The Marriage Game

In Which We Return to Regularly Scheduled Drama

Three hours, fifteen bags of M&Ms, an hour and a half of hiking, and one unfortunate encounter with a raccoon later, they arrived outside a small opening in the cliff face. It was the size of a large dog. Tendrils of darkness slithered around the rock wall and the shadows swallowed up the nearby light.

The sun set in the distance, a small ball of red light lurking behind waves of grassy hills.

"There's another cave a mile north of here," Declan said softly. "It's a tourist attraction. You can explore some caves, take pictures with rocks. They don't know how close they are to another world."

"Another world?" Camila frowned. 

"Kind of. It's a supernatural nexus, a focal point for witch magic. The lines between this world and the next are blurrier here. As long as you don't make any deals with ghosts, you should be safe." Declan's brow was furrowed. Camila got the sense that he was more worried than he let on. 

"What happens if you make a deal with a ghost?"

"Well- You die. It's a charming process. I think they suck the marrow from your bones or something like that." Declan glanced over his shoulder. Camila followed his gaze.

Rosa stood a few yards away, a saccharine smile on her lips. She held out a hand, palm up, a breath away from Zora's face.

"The M&Ms are mine. Quit hogging them, Zola."

Zora glared viciously, but handed over the last bag of M&Ms.

Rosa smiled, satisfied, and pranced over to Camila and Declan. "What are we talking about?"

"Just the caves," Camila said, glancing over at Zora. Her grey eyes bore into the back of Rosa's head. "

"Caves are really cool. Did I tell you about the time I killed a couple of sheep? It was all because of a cave. You see-"

"Yes. You did tell us," Declan growled. "The sun's setting. Let's set up camp and head out tomorrow morning."

Rosa tilted her head, a sweet, closed-mouthed smile on her lips. "Did I ever tell you about the time a man tried to order me around? I'll give you a spoiler. He died miserably."

Declan, to his credit, held his ground. "We've been traveling for more than a day. If we head into the caves now, we won't be able to fight well or effectively retrieve the Heart. That's what you want, isn't it?"

Rosa rolled her eyes. "Alrighty. I suppose we can camp. Just remember who's in charge here, David."

She tossed her blond hair over her shoulder, flouncing over to the pile of duffel bags and backpacks they'd unceremoniously tossed to the ground, and yelled. "Alexis! Build my tent!"

Alex trudged over to her and began to dig through the backpacks.

"Camila," Declan's brow furrowed. He inhaled, breathing in the chilly night air. "Is everything... okay?

"Well, except for the centuries old witch holding us at spellpoint, yeah, everything's fine. Why, what's going on?"

"No, its- Um. You smell..." he started, shook his head, and sighed. "I'm tired. I'm probably imagining things."

Camila frowned. She smelled? What on earth-

And then it hit her. The mating mark would've linked her scent to Alex. She'd thought Zora's spell would have stopped anyone from noticing—hadn't she said exactly that, when she'd cast the spell?—but maybe with Rosa around it was wearing off. She shivered.

"Of course I smell." She elbowed Declan gently. "I've been on an airplane for the past twenty four hours and I haven't showered. You smell worse."