“I’m sorry, what?” she said sitting up straighter. Forget the heart attack, things had just reached Armageddon-serious. Dark magic, in her head? Why couldn’t her mom be like, ‘I found happy thoughts and unicorns butts in your head’?
“Whatever the Order did to your mind when they messed with your memories, they left something. I’m not entirely sure what it is, so I’m just calling it a fail-safe, a spell to be triggered if their plan didn’t succeed. That darkness inside your mind is what you’re constantly fighting. It’s not just memories. I don’t think the spell is necessarily causing all the bad thoughts, but I do think it’s magnifying them greatly and adding to them where it can. We will know more when the luminous sprites can get a look at it. Banishing darkness is their specialty, so they’re very familiar with the various forms of dark magic.”
“I was right. It is an exorcism,” Sally said, almost to herself.
“No,” her mom’s voice was firm. “Think of it more like a cleansing. Everything gets dirty, right? And so, everything need a good cleaning out every once in a while.”
“I get dirty. Want to clean me out?” Costin’s sultry voice filled her mind.
Sally burst out laughing, though she tried really hard not to.
“Do I want to know?” her dad asked.
Sally shook her head as she attempted to get herself under control. Leave it to her mate to help bring the drama down a notch or five. She turned to look at him. “Thank you.”
“Any time, Sally mine. That’s what I’m here for. Well-”—he shrugged and smiled smugly— “that and to be your boy toy.”
She patted his leg. “That you are, dimple boy. That you are.”
Her parents stood, both smiling at them but looking very tired. “One more thing before we call it a night,” her dad said. “That locket.” He pointed to her neck. “I found a journal from my … well … let’s just say many greats grandmother. She mentioned the locket. We know it has always been in the care of a gypsy healer, and it was blessed by the Great Luna. But the journal didn’t mention what power it contained, just that it somehow always ended up with whatever healer seemed to need it.”
Sally pressed her hand over the locket. “I guess it’s important I have it then.”
“Looks that way. You were supposed to end up with it. Who knows? Perhaps it will be a help tomorrow.” Her dad walked over and leaned down. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and patted Costin on the shoulder. “You two get some rest tonight. Tomorrow is bound to be tiring.”
“Night, Sally,” her mom said blowing her a kiss. “Costin, make sure to get her into bed at a decent hour.”
“No worries, Mrs. C.” Costin winked. “I’m good at getting your daughter into bed.”
Sally smacked him with a pillow in the face as her mom covered her ears and started singing. Her dad just laughed and led her mom from the room.
“Really?” she asked, turning her narrowed gaze on him.
“What?” he said, looking entirely innocent. “It’s a fact. I am good at getting you into bed. You guys are the pervs that took it to a sexual level.”
“As if you didn’t mean it that way,” she challenged.
“Never.” He gasped, pressing his hand to his chest and opening his eyes wide. “How dare you?”
Sally snorted. “Okay, don’t do that again. Ever.”
“Too much?”
She rolled her eyes and then stood. “Come on, I’ve got something to show you.”
Costin jumped to his feet and rubbed his hands together. “Now that is what I like to hear from my woman.”
She laughed as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, taking the stairs two at a time. “So eager to read a piece of paper?”
He paused just outside of her door. “Paper?”
“Ugh! Costin, put me down. Your shoulder is crushing my diaphragm.”
“What do you mean paper?” he asked, sounding like a forlorn child. “No smexy time?” he said as he slid her down his body until her feet were planted on the floor.
She shook her head. “Nope. Right now is healthy, relationship time.” Sally pushed the door to her room open and walked inside, trying not to laugh at the look on her mate’s face.
“But healthy, relationship time can lead to smexy time, right?” He shut the door behind him and clicked the lock in place.
Sally picked up a journal from the bedside table and sat down on the bed. She looked up at him and patted the spot beside her. “I’m not saying to rule it out or anything.”
His smile was back as he sat down next to her.
“Here.” She handed him the journal. “Turn to the page with the paper clip on the edge.”
Costin flipped it to the page, and his eyes began to shift back and forth across the paper. A slow smile began to form on his sensual lips. “When did you do this?”
She willed herself not to blush as she spoke. “While I took a bath last night.”
He chuckled. “So that’s what took you so long.” He held the journal out to her. “Go on then. Let’s hear it.”
Sally’s eyes widened as her mouth dropped open. “Y-you want me to read it out loud?” That sounded like the worst idea she’d ever heard.
“Of course,” he said and started tracing down her back with a finger as he laid on his side, propped up on an elbow. “We need to be able to talk about this stuff and communicate our needs.”
She huffed. “I am communicating, on this piece of paper.” She held the journal out, shaking it at him as if he didn’t know as to what paper she was referring.
“What if I go blind and can’t read?”
“I’ll learn to write in braille,” she said dryly.
“What if the pads of all my fingers were burned off and I couldn’t feel anything?”
“Depends. Am I the one who burned all the pads of your fingers off?” she asked and then laughed at the look of horror on his face. “What? How else would you get the pads of your fingers burned off? Wait.” She held up her hand as laughter continued to bubble out of her. “I know, you accidently burned them off because you’re blind, and Jen told you to brush the crumbs off of the stove and you did.”
The look of horror was gone, only to be replaced by a look that made it obvious he was questioning her intelligence. “That was lame.”
“You’re right. Pretty lame. And it probably made you really tired just listening because of how lame it was and now you want to go to bed.” She started to get up, but Costin snagged a piece of her hair and kept her in place.