dare say a word to the wizard,â Griz informed Crow, her back to me. âIâve seen him skulking around, and I wonât give him the chance to double-cross me again. Heâs always had a soft spot for those infernal Emerald girls.â By the time she finished the statement, her voice had turned from thoughtful to bitter.
âWhatâs so important about them?â
âNone of your concern. Just keep our little transaction confidential. Itâs imperative that this blasted girl stays here and away from anything even remotely associated with Oz.â Griz walked to the door and pushed the heavy woman out of the way. âThat meddling fool has a tendency to pop up where you least expect him.â
Oz? I thought his name was Mick. Oz must be his magical specialtyâ¦or where he lived in his Ivory Tower. I never did catch what he was the wizard ofâ¦
My thoughts froze when I caught a glimpse of something that changed everything.
Before rushing out the front door, Griz grabbed a staff from the kitchen. An emerald staff.
Verteâs emerald staff.
Verte wasnât coming. She would never be coming.
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14
Put a Spell on You
With Griz gone, Black Crow headed back our way. Quickly, I shut my eyes.
âNo need to fuss on my account,â Crow clucked. âI can see from the tears on your face that youâre awake.â
Since my hands were tied behind my back, I couldnât wipe them off. Didnât want to anyway. I reopened my eyes and glared at Black Crow, imagining what would happen if looks really could kill.
âSo, whatâs on the agenda now? Painful death or more of your awful singing that makes me long for painful death?â
Snark is a fabulous defense mechanism.
Black Crow looked genuinely surprised and wounded at my comments. âYou donât have to be mean. Iâm not evil or anything. Iâve been nice to youâfed you, took you in. I even used silk ropes.â
âWhich you used to gift wrap me for Griz.â I pulled on the ropes to give her a little demonstration. âVery thoughtful of you.â
âOh, youâre not a gift,â she said matter-of-factly, completely missing the point. âYouâre merchandise.â
And that was so much better.
âI figure you owed me compensation for the loss of my business,â she continued, fidgeting with the pink ribbon on her dress.
âHow do you figure? Iâve never even met you,â I protested.
âTrue, but your little wish has thrown off the balance of magic. None of my potions work correctly anymore. Forgetting hexes bring eternal knowledge. Glamour salves make the skin curdle like milk. Youâve ruined my reputation,â she sniffed.
âHow inconsiderate of me,â I said drily.
âI know. So glad you understand.â Crow apparently wasnât too familiar with sarcasm. She also seemed to unequivocally believe what she said: that she wasnât being a bad person for handing me over to the mother of all evil. She was just conducting a simple business transaction. Righting a wrong. Since it was my wrong, I had to pay. In a delusional sort of way, it kind of made sense.
Evil is tough to override, because itâs ingrained in the soul. Nutcases, however, I could work with, and this lady was off her toadstool. I changed my facial expression to one that I hoped looked honest and repentant. âI am so very sorry I have inconvenienced you, but surely we can resolve this. Isnât there some other way I can repay you?â
Black Crow appeared to give this a bit of thought. All at once, her face lit up and she scurried off to the kitchen.
Did I miss something? I glanced over at Kato, still sitting on his pillow, looking as clueless as
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