Well what the fuck? Okay. So, you’re not going to be able to scare him with the whole witch thing. That's out of the picture now.

I glanced over at Flin and breathed an actual sigh of relief. Even if I couldn't scare Geist off myself, at least I had an adept-in-training standing next to me. I had someone who could fight Geist.

“Is that relief you're feeling?” Silvy purred.

“Yeah,” I muttered, taking a step back and to the side, standing a tiny bit behind Flin.

I frowned when Silvy giggled, but I didn’t have time to worry about her right then. I needed to focus on staying behind Flin.

He’s stronger than me. He can get me out of this. He can save me.

Something in my head screamed at this. Something deeper howled.

You’re doing it again. You’re relying on others to solve your problems. You’re literally hiding behind someone else.

Silvy kept giggling.

What am I supposed to do, though? How am I supposed to fight off someone who can use magick? How am I supposed to battle when I don't have any magick of my own?

All I had was a laughing familiar and a magick parka. A magick parka that wouldn't stand up to magickal attacks.

I tried to figure out what I was supposed to do and all the while Silvy giggled from around my neck.

“What's funny?” I hissed at her.

“Aren't you even a tiny bit curious how Geist knew you were a half-witch?”

Of course, I was, but at the moment I was more focused on surviving.

“I mean,” Silvy continued, “who all have you told that you're a half-witch. In my head, that number is exactly—”

“One.” I finished Silvy's thought for her.

Flin turned his head to the side and glanced back at me. “What?”

“One,” I sighed. “One person. You. You were the only person I told.”

Flin stared at me for several seconds before rolling his eyes dramatically and letting out a loud sigh. He looked over to Geist who shrugged.

“Well fuck,” Flin said. He turned around to face me and pushed me as hard as he could. I flew back through the air, lifted with magickal force, and hit the wall. I slid down it until I sat in glass.

“How long has he been working with Geist, do you think?” Silvy asked.

“Not now, Silvy.”

“I mean now is kind of the ideal time, isn't it? Don't you want me to slice them open? It wouldn't take long. Think of all that blood I could drink,” Silvy moaned.

She fell out of the hood and into my lap on her back.

“Think of it,” she said, kicking her back left leg like she was a dog. Her black and white striped tail whisked through the air. “Can you imagine? Come on. Just a little taste.”

And then I remembered what she'd said when she’d tasted Flin's blood the first time.

Tastes like a liar.

I also realized that, once again, I’d put my faith in someone else only to have it backfire on me. I looked at Silvy and considered taking her up on her offer.

You’ll just be falling right back into the same habit again. The habit you fell into not even thirty seconds earlier.

“No,” I said. “I'll get us out of this.”

Flin and Geist exchanged a look after overhearing this before roaring with laughter.

“How long?” I asked, wanting to keep them talking as my mind frantically danced from one option to another, none of the options realistic, none of the options actual possibilities.

“Oh, I don't know.” Flin glanced over the Geist. “What's it been, old man?”

“Well… Son…” Geist put his arm around Flin. “I'd say pretty much your entire life.”

“Huh,” Silvy said. “It's not often that I’m surprised, but when I am, well…”

Every time you were out of Geist’s sight, you were with either Grey Eyes or Flin.

I glanced over at Grey Eyes.

“Was he one of your sons too?” I asked, hoping maybe, if he was, I could drive some sort of wedge between Flin and Geist.

“Him?” Geist laughed. “No, but he is the son of a prominent wizard.”

Flin chuckled. “And that's not gonna look good at your inquisition.”

Inquisition. A bloody montage of historical images associated with the word “inquisition” flashed through my mind. I followed that up with a complementary montage of witch trial images.

You’re fucked.

“Well,” I said, trying to think of something else to say, something else to ask them to keep them talking so I could figure out what I was supposed to do next.

Silvy, still in my lap, curled up into a ball. She let out a thick yawn.

“Wake me up when this is over. Or I guess if you come to your senses and let me save you.”

I considered it, considered how easy it would be, and promptly discarded it. I'd lived my whole life letting others save me, when really their saving me almost always ended up with me getting fucked.

Not this time. Not ever again.

This was my moment to change that and change it for good.

“So, you both wanted to corner the witchstone market? That's what all this is about? Power?”

