Page 44 of Locked

I wasn't quite ready for things to get turned upside down. Not just yet.

I was still working on a few spells, protection mostly, but also some lock and curse-breaking charms. It couldn't hurt. Especially since Mother had become so vindictive as to try to take Basil from me. Not only take him from me, but kill him! Howdareshe?

There were a lot of things I could explain away, but Basil's death wouldn't have been one of them.

I was forever grateful to Kinden for coming up with a plan. I could have probably come up with it eventually, but sometimes two heads were better than one.

And four heads were better than two. But two heads at a time were going to have to suffice for now.

Basil stretched awake, rolling over onto his back and looking up at me. "You look decidedly less tense. You talk to Rifyr again?"

I rolled my eyes, sorry I'd even told him the barest of details about mine and Rifyr's video chat fun. "No. Kinden."

"Ooo la la…" he deadpanned.

"Stop it. He actually solved our problem for us, so I mean…"

"Oh, for real?" Baz sat up to look at me dead on. "Which problem?"

I laughed because if I didn't, I was very likely going to cry. It was a valid question. "The you problem."

Basil's eyes widened. "Oh really? How'd he do that?"

"We're going to fake your death. I just scheduled a post on my blog for tonight that will announce that you're not feeling well. You've been laying around… being lethargic. Sleeping a lot…"

"Right. All the symptoms of night lily poisoning."

"Correct," I said. "And then on Monday, when Mother comes, you're to stay in my room, pretending to sleep the whole time."

He nodded. "Okay, check."

"And then on Tuesday… Kinden's going to come over…"

"Wait a minute… he can do that? He knows where we are?"

"Oh, right. Yeah, yeah. He knows. He's magic and figured it out."

Basil nodded. "Awesome. Okay, continue."

"And you're going to go home with him. For good."

He froze, the only movement was his shoulders slumping slightly. "I don't want to leave you here alone, Zelle."

"I know, Baz. I don't want you to leave me either… but you can't stay. It's not safe for you."

"What about you? What do you think she's going to do to you once I'm gone?" He asked. "You need me here to protect you."

"I think if Mother wanted to kill me or maim me, she would. And there's nothing anyone could do about it…" I said slowly. "But I don't thinkyoucan stay here anymore, Baz. You have to leave."

"If it's what you want me to do, I'll do it…" he acquiesced. "But know that I don't like it one bit. I don't like the thought of you up here alone."

"Kinden, Rif, and Sorrel can visit me now. If I'm ever super lonely, I can call one of them."

"Yeah, but…" Basil paused for a moment. "What will I do when I wake up in the morning and you're not there?"

"Kinden and Sorrel will be."

"It's not the same, and you know it…"