Cold Burn of Magic(31)

“Actually, I went over there early this morning, let myself in, and packed up some of your stuff. You can get the rest of it later.”

Mo jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and I noticed one of my battered suitcases sitting beside the vanity table. Reginald must have brought it up when I was down in the training room with Claudia. I went over, laid the suitcase down on its side, and unzipped the top.

My mom’s blue, spidersilk coat was neatly folded and carefully nestled inside, along with her ironmesh gloves and her black blade sword. I unzipped the side pocket, which held the one framed photo I had of her, along with her favorite book about old monster traditions, the pages crammed full of notes she had taken about the creatures inhabiting Cloudburst Falls.

Mo had packed all the important things—the only possessions that really mattered besides my sapphire ring. I trailed my hand over the glass frame and my mom’s smiling face, blinking back the tears that scalded my eyes.

More tears. I really was going soft.

“Thanks, Mo,” I whispered.

He cleared his throat, and the two of us made sure not to look at each other. “You’re welcome.”

I grabbed my mom’s coat, pulled it out of the suitcase, and hung it on one of the bedposts. I wanted it where I could see it and be reminded of her. I arranged the gloves on top of the vanity table and propped the sword up next to the nightstand beside the bed. I left my mom’s photo buried in the side pocket of the suitcase, though, and zipped it back up, hiding the frame from sight. No one here needed to see her picture but me.

From the pixie house, another song blared out at the same loud volume as before. Seemed like Oscar really loved his country music.

Mo stood up. “I should be going. Let you get settled into your new space.”

“You . . . you’re going to leave me here? Just like that?”

“Well . . . yeah,” he said, shifting on his feet.

Of course he was going to leave me here. He had to. Because this was my room, not his, and I was the bodyguard now, not him. I was the one bound to the Sinclair Family. In more ways than one, just like he’d said.

Still, I couldn’t help the hot, sweaty, stomach-churning panic that spiked through me at the thought of Mo’s leaving. Sure, I might have been on my own for the last four years, but I’d always known that I could go to him if I ever really needed help and that he would come through, no matter what. I could brave the streets of Cloudburst Falls any time, day or night, with no worry. Break into rich folks’ houses, be chased by guys with swords, and pay lochness tolls with no fear. But to be here, in this place, in this Family . . . it was like I had been transported to another planet, one that had rules, languages, and customs completely alien to me, ones I didn’t want to learn.

And people I especially did not want to care about.

“But don’t you worry,” Mo said, picking up on my uncertainty. “You won’t be getting rid of old Mo that easily. You come on down to the Razzle Dazzle any time you want. And any time you want to make some extra cash running errands for me, you just let me know. Claudia asked you to be Devon’s bodyguard, but she never said you couldn’t freelance, too.”

He gave me a sly wink, and I had to laugh.

Mo hesitated, then reached out and hugged me. I hugged him back.

“You call me day or night if you need anything,” he whispered. “Anything at all.”

I nodded, trying to swallow the emotions that choked me from the inside out.

Mo drew back. “Be good, Lila. Or be really good at being bad. I’ll leave it up to you which one it is.”

He winked at me a final time, then turned and left the room.

Despite the music still blasting from Oscar’s house, I could have sworn I heard the soft snick of the door shutting behind Mo. Somehow, it seemed as loud as a gong, marking the end of my old life—and the beginning of something new.





CHAPTER TEN


It wasn’t all that late, but I was exhausted by everything that had happened, so I grabbed some pajamas out of my suitcase, stepped into the bathroom, and locked the door behind me.

I spent the next two hours soaking in the tub. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a hot bath, and I relished every single second, washing my hair three times, until I felt cleaner than I had in months.

I’d never considered myself a girly-girl, but I let out a little squeal of delight when I opened the bathroom closet and saw row after row of expensive soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and lotions lining the shelves. I opened bottle after bottle, sniffing them all, until the sweet, floral, and fruity scents all melted together and I couldn’t tell one from the other. It was almost like staying in a hotel, something that I occasionally sprang for after getting a good payday from Mo. But this was much nicer than any hotel I’d ever been in.

Maybe the spikes in my cage would be worth it after all.

But the water in the tub grew cold, and I got tired of opening bottles, so I dried myself off, put on my pajamas, and padded back into the bedroom. I glanced over at the pixie house, but the music had finally stopped and no lights were on inside the trailer. Tiny the tortoise hadn’t stirred from his nap, despite the fact that his sunspot had faded away. I’d have to wait until tomorrow to officially meet him and Oscar.

I opened one of the doors and slipped out onto the balcony. The sun had set while I was in the tub, and the long summer day was slowly giving way to night. Stripes of bloody orange sliced across the sky, but even those were beginning to fade to softer pinks.