Flin shrugged. “To him it's about power, for me it's about money. When he passes on, then I suppose it'll be about power for me.”

“Assuming you get the shop,” Geist said.

“Right. Assuming,” Flin laughed. “Hex, stick girl, I can't believe you actually thought you could pull this off, but then I guess that’s stick logic for you.”

“Stick logic,” I mumbled, repeating it to myself. It wasn't something I'd never heard before.

“Yes,” Geist agreed. “It was exceedingly silly. What did you think you were going to do here? How did you figure this was going to work?”

I swallowed, trying to keep my head about me. There had to be something I could do. There had to be some way to get out of this.

“I think the worst part,” Flin glanced over at me. “The most embarrassing part for you that is,” he glanced back to Geist, “is that she thought the Builder’s Stone, that stupid myth, would actually lure you out of your shop.”

“I mean,” I said. “It did though, right?”

I knew it was a petty thing to say, but I needed them to keep talking so I could think, I needed time.

Geist laughed and shook his head. “It only lured me out because that's what we wanted you to think. Do you see an out right now? There are no windows, no doors that you can open. You're trapped. Out on that street, though, anywhere else, you probably would've had a fighting chance. You could've called for help and someone would've come. But now? Here?”

Both he and Flin roared with laughter.

My face flushed with shameful heat.

I was trapped. I was stuck in this room with them and they would toy with me before they destroyed me. I took in a deep breath and sighed.

“You're right,” I said. “You're right.”

Both of their eyes narrowed at the same time and I could finally see the family resemblance.

“What are you doing?” Flin asked.

“Are you stalling for time?” Geist asked.

I mean, I was, but I didn't think it was going to help anything at that point. They were right.

I’m stuck in a room with a magick parka that can protect me only so much and a familiar who’s going to heckle me until I die. That is, unless she—

I pulled up short.

That’s an option… That’s an option that might work.

I swallowed and I saw Silvy's eyes, lazily watching Geist and Flin creep closer, turn back to me. Silvy sat up. Suddenly alert, suddenly at the ready.

“You’re not going to…” she trailed off and I smiled down at her.

“On my command,” I said.

“You don't command us to do anything,” Geist said. “A simple stick like you could never command me to do anything.”

I smiled as they crept closer, both of them inching towards their eternal doom, their eternal damnation.

“I’m curious,” I said. “Where did you hide the witchstones?”

Flin and Geist glanced at each other and laughed.

“We hid them inside Blackhart,” Flin answered, laughing even harder.

My stomach jumped to my throat. “You did what?”

“Hid them in Blackhart.”

I frowned. “Blackhart was destroyed.”

Flin glanced over at Geist. “She doesn't get it.”

“No,” Geist agreed. “No, she doesn't.”

“You know that saying, only Covington can hold Blackhart, right?” Flin asked.

“Right,” I said.

“Because Blackhart is in the Shadow Vaile. It's not here. Destroying a physical gateway to a place doesn’t destroy the place itself.”

“So, you only destroyed a gateway in the Night Market?”

“Of course,” Geist answered. “I wasn't about to destroy all those witchstones when I could own them.”

“How did you survive?” The Shadow Vaile is supposed to drive people insane.

I stood as they moved forward. Silvy stayed on the ground, right by my feet. She was in the perfect position.

“Witchstones,” Geist said.

“You know,” Flin said, “it’s a pity you didn’t take more time to learn about the various witchstones available. You would have known there are witchstones that allow you to survive in the Shadow Vaile for limited amounts of time.”

I frowned. “Are either of you carrying those sorts of witchstones on you right now?”

I hoped it sounded like a dumb stick question.

They stepped forward and grabbed my arms, but I didn’t resist. They started moving me towards the gateway, towards whatever the Austerium’s version of an inquisition was.

“Why would we?” Geist asked in answer. “There's no reason to have them right now. We’re not going to the Shadow Vaile.”

“Besides,” Flin said, “supply of those witchstones is limited. Why would we be carrying them around without a purpose?”

“Okay,” I sighed. “I've heard enough. It's time, Silvy.”

“You promise?” Silvy asked.

“It's time for what you've always wanted: Chaos.”

Flin and Geist both glanced at me.

“Oh, hell yes,” Silvy whispered.