Grey Eyes got me to Geist's much faster than I wanted. I had barely any time to consider my options.

Options? What options…

Now, standing in Geist's shop, standing before him as his eyes crawled over me, I felt the horns on my head rubbing against the fur lining of the hood. I felt Silvy wrapped around my neck and snoring softly. Oblivious. As though what was happening right now was not important in the slightest.

“So,” Geist said, raising an eyebrow. “Tell me what you found.”

“I haven't had enough time.” I tried to account for the time that had elapsed since I'd left Geist's.

Two hours? Maybe three?

Maybe far less. The time I’d been inside Blackhart’s lab didn't really count. To anyone standing outside, it would've appeared that I walked in and then walked right out.

I felt Silvy stir, heard her voice in my ear. “Tell him you’re a witch. I want to see his face.”

I shook my head an almost imperceptible amount, but Geist caught it.

“No?” he asked. “What exactly are you saying no to?”

“Nothing.” I glanced over at Grey Eyes who stood a short distance away, glaring at me.

“So. What did you learn?” Geist asked.

“I didn't learn anything,” I lied. “I was only in Blackhart for a second before I realized that I didn't have the expertise or knowledge to do what you asked.”

Geist leaned forward on the glass counter, the fingers of his hands interlacing beneath his chin. “I know what’s hidden inside of Blackhart.”

And just like that I knew I was caught. I took a deep breath and let it out.

“It wasn't the Builder’s Stone,” I said.

“The Builder’s Stone?” Geist's eyebrows lifted. “I never said anything about a Builder’s Stone. What did you find?”

“Nothing. It was cursed. I'm cursed now.”

Geist stood up so suddenly that it took my breath away. One second, he was sitting, the next he was fully upright, and I’d barely seen him move.

“Whoa,” Silvy said into my ear. “I bet his blood would taste delicious. Did you see that speed? Let me have a taste. Just a bit. Only a tiny bit.”

“I’m sorry,” I said to Geist.

“Sorry?” He clenched a fist. “You're sorry?” He clenched his other fist. Then, letting out a roar of primal rage, he brought both of his hands above his head and slammed them down on the glass case in front of him.

The glass shattered and exploded in a shockwave, blowing out into the shop, embedding deep in every surface. I turned my back, my face away, hoping the parka would catch the brunt of the glass. My back and legs lit up with fire as it felt like I was being pelted with steel marbles.

“You’re sorry,” he repeated in a soft voice as I turned back to face him. He was once again sitting down, once again completely composed. Grey Eyes, standing beside me, sputtered. He let out a deep choking noise and I slowly turned my head. Grey Eyes fell to his knees, blood dripping from everywhere it seemed. Red stained his cloak and spread. The man fell to the ground at my feet and his blood pooled out around his body. It looked surreal, like something animated on the big screen.

My mouth fell open.

I'd never seen anyone die before. I'd never seen a dead body. I'd never seen that much blood.

Silvy hopped off my shoulder and pounced into the pool of blood and, although none of the liquid even rippled in the slightest, I pulled away. I expected it to splash onto me like a rain puddle a toddler had jumped into.

Silvy pranced over to a section of the spreading blood obscured by Grey Eyes’ body and started lapping up the hot liquid like it was milk from a saucer. My stomach roiled and I turned my attention to Geist.

There was a question in my mind, one that I was afraid of asking.

Geist answered it for me with a sigh.

“I see you found your father's parka.” He sneered at the parka I wore. “I always hated that thing. It always made it so easy for him to shrug off just about anything.”

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

I looked at my arms. I looked at my legs, which were exposed. I wasn't bleeding at all. I’d felt the glass hit my back and legs like steel shot but surrounding me on the wooden floor in a perfect little circle, was a thick pile of glass shards. I stood inside a pristine circle that contained no glass. Purple spots were already beginning to form across my exposed shins and thighs.

“Ah,” Silvy whispered into my ear, appearing there without warning. “I was wondering why the parka was glowing when you pulled it out.”

“I didn't see any glow,” I mumbled.

“Why would you have?” Silvy laughed. “You’re not from the Shadow Vaile.”

“Glow?” Geist said, his ears better than I realized. “You didn't see what glow?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Nothing.”

“You used the witchstone.” He shook his head. “I had higher expectations of you. I thought you would be able to stonebreak it.”

I opened my mouth to disagree but closed it instead. Nothing I could say would make this better. Nothing I could say would fix it. I had to put my fate in his hands. I had to trust in fate.

He must have dealt with curses before.

“Understand that the Lord Wizards of the Twelve Major Plaines will crucify you for this,” Geist said in a threatening voice.

“Kinky,” Silvy whispered into my ear. “I'd love to see the Lord Wizards do that.”

That’s when the tears hit. Through this entire process I hadn't cried once, but it was then, hearing my familiar say that she couldn't wait for me to be crucified by the Lord Wizards, that I started crying.

