Gnawing on her lower lip, she tucked the fabric of her flowing skirts around her legs and took a seat on the ottoman in front of me. Totally blocking Netflix, but whatevs. Who needs manners when you’re a mythical creature? “I really think you should hold on to that. I mean, there’s a chance it’s a family relic for you, too.”
With a groan, I sat up and shrugged off the sweet bliss of the comfy robe. Much to Bacon’s comfy dismay. “I thought we agreed to keep this an unspoken musing, in that we hadn’t spoken about it.”
Catching my hands as I attempted chuck the robe at her, she held them tight in hers. “You’re not siren and human. No halfling of that union can do what you do! But, a siren and a warlock? There just might be enough magic there to meld into—”
“The freak show that is my life?” I filled in, brows disappearing into my hairline.
“For lack of a better term, yes.” Freeing her curls from the pins that held them, she shook them out over her shoulders. “When I look upon your face, I see traces of my sister. The point of your chin. That faint little dimple on the right side of your mouth—”
Shifting in my seat, I held up one hand to halt her. “I’m going to stop you right there. This,” I circled one wrist in the space between us. “Is exactly what we aren’t going to do.”
“It’s a simple test …” she taunted.
Taking a beat, I let my chin fall to my chest before peering up at her with an expression of nothing but open and honest friendship. “I see what you’re trying to do, and I appreciate it. I do. There was a time in my life when I wanted nothing more than to know who I was and where I came from. But life has taught me many lessons since then, and allowed me to decide who I want to be. That’s nothing something I have any desire to give up.”
Arm outstretched, she gave Bacon a brief scratch behind the ears. “You don’t want the comfort of a family?”
“Oh, I absolutely do!” I corrected. I straightened my spine, causing the strap of my tank top to slip off my shoulder. “And I have one. But none of us where forced together by blood. We chose each other along the way. Elba, that drives me every second of the day, is my beating heart. The coven of witches that constantly harp on my ass—via their elder—all the time, they might bug me but they’re family. My boy Bacon? He’s family. The amazing people I’ve met along the way, like Nikki, Um?, and Squid-face? They might be gone, but the time we spent together secured them a place in my heart forever. So, I’m not saying I don’t want to know if we’re family. I’m saying, let’s decide if we want to be. If we like and care about each other, we’ll make room in our lives for one another. Because we want to, not because we feel we have some sort of genetic tether telling us we have to.”
A smile tugging at the corners of her lips, Eldoris folded the robe into a neat little square. “You’re quite a remarkable young woman, Octavia Hollows.”
Flopping back on the couch, I propped my foot on the ottoman beside her hip. “Oh, no, that’s true. I am an absolute fucking delight.”
Shoving my foot aside, she rose to her feet with a laugh. “Well, I choose you as someone I definitely want to be part of my life, and as such I don’t want anything between us making you feel you have to stay—although you’re more than welcome to.” Digging into her pockets, (her stunning gown had pockets! If that isn’t some privileged royalty bullshit, I don’t know what is.) she pulled out the keys to my bike and my cell phone and tossed them onto the couch cushion beside me.
Seeing my phone was off, I thumbed the power on. “I appreciate this and all you’ve done to make my kidnapping a somewhat pleasant experience, Eldoris. And, I absolutely choose you, too.” Glancing up, I offered her a smile as my phone began to buzz incessantly with countless missed messages.
Inching towards the door to grant me my space, Eldoris paused at the steady stream of messages. “Goodness! Quite the popular girl. I hope everything is okay?”
“I really don’t know yet.” Forehead creased, I scrolled through a laundry list of text messages. All from Dina, and other members of the coven, reaching out in desperate search for me. And voicemails. So many voicemails.
“Octavia, something is blocking your energy. We can’t even scry to find you! Call us back at once.”
“Octavia, this isn’t funny.”
“We’re getting in the car and heading to the last place you were. If you’re drunk at a pool hall, you’re paying for our hotel and gas money home.”
“Octavia, we’re in Galveston. I can feel traces of your magic, but they are faint and fading fast. The entire coven is worried sick. Please, by some chance you get this, call us back.”
Eldoris froze where she stood, ready to offer any help she could the second I needed it. Even Bacon sat up and peered at me, his beady little eyes ripe with concern.
Pausing for a beat with the phone to my forehead, I swallowed hard and played the last message. It was Dina’s voice, wrought with panic, spewing the words as fast as she could form them.
