Page 27 of Ride or Die (The Body Shop #5)

T he townhouse was oddly quiet as I crept down the hall toward the elevator with Anunit on my heels.

As far as I could tell, everyone had retreated to their rooms. Probably waiting on me to come up with a plan that refused to solidify in my mind.

I had an idea, a risky one. The other Marys would end me if they so much as caught a whiff of what I was about to do, but I had to act before Ankou slithered through a gap in our defenses like the snake he was and struck where we were most vulnerable.

Tempted as I had been to bring Dinorah with us as protection, I hated the idea of sullying her again. But I had replenished my kit with herbs, chalk, salt, and anything else I might need in a pinch.

We made it to the elevator without any doors swinging open or voices calling out to us.

Which made it all the more startling when the doors rolled open on a garage filled with people.

“Um.”

“Um?” Josie pursed her lips. “How stupid do you think we are?”

“Don’t answer that.” Matty tucked his hands under his arms. “But do answer this.” His mouth tightened. “Did you really think you could slip out to face Ankou, and we wouldn’t notice?”

“No?”

“The way you’re making that sound like a question tells me you’re lying.” Carter tore into a bag of cheddar puffs produced out of thin air and bit down on one. “You don’t learn, do you?”

“We’re here to help.” Harrow gentled his tone. “To do that, you have to let us in.”

“He’s right, cher .” Vi crossed to me and wrapped me in a hug. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

“But you can if you want to,” Rollo tossed in from the back. “You’re a grown woman and can make your own decisions, and we’ll respect them.”

“Thanks,” I said dryly, pulling away from Vi. “This whole time you were staging an intervention?”

No wonder I hadn’t bumped into anyone upstairs. The only person missing from the mob was Lucia.

The elevator chimed, and she stepped out. Guess I got ahead of myself. The gang was all here.

Watching as she pulled on thick gloves, I asked, “Are you going to tell me off too?”

“I don’t have that right.” She jerked her chin toward the others. “But they do, so I would listen to them.”

“I knew I liked you.” Josie winked at her then scowled at me. “Listen to your mother.”

The creak of leather drew my attention to Lucia, who had dressed head to toe in a scuffed jumpsuit with runes branded into the material.

Paired with her dusty work boots, she could have been a mechanic.

Or a member of a pit crew for some sort of para racing team.

She might have fit right in at The Body Shop.

“You’re leaving now?” There was no other reason for her to be suited up for travel. Or battle.

“With Ankou wreaking havoc topside, I can’t ask for a better opening to go say hello to Ithas.”

“In that case—” I extended my arm, “—good luck and godspeed.”

After a flicker of hesitation, a moment where she might have gone for more, she shook hands with me.

Eyes glossy, she ducked her head and made for the door. “Be careful out there, kid.”

“Will we see you again?” Josie, bold as brass, asked what I couldn’t get out. “Or is this goodbye?”

“You’ll see me again,” Lucia tossed over her shoulder.

“As long as I kill Ithas.” Grim amusement laced her voice.

“If our paths don’t cross again, you’ll know why.

” She hesitated at the door, waiting on Vi to let her out.

“It was nice meeting you, Frankie. I’m glad to have one of my questions answered. ”

Before I could ask for clarification, Vi had twisted the knob, and Lucia was gone.

“I know how we can get Dis Pater here.” I sounded more confident than I felt. “The problem is what we do with him after that.”

“Dinorah would not mind having his blood on her hands,” Anunit said into my mind.

“We can save that as a last resort.” I wouldn’t need her. Not yet. “Thank you. For offering.”

“Let’s hear it then.” Josie rubbed her thumb between her eyes. “What’s your grand scheme?”

Quickly as I could, I gave them the rundown, skimming the more dangerous parts. Not that I fooled them when they knew me better than I knew myself. They did, however, indulge me before sharing looks that I interpreted as I told you so . Meaning they only believed every other word out of my mouth.

Harrow worked his jaw, chewing over my reasons, clearly having a hard time swallowing them.

But he didn’t speak a word against me. None of them did. Not a single protest.

“Take my phone.” Josie pressed it into my hand. “Just in case you need us.”

Understanding I had been given a means of them tracking me, I shoved it into my pocket. “Thanks.”

Scalp prickling under their stares, still wary of their acquiescence, I walked out unarmed with Anunit.

