Lament of the Traitor King (Complete)

Chapter 36 - Corrosive

Netta brushed her teeth, showered, at any moment expecting Ash to reappear. In a distracted state, Netta called Calliope.

At first, no one answered. The second time that Netta called, someone who was not Calliope answered.

"I'm sorry to say that the fortune teller is permanently unavailable." A female voice, one that Netta felt resonating in her memory with the last moments of Anais' life, spoke on the other end of the line.

Netta took a breath and then said, "You murdered someone - a girl." Her mind swam as she rushed to think of what to tell her estranged Sister. "What are you doing - why are you doing it?"

A deep sigh. "If you want a look at any of the skeletons in her closet, I recommend getting up here. Before the Humans catch whiff of this."

Which one of her Sisters did that voice belong to - whose voice seemed to scratch as her ear drums like this?

"What do you -"

The other end of the phone call died.

"Has it ever occurred to you to listen to me for once?" Ash remarked from the passenger's seat. When Netta didn't answer him as she hurried the car, almost skidding it into a pole, he snapped, "I know this means little to you, but I know what an ambush sounds like."

Netta's breathing felt as though she were swallowing mouthfuls of molasses with each breath. How can any of this not be a dream?

Faintly, she asked, "You would tell me if this was one of your manipulative dreams, right?"

Ash turned to look at her. He shouted, "What?"

After what felt like an impossibly long drive, Netta stopped the car in the middle of the road in front of Calliope's shop. She tore out of the car, ignoring Ash's continued protestations as she ran up the sidewalk. When she grabbed the door knob to the entrance of the store, Netta felt as though the door weighed as much as a boulder as she swung it open.

Inside, she looked around in the gloom of the magically cavernous interior of the store, searching desperately for a sign of something that she did not want to see.

When nothing became obvious to her, Netta tore further into the store, with Ash protesting as he chased her.

Netta nearly ran into the desk as she hurtled through the room before she could realize that whatever magic had been in place to expand the size of the room was gone. Even before Netta threw the door open to the back room, a sick feeling invaded her stomach and threatened to overcome her.

The back room was a mess. A horrible, bloody mess that had what looked, at first, like a disfigured mannequin laying on its back, slumped on top of a desk.

Netta gasped and took a step backwards, her hand over her mouth, looking at the scene just long enough for the image of the wide-eyed face of Calliope to become branded in her mind.
She was vaguely aware that Ash had taken a hold of her, was taking her out of the room and then out of the building. She almost missed when Ash used magic, blinking them so that they were back in the motel room.

He was speaking to her, and Netta stared at him in open-mouthed shock. She watched as he gathered her belongings up with flicks of his hands, the strewn articles of clothing flying into her bags.

He stopped after a moment and began to speak to her, but it was impossible to hear him through the buzzing in her mind that had taken over. Finally Ash seemed to be shouting at her, gesturing wildly. He pinched his fingers around the bridge of his nose.