Ichabod Crowley series 3 The Thorn Tree

Chapter 8

Temple of the Eastern Most Pillar

Try though he might, Ichabod had every intention of falling asleep but simply could not, his mind buzzing over the day's events. The simple truth being that having to relive the worst day of his life was far more traumatic than he was willing to admit, then there was the torture. He could still feel pangs of it, the knife running along his scalp and every deep breath brought with it the fear that his esophagus was going to explode from his mouth again. Rather than deal with that in silence for hours on end, he exited the room Vhen had provided and wound his way through the temple to find the library once more.

Taking scraps of paper from the desk, he spent the night scribbling out crude blueprints until a knock on the door finally drew his attention upwards.

"So this is where you got to," Oriko pushed her way in with December rushing past and circling around to Ichabod.

"Hmm?" he looked confused, but he wasn't really listening, too absorbed in his work, "Oh right, the body, leave it here, I'll fix it later."

"Thanks?" she raised an eyebrow, then glanced down at her own ruined hands and stepped out of the body in her true form as a Gorgon, slithering away from the collapsed frame on a long serpent's tail, she joined December at Ichabod's side, "So, what're you working on?"

Leaning back from the table, he placed a hand on December's head and passed a page to her.

"Okay..." she scanned over the page, front and back, then shrugged, "Not to be ironic, but, it's all Greek to me."

"This..." he sighed, beginning to realize how tired he was, "Is the second Goddamn time that someone has used my own damn smoke bombs against me, the satchel doesn't work, I need to upgrade."

"Like how?"

"Magic backpack, time-lock..."

"NO!" she shouted, making December jump, "That shit is dangerous, you do not screw around with..."

"I'm not going to..." he shook his head, "I've thought of a work around, the spell won't be tied to me but instead to specific items that I'm going to beg Vhen to pick up or me."

"So go ahead," the Goddess appeared at the doorway, arms crossed as she leaned against the frame, "Start begging."

"Okay," Ichabod nervously taped his fingers against the desk, "Not stepping on that landmine..."

"BEG!" she screamed to him and he had to pause to maintain his calm.

"So," he glared at her, "What crawled up your ass?"

"I just got off the phone with Horus Ignalia," she snapped in return, she bit her lip, pointedly biting her lower lip to stop herself from yelling again, "Roc, please leave the room."

"But I..."

"NOW!"