I didn't know what to do.

There were no avenues of escape.

I fell to my knees. “Please,” I begged. “Please, don't.”

Geist looked down at me, shaking his head. He drew in a deep breath and let it out.

Then he started to laugh. There was a sick quality to it, like he knew something I didn't, like he was keeping something from me.

“What?” I whined. “What's funny about this? I'm just a stick. I don't know what I'm doing. My father—”

“Your father was a moron,” Geist hissed. My tears kept coming and I felt like I could barely breathe. “Your father was the Austerium’s golden boy, but they never understood what he was. I did, though. I understood what that traitor did, how he worked.”

What is he talking about?

“Your ridiculous father was always inserting himself into my affairs and the Austerium's affairs. Did you know that he and I were classmates?”

“The plot thickens,” Silvy whispered from inside my hood.

“The Austerium always gave him the choicest stonebreaking jobs. Do you know what they called him?”

I shook my head. I had no idea.

“They called him Lord Stonebreaker. Lord. The Austerium called him Lord.”

I didn't really understand why that was such a big deal, but apparently it was.

“Lord Stonebreaker,” Geist scoffed. “Do you know what they called me?”

Silvy whispered a suggestion into my ear. “Ask them if they called him Lord Stonebreaker’s servant.”

“They called me Lord Stonebreaker’s servant!” Geist almost screamed at me.

Silvy erupted. “I knew it! Oh my god, I nailed it. Did you hear that? I knew it. God, I'm good.”

A black shadow shot out of my hood and over to Geist, spinning in circles around his head before landing on his shoulder. “I knew it,” she crowed as she danced on his shoulder. “I knew it. I called it. Gimme a high five, Hex.”

I shook my head.

“Oh,” Geist said, oblivious to my familiar but not to my head movements. “You don't think that's what they called me? Never to my face, obviously, but they said it behind my back. Plenty.”

“I'm sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. “I'm sorry they treated you like that.”

“You’re sorry?” Geist asked. He let out a deep, booming laugh. “No. No, I don’t think you're sorry yet. You're gonna be, though.”

I took a step back.

Geist shook his head. “You dumb stick girl. You absolutely obsessed-with-your-father, stupid ass stick girl.”

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Four-hundred thousand,” he said. He stared across the shop at me with an eyebrow raised. “Four-hundred thousand dollars.”

I frowned.

“It's a pittance, really,” he continued. “That's all it will cost me to wipe away every last remnant of your father's existence.”

He’s talking about the theatre.

“Wait,” I said. “You're the one who put in the bid?”

“Of course, I am. How else did you think it would work? Did you think that bid just magickally happened all by itself? Didn’t you think that maybe it was a bit coincidental?”

“Why?” I closed my eyes, wanting it to not be true, needing it to not be true. “Why would you do that?”

Silvy hopped from his shoulder onto his head. “Because he was Lord Stonebreaker’s servant. Weren't you paying attention? It's like I'm the only one watching this soap opera.”

I shook my head.

This isn't happening. This can’t be real.

“You know what the real plan was?” Geist asked.

I shook my head.

“I was going to give you the theatre. I bought it for you, and I was going to give it to you once you broke the witchstone, but you used it instead of stonebreaking it. You used what you thought was the Builder’s Stone, and now I have to explain to the Austerium, without any evidence mind you, that the Builder’s Stone wasn't actually the Builder’s Stone. Do you know how long they've been waiting for a decent stonebreaker to test that witchstone?”

Silvy looked at Geist and then at me. “Why would he trust you, a stick, if they'd had it for so long? Seems fishy.”

I ignored Silvy. My familiar had just gotten here. She didn't know what was happening. She didn't know what was going on and the stakes involved. I had to save this. This was my last chance to survive not just in the magick world, but in the regular world too. I needed this.

I breathed out a sigh. “What if I bring you another witchstone? A witchstone from my father's collection.”

Geist raised an eyebrow at this. “You would take me to Blackhart and allow me to select a witchstone of my choice?”

“This seems like a bad idea,” Silvy said. “Look at his face, listen to how he's talking.”

“Shut up,” I hissed, and then immediately spoke to Geist, not allowing him to focus on the shut up. “Yes. Yes, I will. Any witchstone.”

Geist's lips curled into a jagged smile. “Okay,” he said. “Well, let's make a deal. You allow me entrance to Blackhart to choose a witchstone, any witchstone, and I'll keep this from the Lord Wizards.”

I agreed. “Any witchstone.”

Geist glanced at his watch. “You're due in class now so you’d better get there. I have a meeting with Austerium officials, and I want my witchstone now. How do I get into Blackhart?”

I paused for a moment, considering I really trusted him or not.

You have to stay in the magick world. You must.

Pushing all reservations away, I told him how to get into Blackhart and he nodded, giving me a smile.

“This will be our secret, Hexana,” he said. “Now get to class.”