Page 59 of Locked

"I can hardly wait."

"You know… provided Kinden and Rifyr haven't just… broken you out by then."

I sighed heavily. "That's going to be a lot harder than Kinden thought, I think…"

"You don't sound surprised."

I shook my head. "Mother's magic is legit. It's old magic. It's hard to break those curses."

"Here's the thing about curses…" Sorrel said. "It's hard to break them, sure. But it's super easy to find loopholes."

"And is that what you're good at?"

"Unfortunately no. Rifyr's pretty good at it, though."

I talked to Sorrel for most of the rest of the day and watched the chicken body turn to ash in the brazier.

As the final flame fizzled out, I picked up a metal trowel and pushed around in the ashes.

The bones had fused together in the high heat, making a big black blob that I was fairly certain no one could identify.

Sorrel watched as I cast a cooling charm on the ashes and then scooped them up and into an ornate box I had found sitting empty on my dresser. I wrote Basil's name on top and took them inside, placing it front and center on the mantle in the living room. Right where Mother would see it best when she entered the room.

"All done?" Sorrel asked.

"All done," I confirmed.

Basil was dead. The deed was done.

Or at least, he was as good as dead. Dead to Mother, and what Mother didn't know couldn't hurt him.