“They made this place a foolproof prison. I can’t believe they’ve had you locked up in here for so long.”
He shrugged. “It’s not so bad. The company is good. Better now you’re here.”
Zan offered me a shy smile, and I gave him one back. I couldn’t help it. “It’ll be better once we’re out of here.”
“You’ll be leaving us behind, surely?”
“From all my calculations and research, the spell Felix left me breaks down the seal on the house for good, allowing everyone through. Knowing you’re at the end of your magic stores, I don’t have time to find one that doesn’t break you out with me.”
I didn’t mention I’d been planning on releasing them regardless. Zan lit up. “I’ve missed the outside world.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
Once again, we fell silent. Talking to him was hard, knowing he had a hand in everything going on. And he was still hiding things from me, but I was hiding things from him, too. I wondered if they had any idea about Felix’s true views on them, considering they were still helping him. If I knew, I wouldn’t have helped.
After a while I slid off the bed to leave. “When I finish preparing to do the spell, can I tell them? Will they help me, or will it only end in me dead?” I asked.
“We’ll help you.” Zan nodded enthusiastically. “He wanted us to help you along when we could, as long as we didn’t give you too much information, and he knows the spell is a bit of a doozy.”
“I’m going to take a cycle or two to practice brewing the ingredients, but I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”
He nodded, and I stepped through the door while still looking behind me, impaling myself on a very long, very sharp, and very deadly spike. Someone thrust the spike further into me, and I cursed as I fell to the floor.
Fuck my entire life.
Chapter 25
Gettingeverythingdonebetweenthe hours of six a.m. and two a.m. was going to be a stretch.
The poultice was a pain in the ass to mix, several ingredients needing painstaking preparation. By the time I had it sitting and settling, getting ready for me to use it to craft the artifact, I was running on little remaining time. The rest of the tools and items I needed for the power enhancing artifact were no easy feat, either. They were spread throughout the house, in random places. Locating them took forever.
I practiced creating the artifact once, but it didn’t come out quite right. Likely because the poultice hadn’t been sitting long enough. It didn’t help that I’d dropped the best and most aged jar of aqua-peaches on the way up the stairs. I had to use the second-rate ones, a mistake I wouldn’t be making for my actual attempt at completing the seal breaking spell.
After two cycles had passed and I felt confident I could at least try, I woke up blinking at Zan. He’d stopped bothering with his script after our chat. I had to admit, it was refreshing to hear something else first thing in the damn morning. “If I try today and fail, can you turn back time for me to try again?”
He nodded. “Since it’ll be late, I’ll have fewer rewinds left in me, though. Maybe… three more after a two in the morning failure?”
I didn’t like my odds, but I also didn’t want to leave my attempt to the last minute. Anything could go wrong. Hoisting myself out of the tub, I nodded at him. “It’s game time, then. Corral everyone in the living room for me.”
My sweater was on the floor, exposing my bare breasts, before he’d backed out of the room. His staring was cute and slightly endearing, and I cocked an eyebrow when Kirin made his usual loud entrance, immediately going silent. “Can’t I have some privacy to change?”
Zan stuttered something that didn’t quite sound like words, and Kirin didn’t make any attempt to stop staring. I sighed, pulling a thin undershirt and a bra out of one of my suitcases. Covering myself, I spun around and grabbed the door, pushing it shut and forcing Kirin to step back.
It made my heart ache, a bit. The interaction was familiar. I’d been complaining for ages about everything being the same, but faced with the prospect of it being different I wasn’t exactly pleased. Hurrying to get on my pants without an audience, I strode into the living room to find everyone waiting. Zan wasn’t hovering as far away as he had in the past, but still kept a respectful distance from me.
“Good morning, everyone, it’s time for a jailbreak.”
I fell onto the couch, reminded of my first time here. Unconscious. Terrified. If Uncle Felix had been gunning to change me, he had. The confidence radiating off of me had never been there before. Parts of me still felt like an impostor. I was too breakable to be bossing these men around. While that was true, I could forget about the truth for the moment. They made me comfortable enough to forget.
“What are you talking about?” Bennett asked, doing his best impression of confusion.
He looked so fucking kind. How was he such a good liar?
“You assholes know what I’m talking about.”
He glanced over his shoulder at Zan, and I laughed. “We’re on a short timeline if we’re going to get everything ready before two in the morning, so there is really no time for this to be a big conversation. You know my uncle set up some kind of test for me to get out of this damn house. You know you’ve been killing me for two months so Zan can turn back time and I can perform the spell at the proper hour. Well, I guess you don’tknowthat, considering none of you remember. But you’re aware of the plan.”
“Zan, what the fuck is she talking about?” Bennett demanded, some of his dominant energy coming through.
