Page 36 of Locked

Because Mother wasnottaking Basil away from me.

"Don't do anything rash, Zelle," my cat pleaded.

I exhaled forcefully. "I thought you wanted me to stand up to her. For myself. For you?"

"I just want you to be happy, Rapunzel. I don't want you to wage an all out war with that bitch every single time she comes over! I wanted you to stand up for yourself and take what you needed to make your life whole. She's gone crazy. Off the deep end. Now is not the time to fight her."

"So what do we do?" I asked, sighing heavily and plopping down on a stool by the counter. I reached out and cupped a handful of the ashes of his cat food. "How do we lay low?"

"I think you're going to have to put me down," he said.

"No!" I protested.

"Figuratively, not literally," he covered. "I think you're going to have to fake my death. And fake it good."

"How do we do that?" I asked. "I don't have the stuff I'd need. She's going to want to see a body, Baz. How do we do that?"

"Well not alone, for one. I think we're going to have to ask for some outside help. If only you had three elven warriors willing to give their lives for you…" Basil said whimsically.

"They aren't warriors," I corrected. "They're a mage-turned-security-guard, a rogue-turned-locksmith and a hunter-turned art buyer."

"I think that's definitely good enough," Basil replied with a nod.

"Do you have a plan?" I asked, hoping he did so I wouldn't have to think of one on top of honing my magic skills.

"No, but I figured we could come up with one this week," he replied. "Starting with finding me some food. Because I can only eat mice for so long."

"There are mice?" I asked, glancing down at the floor.

"There are miceeverywhere," he replied. "But if I live off them exclusively, they're probably going to leave the building. I'd say we have four-ish days before that happens."

"Four-ish days, huh? I can maybe come up with something by then."