The Villain Wants to Quit

To Become a Dead Man

Sunlight streamed through the open window, and Carrot rested his head on the living room windowsill while Theo studied magic. Scourge was curled up on Theo's shoulder, dozing in the sun's rays.

Theo was sitting cross-legged on the sofa.

He was supposed to be doing some sort of magical meditation. But he didn't get it, and his anxiety that Dullahan would find him was more than slightly distracting.

Eloise and James were gone. They had returned to the magic tower, and many of the others had returned to the king's guard.

Marc had decided it was best to keep Theo's existence a secret, even from his family to decrease the risk of Theo's location leaking.

Still, someone was always in the house with Theo, and he had agreed to let Giselle attach a wind spirit to him. The sprite was usually silent and invisible, but it could share Theo's location if Dullahan captured him.

Of course, Theo was sure that it also gave Marc and the others peace of mind to always have an eye on him.

Theo's current bodyguard was actually Giselle.

She was sitting in an armchair across from Theo, knitting and monitoring his lack of meditative practice. She was too kind to tell him that he was doing poorly.

Instead, she just reassured him that "these things take time."

"If we aren't going to kill me," Theo started to talk to Giselle, "do you think we could at least fake my death?"

Giselle looked up from her knitting before speaking, "Fake your death?"

Theo nodded.

While he had been excited to be free of the curse, he couldn't help the anxiety that Dullahan would find him. There were only a few more days until the deadline to kill Marie and Owen, and Dullahan would know something was wrong when Theo didn't report back.

"At least that way, Dullahan might not look for me," Theo said.

"It's not a bad idea."

Giselle thought for a moment.

"If it was heavily publicized, Dullahan might believe it," Carrot added.

"But we would have to get it done by tomorrow," Theo said. "Maybe we could make it look like Marie defeated me when I tried to assassinate her."

"I believe that would work," Giselle said. "I know Marie can enchant her bullets to explode. If we could get some illusion magic, we could make you look charred up and dead."

"You want to have him in an explosion?" Carrot's voice was highly disapproving as he peered in through the window. "I hope you don't make him actually all charred up and dead."

"Also, Marie's explosions are enough to kill someone but not evaporate all the blood. It's why I haven't..."

"Oh, she could totally make an explosion that big," Giselle said. "It would just kill a lot of civilians and leave her defenseless. However, if Dullahan also wouldn't think she's strong enough to obliterate you, we could stage it so that I'm working with her to create a more intense explosion."

Giselle continued, "I can use all the elements, even if fire isn't my specialty. Plus, I can help keep the destruction contained with the wind and water spirits."

"That might work."

"If you were publically 'killed,' the crown would want to verify your death." Giselle knitted a couple more stitches. "Which means we would have to let more people know that you're alive."