Grim Magic (Book 4 of the Ink Series)

Meet and greet

I lifted a skateboard off the floor. It was similar to one my little brother had. "Kenny is living in a nasty apartment and they have marble floors." I looked down at my feet.

Slade picked up a fancy gold paperweight examining it. The mirror showed his expression and he didn't look thrilled to be standing in their house. "And enough money to buy shit like this." He put it back down and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

I returned the skateboard to the floor. "She doesn't look old. I wonder how old their kid is."

He shrugged. "I don't know. I really don't want to know either."

I blew him off. We were both pretty tired of being away from home. Not to mention living in Kenny's apartment in fear for our lives if we made one wrong move. Well I wasn't sure if Slade feared him but I did.

"Do you think they are going to talk to us?"

Slade crossed the room and sighed. He ran a hand across my face, stroking my cheek with the back of his hand. "You think too much."

"I just want everything to work out." I kissed his fingertips. "I want to go home and for everything to go back to normal." His eyes softened.

"And as soon as this is over with we will," he said, his lips reminded me no matter what happened he would be there to get me through it.

"You can come with me," Eve said. She picked up the skateboard and held it against her chest as she led us down the hallway. "We can talk in the foyer."

I admired all the pictures on the wall. "He's really cute." I was a sucker for curly haired boys, they reminded me of my little brother Griffin.

"He's eight years old and already thinks he knows everything," she said. She pulled open the doors and let us in first.

Far across the room sat Evan. He fixed his stare on us. I didn't know if I should take a seat or stand in case he wanted to attack. He looked that pissed off. And we hadn't even given him the ultimatum Kenny cooked up. This wasn't going to be fun.

"Take a seat." He looked out the window. I blew out an annoyed breath focusing on Eve as she took the spot next to him.

"Look." She ran a hand through her hair, shifting in her seat. "We get it. We know you're out of options, but I can't help you. I wish I could but I can't risk it."

I nodded. "And as much as we want to understand, we can't."

Slade sighed. "You guys have a lot of fucking money don't you?"

I stared at Slade, my cheeks on fire. He was an ass sometimes.

"Yeah we have a lot of money. Money we worked hard for." Evan stood up. He smirked. "Is this what you're after our money?"

Slade shook his head. "We don't want your money. We want you to let your girl bring Hope's dad back to life and then we'll leave."

Evan rolled his eyes, he lowered his chin looking down at us. "Not. Going. To. Happen. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Slade stood up. "You can do a lot for me. Whether or not you want to do it the easy way or the hard way, is up to you."

"Is that a threat?" Evan stepped forward, and crossed his arms. "Nobody threatens me."

"No, but this is," he said. "If you don't want to bring her dad back I will bring yours back. Does that make this any easier for you?"

Eve jumped from her seat. "What?" She looked at me. "Carlo has been dead for a long time. There's no way that could happen."

I looked at Slade because I had no explanation as to how it worked.

"I'm capable of a lot more than just looking good." He turned, pointing at the family mural above their fireplace. With one swipe of his hand it dropped off the wall, and crashed to the floor. Slade walked across the room and stood over it. He snapped his fingers and it started to burn. He looked up. "Now do you believe me?"

"You're not the first person I met who practices black magic," Evan said.

Slade returned to me. And Eve quickly dumped a pitcher of water on the painting.

"So you know what I am capable of." Slade rubbed his hands together looking for something else to destroy. Before he could Evan cleared his throat and finally said something smart for once.

"How will you protect her?"

"I know a spell. It only last for about ten minutes but it will keep anything from happening to her." Slade looked at Evan. "Will it take longer than ten minutes?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know."

"It's been a long time. I don't know how long it will take, what if it takes longer than that. What happens to me?" She looked around the room, biting at her lip.

Evan put a protective arm around her. "I promised you nothing would happen to you. And I won't break that promise." He looked at Slade. "We have a little boy. He means the world to her and she doesn't want to ever leave him again."

I sat down, a heaviness in my chest. She was only worried because of her little boy and that made me feel awful. They weren't bad people, they were trying to look out for their family. And I was about to ruin theirs because I wanted mine back.

"Hope is capable of doing the same spell, right, Hope?" Slade asked me.

I reluctantly shook my head. "I remember reading about it."

After a couple minutes of silence Evan dropped his arms and looked at us. "She'll do it. But if anything happens to her I will make sure the rest of your life is miserable."

Slade touched his arm. "On my word nothing will happen to her."

I hated how easy it was for Slade to lie to them. He knew as well as I did things were not going to end well. As soon as we got what we wanted Kenny would ruin everything.

But it was either let my dad die or deceive complete strangers. I looked away from the picture of their son on the wall. What if she died trying to bring my dad back to life? Her son would be without his mother, just like my brothers and I.

I watched Slade leave the room to get my father's body. The guilt ate at me. Maybe the right thing to do was tell her once she gave us what we wanted. Maybe if I warned her she could stop Kenny.

I stood up, and paced the room. I needed to hold it together for a few more minutes and then we would be headed back to California with my dad.

And just as I started to in ran their son. He raced across the room and wrapped his arms around her. She smiled, stroking his curly mess of hair.

I smiled forcing myself to sit back down.

"Oliver, I want you to go get a snack in the kitchen and let us have a few minutes." She turned him to the doors. "I promise after we are finished we will have a big bowl of ice cream."

He looked at me. "Who is that?"

"She's a friend." She forced a smile pretending everything was alright. "Now go."

He did as he was told and left the room. She took the seat next to Evan. "Maybe you should help him." She patted his leg. "I can't imagine he's light."

He sat back in his chair. "The guy looks like he's on steroids, I'm sure he can handle it." He looked at me. "I wouldn't believe everything my brother tells you just so you know."

I shook my head. "I don't believe anything he says."

"Good because he's only out for himself." He crossed his arms. "He's a snake. And he'll ruin your life."

Eve's gaze dropped to the floor and she nodded. "He ruins everybody's life."

The door opened, and Slade came in carrying my dad's body. I hated the thought of him underneath the black plastic.

He carefully placed him on the ground.

"Alright." Slade clapped his hands together. "Let's get this started."