Page 162 of How to Flirt with a Witch

A tiny meow emits from the car’s clean interior.

“Good timing.” Natalie’s hand closes over my arm, and she guides me to the vehicle. She cranes her neck, glancing around. “Get in.”

I startle, rooting my feet. “What? Why?”

She opens the back door. “Because you and I are going to have a lot to answer for.”

Sky appears beside us, her mouth pulled into a deep frown. “Fiona wants you down below,” she tells Natalie, her eyes flicking nervously to me. “She’s asked everyone to be in the courtyard. Now.”

I wrench out of Natalie’s grasp, my heart skipping. “Then I should go too.”

She takes my arm again, her touch firm. “You don’t understand the seriousness of what we’ve done. I think I can talk Fiona down, but I don’t want you there for this. Go somewhere safe, and I’ll come get you when this blows over.”

I set my jaw, defiant. “I don’t want to leave you!”

“It’s not a question,” she says harshly.

Typical Natalie, trying to protect me from something I have to face.

I open my mouth to argue, but Sky interrupts. “Natalie’s right. You’re both inshit.”

“The others are wrong—” I start.

“I know.” Sky grips my shoulders, holding my gaze. “I know you did the right thing, and this would’ve been a hell of a lot worse for all of us if the Madsens had stolen what was in that room. But Fiona doesn’t see that. She only sees how you broke our laws.”

My eyes get infuriatingly wet. A tornado of emotions swirls inside me—anger at the injustice of it all, sadness for the destruction, fear for what Natalie will have to deal with.

Sky drops her hands, scanning the empty street. “Related note, either of you know where Sebastian and Millie are?”

I shake my head, not meeting either of their gazes. I don’t think anyone needs to know that Millie’s in possession of bio magic. As long as she and Sebastian stay hidden, there’s no reason CSAMM has to find out.

I say a silent prayer for her, hoping she quickly figures out how to use it to ease her pain and heal her illness.

“Will Fiona want all the freed bio magic recaptured?” I ask.

Sky and Natalie exchange a look, like they’re each checking if the other has an answer.

“We’re not done with it,” Natalie says carefully. “I know that much.”

“Why can’t bio magic just be allowed to roam free?” I ask, a strange tightness in my ribcage at the memory of the chimeras trapped in cages. “Seeing it locked up like that… It felt wrong. Cruel.”

“The problem is that bio magic does whatever it wants,” Sky says, her tone somber. “Some of it might end up in forests, mountains, oceans… But some of it will end up near people. Cities, parks, places where it can do harm and where it might land in the wrong hands.”

“Then I’ll help find it and push it out. We all know I can sense magic, so let me help track down the chimeras that are hanging out where they shouldn’t be.” My words come out strong and certain. It might be a reckless offer, but all this feral bio magic is my doing, and I need to see it through. I have the ability to keep the world safe, and I refuse to let it go to waste when I could be helping.

Sky searches my face, her brow pinched. I hold her gaze, letting my determination show on my face. She must like what she sees because her expression relaxes, and she nods firmly. “Deal.”

Warmth ignites inside me, a sense of purpose sparking back to life.

I turn to Natalie, who nods as well. “I think you’d be particularly good at that. But first, you need to get away from here and let some of this fizzle out.”

“Fine.”

As Sky strides toward the steam clock, ready to sink into the earth, Natalie calls after her. “What are we going to do about Dad?”

Sky scowls, balling her hands into fists. “We’ll find him—and we’ll give the rest of the Madsens the same treatment as Katie gave Freddie.”

A chill ripples through me, and I wrap my arms around myself as if to ward off the memory.