“Octavia, I don’t know if you’ll get this, but wherever you are, hold on. We met a friend of yours in Galveston. I actually didn’t catch his name, Tralynn talked to him. He … uh … oh, I don’t know. He’s wearing a Maine Bears hat and driving an ice truck. It doesn’t matter. What’s important is that he knew all about you, and Bacon and say the trouble you got yourself in. He’s bringing us to find you. So just hold on, sweet girl. Help is on the way.”
Without a goodbye, the line went dead.
Prickles of ice coursed through my veins, unease dancing down my spine. Staring at the screen, I tried to focus my whirling mind on the lines and slashes making up the date. The message was recorded Sunday night. The same day Arroyo kidnapped me. Whoever had been stalking me from town to town, with information about Elba’s death, now had somehow convinced my entire coven to climb into his creepy ass stalker van. The fact that these same women gave me the stranger danger talk was not wasted on me.
Fighting the urge to panic, I cued up my contacts and dialed Dina’s number. One ring, then another, and it kicked straight to voicemail. “The mailbox you reached is full. Please try your call again later,” an impassive robot politely suggested.
Curling my hand around the phone in a white-knuckle grip, I tried to think through the warning sirens blaring in my head.
Risking a step forward, Eldoris kept her voice soft and cautious. “I don’t really understand what’s happening, but tell me what you need and it’s yours.”
Combing my fingers through my hair, I tugged at the knots in my unruly strands. “Whoever this is knows who I am, and where I’m going. They know they route I took across the country before. That must be how they’ve been keeping tabs on me. Wherever they’re headed is going to be somewhere along that route.”
“So what do you need?”
“Now?” I said with a humorless laugh. “I need to know where the hell I am.”
“Oh, shit. Sorry!” Eldoris’ face bloomed with color at one of the aspects of abduction that had gone overlooked. “A little town right outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.”
Pushing off the couch, I didn’t even bother with getting dressed, but shoved my hoodie on over my long since faded Prince pajama set. Buzzing around the trailer, I collected my belonging that had been returned to me and shoved them back into my satchel. Securing my sheathed swords to my back, I clipped Bacon’s carrier onto my torso like the good little pack mule I am. “We’re little more than an hour away from New Orleans. That’s where my next stop was going to be. If I leave now I can get a room before they’re all booked for the night and—”
Eldoris interrupted my plotting by grabbing me in a firm bear hug. Without saying a word, she held me there until I relented and returned the much-needed gesture.
“Do you want us to come with you?” She asked against my hair.
“No.” I couldn’t risk anyone else being in danger because of me.
“Will you call the very instant you get into any kind of trouble?”
/> “Knowing me? Probably not.”
“I appreciate your honest,” Eldoris sighed. Hands clasped tight to my upper arms, she pulled back to look at me. “If nothing else, you remember what you did here, Octavia. You are more powerful than you even realize. Use the tools at your disposal. Get your family back. And know you have a whole troop of siren’s that will swoop in and suck the souls out of any mortal moron that dangers stand against you.”
This time it was me that pulled her into a firm embrace. “Take care of your girls, Eldoris. I’m going to take care of mine. But we’ll see each other again… because we choose to.”
A final squeeze of comfort, and a tucked Bacon under my arm and strode out into the night.
The Journals of Octavia Hollows continue with
Dead Ringer!
https://tinyurl.com/y6emuk67
About the Author
Stacey Rourke is the author of award-winning books that span various genres, yet maintain her trademark blend of action and humor. She lives in Michigan with her husband, two beautiful daughters, and two giant dogs. She loves to travel, has an unhealthy shoe addiction, and considers herself blessed to make a career out of talking to the imaginary people that live in her head.
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Find the full catalog of her books here: https://readerlinks.com/mybooks/1328
The Gryphon Series
The Conduit
Embrace
Sacrifice
Ascension
Descent
Inferno
Revelation
and The Official Gryphon Series Coloring Book
The Legends Saga
Crane
Raven
Steam
Reel Romance
Adapted for Film
Turn Tables
The Unfortunate Soul Chronicles
Rise of the Sea Witch
Entombed in Glass
Coming Soon: Pursuing Madness
TS901 Chronicles (co-written with Tish Thawer)
TS901: Anomaly
TS901: Dominion
The Veiled Series
Veiled
Vlad
Coming Soon: Vendetta
Archive of the Fives
Apocalypse Five
Coming Soon: Rogue Five
The Journals of Octavia Hollows
Prequel-How the Dead Lie (A Havenwood Falls Novella)
Wake the Dead
Caught Dead
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Dead Ringer
Dead as a Doornail
Drop Dead Gorgeous (The Journals of Octavia Hollows #4) Page 7
