Page 68 of The Nowhere Witch
“G—” Probably not the time to use his name and draw attention to myself. “Definitely not.”
“Then it’s good I didn’t tell you. The person we have an appointment with wanted to meet you, and they might have something that will work on the wall.”
“I’m so not happy with you right now.”
“It’s purgatory. You’ll blend better.”
A man with slicked-back hair and eyes that glowed red appeared in the distance. He was sitting at a desk made of slabs of rough stone in a place that I would’ve called the square on a normal day.
“Is that…” Keeping a firm hold of Hawk’s hand, I tugged him in the other direction.
“That’s not him. He’s booked a decade out.”
Okay, so not the devil—only a lower-level cleric, maybe? He probably couldn’t hijack me to hell. Hawk tugged me forward with him, and I fell into step.
“Hawk, I presume?”
Hawk nodded.
The cleric gave him a once-over before turning his attention to me, where it lingered much longer. “And the witch,” he said, putting his elbow on his desk, his fingers forming a steeple. He smiled wide enough to show off black, pointy fangs.
My fingers dug into Hawk’s hand.
“Do you have it?” Hawk asked.
The cleric reached down, lifted a metal bucket, and placed it on top of his desk. “It’ll refill as needed.”
Hawk stepped forward and took the pail.
“There’ll be a debt,” the cleric said, smiling my way again.
“The introduction already paid for that,” Hawk said, stepping in front of me.
“Had to try.” The cleric shrugged and then leaned around Hawk to look at me in a way that made my stomach turn. “You are definitely on our radar,witch.”
There was a strange intonation to the way he said witch, as if he were implying I might be something else.
“Is there anything you’d like to share?” Hawk asked the cleric, never one to let an implication die quietly.
“Nothing at all. Absolutely nothing. We’ll be watching. We have a vested interest in how this works out. Whatever this thing is, we can’t have it leaking over into our dimension, so we’ll expect you to handle it. Otherwise, we might be forced to get involved.”
“Stick to your own territory. I’m handling it,” Hawk said.
The cleric looked at me again. “It was very nice to meet you, Tippi. I’m sure you’ll be offering plenty of entertainment for us.”
We walked back in the direction we’d come, but I didn’t speak or unclench his hand until the sun was shining again.
“Don’t ever take me there again. Why did he even want to meet me? Guess you didn’t feel that was important to tell me either?”
“I didn’t know. That’s why I brought you. I was trying to find out.”
I pointed to the bucket. “What is that stuff?”
“They use it to reinforce the boundaries between their dimensions and keep certain undesirables locked away. We’re going to see if it works on your wall.”
27
“Why am I doing this alone?” I asked, as I smeared the black, tar-like substance over the fissures in the wall. Every handful felt like it had tiny worms squirming around in it, and no matter how much I used, it kept replenishing. Logically, that was a good thing, and I reminded myself of that every scoop.