Which, I suppose, wasn’t the same thing as being unarmed at all.

“There you are, Bijou.” Ankou made a cutting gesture at his sides, and the men stepped back.

“I thought you were going to stand me up for a minute. Can you imagine how sad that would have looked?” He was using one of the men, a witch, to glamour the street.

I could smell it. Must be a black witch.

They carried a rotten odor about them. “Me standing on the street, heart in my eyes, staring up at the goddess divine while she glowered down at me from the balcony?”

“Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy, not a romance. You get that, right?”

“Threw the city into chaos for days. No matter how you slice it, it’s a delicious literary masterpiece.”

“Hmm.”

“Mind drawing us a circle?” He slid his gaze toward his companions. “We have business to discuss.”

“The favor.”

“Yes.” His lips thinned. “I am doing you a favor by coming for you myself.”

Message received. He didn’t want his buddies overhearing our chat and reporting back on whatever deal Ankou was about to barter. This should be interesting.

With Anunit acting as my ticket home in the event he attempted to whisk me away to Abaddon again, I drew a circle around us and invited Ankou to step in, knowing my siblings would be banging their heads against the wall if they could see me. Or maybe plotting to bang my head against the wall.

As soon as the circle solidified, Ankou exhaled slowly. “Ithas is not happy with you for stealing Dinorah.”

“I didn’t steal it.” I narrowed my eyes on him. “Someone gave it to me.”

“Yeah, well, if you think I’m going to confess my sins, you’ve got another think coming.”

“Tell me the truth. The whole truth. You didn’t only bring me to Abaddon to intimidate me.”

More than simple greed had motivated him, or he would have bounced at the first sign of opposition.

“Okay, okay. Fine. You caught me.” He raked a hand through his hair.

“I was supposed to bring you right to Ithas, but you would have never seen the light of day again if I had done that. He would have kept you, played with you, and then broken you. You’re as close to perfect as he’s ever going to get, but as soon as he has asked you his questions and gotten his answers, he will scrap you.

He can’t help but tweak everything he makes, and he’s worked on this project too long to stop. ”

“There must have been wiggle room in how he phrased the command to let you get away with dragging your feet.” I read between the lines.

“That’s why you chose Abaddon to negotiate with me, to satisfy the urge to obey him.

” I turned his actions over in my mind. “You even ran from the mirashii with us rather than dump me on Ithas to give my family time to rescue me.”

“You can’t very well save me,” he sighed, glancing away, “if you can’t save yourself.”

“The omen ruined your plan to have your cake and eat it too.”

Otherwise, we could have freed Kierce and returned to New Orleans triumphant without Ankou breaking faith with his master. I’m certain, in this fantasy, he also expected me to be so full of good cheer and gratitude that I would grant his request to kill his master and free him too.

All without him ever confessing he would have turned me over to Ithas if I had flat-out refused his ask.

“I am what I am, and that is all I will ever be.”

“Then I pity you.”

Hands shoved into my pockets, I pierced my right index fingertip with a lancet.

Then, faster than he could clock what I intended, I drew a sigil in my blood on his forehead.

“What the hell?” He scrubbed at his skin. “What did you do?”

Having heard the chant only once, I could only hope I remembered the rhythm.

He switched faces, Armie and Ankou, Ankou and Armie, but the mark burnt bright.

There was no erasing it. No escaping it.

I had marked his soul for Dis Pater, and the crackle of lightning across the sky meant the god was coming to collect.

“No.” Horror rounded Ankou’s eyes. “You wouldn’t dare…” He rubbed harder. “You owe me, Bijou. Big time. I did everything I promised and more. Undo this before it’s too late.”

“It’s already too late.”

A burst of light blinded me as the god himself materialized in the street, curiosity lining his face at the feast presented to him, a half-forgotten deity.

Until he got a look at his offering. And the person responsible for it.

Then the storm kicked up in intensity, growing until the Quarter shook with his anger.

Frozen like a deer in headlights, Ankou didn’t breathe for fear of what Dis Pater would do to him.

“Mouthy girl.” He scanned the street around us. “What have you done with my Viduus?”

“Good to see you too.” I plastered on a smile for him. “How about you and I make a deal?”

“You threw my last offer in my face.” He narrowed his eyes. “What changed your mind?”

The best excuse, the one he was most likely to believe, could get Ithas in loads of trouble.

And I was here for it.