Inkling

5.12 The Stupid, Fully Exhausted

12:03 P.M.

"It's a completely reasonable idea." Max said crossly. "The faeries know more about this city than anyone else. They see us in a way that we don't even see each other."

"Some people even say the faeries gave us magic in the first place." Lincoln said with feign seriousness which only made Max scowl deeper.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas hermano." Max had never called someone hermano before. Dios mio he was starting to sound like his cousins.

"Well, hermano," Lincoln said, in a way which implied he had never spoken the word before but was trying his damnedest. "I am not going down in those tunnels in search of some faery that may or may not turn me into a bloody frog again!"

"I mean, you know what it feels like this time." Max smiled. Lincoln looked ready to vault the table.

"So," Sophia said quickly. "We need to find a book that we don't know anything about, for a guy who turns into smoke and old ladies, or he will ... what?"

"Leave us cursed to be near each other forever and ever." Lincoln said darkly, looking down at his chest warily. As if he expected something to be attached there. Max swallowed a bit uncomfortably and Sophia noticed and was slightly taken aback.

Do you not mind being this way?

He looked like shit. Like he'd been dragged through multiple puddles and possibly been hit with a large book. Right upside the head. Lincoln didn't look much better. He was a bit cleaner, not bloody either. But they both looked ready to pass out.

"What do we do?" Sophia folded her hands in her lap.

Lincoln placed his head on the table with a soft thunk. "Do nothing, remain cursed. Do something, get cursed differently. Ah, fuck it. Let's go to the faeries."

Max looked more pleased than was necessary.