Slip Song (Devany Miller Series) Read Free Page B

way.
    “ Thank you.”
    “ Devany?”
    I dropped the soggy paper towel in the trash can and went to the sink. “Yeah?”
    “Does Tom’s death have anything to do with … all that other stuff?”
    I gripped the phone, my other hand halfway to the faucet. I dropped it to the aluminum basin with a thud. “Yes.” I heard her whispering, to Zech, probably.
    “What can we do to help?”
    “ Nothing.” Her hurt silence made me soften my voice. “I don’t want to give them an excuse to come after you too. If there’s anything you can do, I’ll tell you. I promise. But I’m keeping you out of it unless I’m desperate.”
    “ I’m not a fragile flower, though some people think so. I earned my scars and I am tougher than you think I am.”
    Outside, fat flakes of snow continued to pile up. I leaned over the sink and looked. Tom’s mower had a thick dusting of white over it. I needed to move it into the shed before the snow ruined it. Maybe put the blade on to do the snow so Liam and Bethy wouldn’t have to shovel on Monday to get to the bus stop.
    “Tom wasn’t a fragile flower, Danni, and they grabbed him and killed him in front of my kids. Do you really think they’d think twice about killing you? Please, believe me. If I need you I will call. Okay?”
    “ Okay. Zech says he could go to the Council for you.”
    “ No. Not yet, anyway. Let me talk to Marantha and Arsinua, if I can find her. Then I’ll have him go if I need him to. Please.”
    The phone call didn’t end well. She thought I was protecting her because of her past. She only knew the tiniest bit of what had gone on before I’d roped her into helping me the last time. She didn’t understand the dangers.
    I sat my phone on the counter and splashed my face with cold water from the tap. Then I leaned in further and took huge gulps of the icy liquid straight from the faucet until my stomach was heavy and cold. I leaned against the sink and tried to plan what I needed to do next.
    I knew I needed to get a handle on the magic. That meant finding someone willing to teach me the basics. Marantha was a little snappish but then again, so was Arsinua. I could ask Tytan but he would probably expect some sort of payment in return.
    Nex? Would the fleshcrawler be able to teach me? He was from Midia, after all, and had the whole creepy-psychic thing going for him. Strange. I almost missed him. Of all that I’d left behind or ignored in the Slip, he was the one I looked on with the most fondness.
    That was saying something, considering he consisted of a floating head and trailing intestines.
    “Plan, Devany.”
    Go to swamp. Hunt. Kill. Mate.
    I rolled my eyes. “Not going to happen. Though if you want me to find a way to get you out of my head, then I’d be more than happy to help.”
    Again with the strange, chittery laughter. She was becoming more human-like the longer she stayed inside me. She liked it in there, unfortunately, and I hadn’t yet found anything she wanted bad enough to coax her out.
    At least with Ann here, I could make some night trips to the Slip and Midia. It would wear me out, but ever since the explosion that had left the heart, the witch, and the spider inside me, I hadn’t needed much sleep. I didn’t like leaving the kids, though, Ann here or not. The Theleoni―they of the black robes―had proven themselves more than willing to travel into my world to kill those I loved. They’d taken my kids once before and there was no way in hell I’d ever let that happen again.
    So, for now, I’d only go to the Slip, though I dreaded it, because at least visiting there meant no time passed at all here. I could go, spend hours or days there and have only a blink of time pass here. I just didn’t want to go alone. Which meant I was back to Tytan. Oh, how he would love to know all roads led to him.
    “Damn.”
    I went upstairs to find my grieving children. To hold them and make promises I wasn’t sure I could