his stomach. The kind that told him life was about to get messy fast.
“Daniel Hyde.” Jason was oblivious to Owen’s obvious unease and rattled on without a clue. “So I’m in, and Tony and Phil said they’re in, but we need a fourth guy. You don’t want to fight, you do this instead.”
Owen ground his teeth, squashing his anger into a tiny box and cramming it behind a locked door in his mind. “Why me?”
Jason looked miffed. “Because this Hyde loony says he needs guys from the local tribes. Phil has a couple drops of Wampanoag. Tony here is a half-blood Shinnecock, and you and me are Narragansett.”
“And nothing about this concerns you…at all?” Owen couldn’t keep the sarcasm from his voice any longer. “Not even if I tell you that your buddy Daniel Hyde got arrested here in Boston last year for performing animal sacrifices?”
“At least they weren’t human,” Jason joked.
Icy dread filled Owen as he realized just how crazy this whack job Hyde really was. It was obvious he had an interest in Mattie as much as he did her art. What if he was planning on trading up on the object he wanted to sacrifice?
Why Mattie?
Jason’s voice brought Owen crashing back into the moment. “You do this for me, and I’ll arrange it so you can visit Grandmother.”
Owen’s heart did a double tap. It had been years since he’d seen his grandmother. She’d been a constant presence in his life for so long. A guide always willing to lend an ear, give a hug, or offer insight, she’d loved him unconditionally. Thanks to one night of losing control and giving in to the violence within, Owen had to leave. He’d severed his relationship with the one person who’d always welcomed him home, proving he was the disease his stepmother had always accused him of being.
This was no time to rehash the past. He had no good options on the table. He didn’t want to play champion in Jason’s illicit fight club, but helping Jason perform some jacked-up occult ritual with Daniel Hyde would be the height of stupidity. With Owen’s luck, they’d piss off some ancient deity and kick off a supernatural war. Not to mention Mattie’s unwilling involvement in that scenario. Or the fact that Jason was dangling a chance for Owen to go home , even if it was only for a little while.
I can’t remember the last time I had a sense of homecoming.
“Well?” Jason’s voice gained a menacing note.
“When?”
Now his brother looked downright smug. The dick. “Halloween.”
“Whatever.”
If Jason’s broad smile was any indicator, he didn’t even consider the fact that “whatever” wasn’t an agreement or a disagreement. At this point there was no need to start shit with Jason when Owen might be able to use him for information while he tried to diffuse whatever nonsense Hyde was cooking up with Mattie. However, there was no way in hell Owen would participate in a ritual that promised to give the goatkiller some extra mojo.
Jason slapped Owen on the shoulder. “Cool. So I’ll contact you in the next couple of days to give you the details.”
“Sounds good,” Owen said. Especially since I’m going to use those same details to make sure this never happens.
He watched Jason, Phil, and Tony head back toward Triptych’s front entrance, feeling as though he carried the entire world on his shoulders.
LARS MEMORIZED EVERY detail he could about the three losers walking away from Owen. They’d been too far away for Lars to hear more than a few snippets of conversation, but it was enough for him to know it wasn’t good. They obviously wanted something from Owen. It would be up to Owen whether or not Lars ever found out what.
Owen looked haggard. His neutral expression was set in stone as if he had retreated behind a mask. Strands of long dark hair had escaped the elastic tie at the back of his head and hung like loose silk around his face. He stood with arms crossed and feet spread like an immovable statue guarding the
“Daniel Hyde.” Jason was oblivious to Owen’s obvious unease and rattled on without a clue. “So I’m in, and Tony and Phil said they’re in, but we need a fourth guy. You don’t want to fight, you do this instead.”
Owen ground his teeth, squashing his anger into a tiny box and cramming it behind a locked door in his mind. “Why me?”
Jason looked miffed. “Because this Hyde loony says he needs guys from the local tribes. Phil has a couple drops of Wampanoag. Tony here is a half-blood Shinnecock, and you and me are Narragansett.”
“And nothing about this concerns you…at all?” Owen couldn’t keep the sarcasm from his voice any longer. “Not even if I tell you that your buddy Daniel Hyde got arrested here in Boston last year for performing animal sacrifices?”
“At least they weren’t human,” Jason joked.
Icy dread filled Owen as he realized just how crazy this whack job Hyde really was. It was obvious he had an interest in Mattie as much as he did her art. What if he was planning on trading up on the object he wanted to sacrifice?
Why Mattie?
Jason’s voice brought Owen crashing back into the moment. “You do this for me, and I’ll arrange it so you can visit Grandmother.”
Owen’s heart did a double tap. It had been years since he’d seen his grandmother. She’d been a constant presence in his life for so long. A guide always willing to lend an ear, give a hug, or offer insight, she’d loved him unconditionally. Thanks to one night of losing control and giving in to the violence within, Owen had to leave. He’d severed his relationship with the one person who’d always welcomed him home, proving he was the disease his stepmother had always accused him of being.
This was no time to rehash the past. He had no good options on the table. He didn’t want to play champion in Jason’s illicit fight club, but helping Jason perform some jacked-up occult ritual with Daniel Hyde would be the height of stupidity. With Owen’s luck, they’d piss off some ancient deity and kick off a supernatural war. Not to mention Mattie’s unwilling involvement in that scenario. Or the fact that Jason was dangling a chance for Owen to go home , even if it was only for a little while.
I can’t remember the last time I had a sense of homecoming.
“Well?” Jason’s voice gained a menacing note.
“When?”
Now his brother looked downright smug. The dick. “Halloween.”
“Whatever.”
If Jason’s broad smile was any indicator, he didn’t even consider the fact that “whatever” wasn’t an agreement or a disagreement. At this point there was no need to start shit with Jason when Owen might be able to use him for information while he tried to diffuse whatever nonsense Hyde was cooking up with Mattie. However, there was no way in hell Owen would participate in a ritual that promised to give the goatkiller some extra mojo.
Jason slapped Owen on the shoulder. “Cool. So I’ll contact you in the next couple of days to give you the details.”
“Sounds good,” Owen said. Especially since I’m going to use those same details to make sure this never happens.
He watched Jason, Phil, and Tony head back toward Triptych’s front entrance, feeling as though he carried the entire world on his shoulders.
LARS MEMORIZED EVERY detail he could about the three losers walking away from Owen. They’d been too far away for Lars to hear more than a few snippets of conversation, but it was enough for him to know it wasn’t good. They obviously wanted something from Owen. It would be up to Owen whether or not Lars ever found out what.
Owen looked haggard. His neutral expression was set in stone as if he had retreated behind a mask. Strands of long dark hair had escaped the elastic tie at the back of his head and hung like loose silk around his face. He stood with arms crossed and feet spread like an immovable statue guarding the
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