Read Online Hexomancy by Michael R. Underwood - Free Book Online Page B

cause, but looking after friends came first.
    “I don’t know, Pri. You’re the first person I know he’s dated in town, so I don’t know if this is how he does stuff. And I bet he was scared, if he got shot, but that doesn’t excuse a goddamned bit of this.”
    Ree’s drink was empty again, and her ears were hot.
    The door buzzed.
    Priya leaned forward, but Ree raised a hand. “I got it,” she said, trying to be calming even when her own emotions were scaling up toward super-storm levels of lividity.
    “Sup?” Ree said, pressing the button.
    “Ree? It’s Anya.”
    Ree buzzed in Priya, and took the entrance time to walk over and give her friend another hug.
    “I’m so sorry, Pri. I didn’t know he was an asshole.”
    “This is the only asshole thing he’s done, though. It just doesn’t make any sense. Unless all that adventurer bluster was enough of an act that as soon as something real happened, he freaked and ran, tail between his legs.”
    Ree did some quick calculations. Priya could relay the story to Anya while Ree made a call to get the real scoop. Anya already knew the real deal about magic, ever since Halloween, and had been epic levels of cagey with keeping it all under wraps. “The Jimmy Olsen to your Superman,” she called it. Anya wanted to tell the others, but Ree had wanted to minimize exposure, try to keep the Ladies free of her magical bullshit.
    Too late now. The time for full disclosure had come and gone months ago, and the only thing that could be done now was to get it over and done with, come clean and circle the friend wagons.
    They opened the door for Anya, who was dressed even more “Oh crap, midsleep emergency” than Ree was, her hair wild, jacket thrown over yoga pants and a sleep shirt. Anya had her keys held in her left hand, Wolverine-style, relaxing as the door opened. She stuffed the keys back into her jacket and said, “Are you okay?”
    Anya Rustova (Strength 7, Dexterity 12, Stamina 15, Will 15, IQ 16, Charisma 15—Musician 5 / Geek 2 / Scholar 4 / Opera Diva 3) was built like a classic Russian spy, all curves and vivacity in a compact frame with Brazilian-blowout hair. She was usually a bargain-finding style icon, all cashmere scarves and designer clothes, but she dressed up because she wanted to look good, not because she needed to look good. Not offstage at least. And when the Friend-signal went up, looking fancy didn’t mean jack.
    Ree stepped forward, “You take over for a sec. I need to make a call.”
    “What?” Anya said. Priya echoed the question.
    “It’s about Steve,” Ree said, using the code they’d adopted to say, “Something magic is up,” when they were around friends not in the know. Ree was hoping that pretty soon, Steve would leave town, no longer needed.
    “Sure,” Anya said, stepping into the apartment.
    Ree anger-stomped down the stairs, remembering a flight and a half down that it was the middle of the night and she’d doubtless woken people up on a Monday morning.
    She pulled up Drake’s number on her Favorites list and called. She got to the front door before he picked up.
    “Ahoy ahoy,” he said, with the least enthusiasm she’d ever heard him muster over the phone.
    Ree was outside, with no one around. But it was still 4 AM.
    Fuck it.
    “What the goddamned fucking fuck were you thinking?” she asked, ears on fire like the time she’d tried a ghost chili pepper with nothing but water on hand to drink.
    “Ah. You’ve spoken to Ms. Priya, then. First, let me—”
    “No ‘ah’ bullshit. Tell me what happened, because I’m pretty sure it wasn’t thugs with knives, and I want to know the truth before I roast you over the coals and feed your skinny ass to the gnomes.”
    He was silent for a beat. When he breathed in, she heard a wince of pain, which undercut her rage, but not enough. Full-on sisters-before-misters mode was on.
    “On the journey back from the gathering, we were assaulted by a panther, or something close