Sure, that was fair. She didn’t have any idea about anything having to do with any of this. Moving from foot to foot, she nodded her head. “And that’s very fair. I don’t know anything about witches and blood moons and flippin’ whatever else is involved in Sow’s Hain—”
“Samhain!” Calamity shouted, correcting her pronunciation as she circled her feet.
“Whatever!” she shouted back, the emotions of the day and the tone of Rick’s discontent taking its toll. Sucking in the cold air, she forced herself to stay reasonable. “Listen, Rick, this was all an accident. I’m a familiar because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, okay? Two days ago I was a broke dancer in the chorus of a show that ended early and without a paycheck. Today, I’m a familiar, if this mark on my wrist is any indication, and I’m doing my best to do right by you and whatever else I’m supposed to do so I don’t end up in the Bad Place.”
“Do you have any idea all the things that could go wrong because you don’t know what you’re doing? Like this, for instance?” He held up his wrist, the one they still hadn’t figured out how to fix. “So, here’s the score. Tomorrow morning, I’m calling Familiar Central.”
“But we had a deal!”
Jamming his hand into his jean pocket, his angry eyes glittered beneath the pale moon. “And I went into that deal with the idea that you knew what the hell you were doing because you’d been raised around magic and witches.”
Yep. That was the metaphorical sound of her last straw breaking. “You know, I almost wish it were your head instead of your wrist that cracked off, you elitist jerk!”
Of course, the moment Poppy threw those words into the wind was the moment she heard a cracking sound.
Sharp and resonant, it echoed throughout the patio and whistled through the trees at the edge of Rick’s backyard.
After that, she didn’t hear or see anything else—the world and everything around her simply went dark.
Chapter 10
“Poppyyyyy! Where are you? Answer us, Poppy honey!” Wanda’s voice trilled out into the cold night air, swishing in her ears.
“Swear to fucking Christ, I’ll kill you if we don’t find her. You hear me, Rick? Kill you. Like smash the shit out of your skull and hip-hop in your frickin’ brains! She was just trying to do the right thing like a champ, and you’ve done shit-all but bust her ever-flippin’ chops since she started. And I’m gonna see to it you pay for that. So you’d better damn well pray to whatever it is you crazy motherfucker warlocks pray to that we find her!”
Oh, that was Nina, and she was mad. Though, Poppy found she rather liked the vampire’s anger in her favor.
But where was she, and why did her head feel like it was going to pop right off her shoulders? Letting her hand stray to the area surrounding her, she squeezed her fist when she happened on something soggy. Clenching her fingers, she reached around her, skimming the surface. Leaves, she was lying on leaves, and something was poking her in the back.
Then dampness permeated her cold nose, and there was another sharp poke of what was surely a branch.
“Poppy-Seed!” Calamity shouted. “Please be out here somewhere! Give us a yell!”
There was the scamper of little feet in frantic fashion, and crunching leaves, signaling Calamity was somewhere close.
“Popp-eeeee!” someone else howled, slow and stilted, with an emphasis on the letter E. “Come…nooow!”
Carl…aw, that was Carl. She’d know him anywhere, and she wanted to answer him. She wanted to call out, but her head throbbed with the beat of a thousand drums and the mere thought of screaming back left her immobile.
“Poppy! Oh, thank God!” Marty. That was Marty. Her sweet lilt laced with relief as she scooped Poppy up in her arms was a welcome sound. There was a rustle of fabric as she yanked off her jacket and wrapped it around her. “She’s over here! I’ve got her now!”
Feet. Tons of pairs of feet pounded the ground, making her headache throb in time.
Soft as a baby’s backside, Marty’s hand roamed over her face. “Are you okay? Look at me, sweetie. Open your eyes now and look at me so I know you’re okay.”
Forcing her eyes open, Poppy groaned when someone shone a flashlight in them, the abrasive glare making her wince. The trees above her, their limbs creaking in the wind, bounced in the inky sky. Woods. She was in the woods somewhere.
Calamity climbed into her lap, pressing her round head into Poppy’s jaw. “Aw, Jesus and illicit fornication, Poppy-Seed, you scared the shit out of us! You okay?”
Gripping Marty’s arms, she nodded. “If it’s possible, I have a headache bigger than even Rick,” she joked. “What happened?”