“But… but… I had you, Titus, and Maddox there,” I stutter a lame excuse.
“And you saw that neither one of us were able to stop her from doing that to you,” he snaps, then lifts a finger and taps me on the head with it. “You need to think, Finley, or you’re going to get yourself hurt or killed.”
I wrench my arm away from him, now angry at being treated like a child. “I do think. I’m clever and yes, I may have underestimated her, but I went up against an incubus and won. I was smart enough to get out of an enclosed space in my bedroom, and lure him to my backyard so I could use my whip to—”