Baguette Rhymes with Dead || ONC 2024 | ✔

Chapter 13: All That Time (But You Still Had A Heart)

Luc's—Heloise's—strong grip on my hand tightened painfully while the woman slipped out of her role. "And if you're not coming to the car, we will wait for my husband right where we stand."

My thoughts became a chaotic mess, alarm bells screeching at me from every corner of my brain, a hundred questions I struggled to grasp making my head ache. "How the fuck did you get to him?" was the only one I managed to spit out.

There was a frantic look in Heloise's eyes, as if she struggled to maintain her composure as much as I did. "I overheard your conversation in the crowd during your escape from prison. I knew where you would be heading after that, but it was imperative I got to the other one first. Before he could leave." She glanced at Béatrice. "Then it was only a matter of using the right bait."

Béatrice looked on the verge of tears, proving to me she wasn't working with Heloise by choice. Had Friedrich brought her to this dangerous woman, forcing her into compliance? A part of me prayed our former spirit guide would turn against our shared tormentor; if we both went on the offensive, we'd be two against one, and Heloise wouldn't stand a chance.

But at the end of the day, if we did that, I would escape back to my own realm, and Béatrice would be left to deal with the potentially horrible consequences of her actions for the rest of her afterlife. An afterlife that could even get abruptly cut short.

I couldn't ask Béatrice to fight for me. I couldn't even escape. If I escaped, I'd have to focus all my efforts on making my way back home; there wouldn't be any time left to concoct a plan to force Heloise out of Luc's body. Luc's body had plenty of drool-worthy muscle, but I'd still be able to wrench myself out of Heloise's grip if I really worked for it. I could do it. But what good would that do?

If I escaped this time, there wouldn't be any hope of returning. I'd abandon Luc in this place. And he mattered far too much for me to even consider doing that. Rage soured my expression, my free hand clenching into a fist. Luc deserved to walk out of here, back to his life, to his family and his friends back home.

That, and I needed him in my own life, too.

"I'm not going to try and escape. I'll wait with you until Abelard gets here." I pried Heloise's hand away from mine as I said so, eager to at least put a little bit of distance between us. "But the least you can do before your husband takes my life is hear me out. If you're as fair and reasonable as the people here say you are, and if you have anything left resembling a heart, you'll do that for me. Please."

That was all I could think to do now: talk. I didn't know how to get Luc back by force, which meant my only shot at getting it done was making Heloise leave his body willingly. I just had to convince her it was the right thing to do. And maybe, considering how frantic she looked, how strangled she'd mentioned Luc's family, there was indeed some reasoning that could still be done. It was worth a try.

Luc had said I had a way with words. Now I had to prove it.

I could see a surge of panic cross Luc-Heloise's face. Heloise might've felt tempted to clamp my friend's hands over my mouth to shut me up, but she refrained, if only to keep me from changing my mind and making a run for it anyway. "If you wish to make me reconsider my plans, just know you will not succeed," she stated, though she was possibly trying to get that into her own head as much as mine. "I cannot let an opportunity like this go to waste. Nothing you say will change that."

"Maybe not. It is a golden opportunity for you." I tried to swallow my nerves, to keep my voice calm and steady and free from any pesky emotions that might trip me up, but I couldn't manage it as well as I'd hoped. "I just want to tell you that... that I think I understand you. Why you're so desperate you'd go so far as to consider stealing lives that aren't yours for the taking."