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“People are afraid,” I pointed out. “They’re cutting their customer base by limiting Casts, and their customers are already going to limit spending because they’re uncertain what’s going to happen next. If businesses aren’t sure they can make next month’s rent or cover payroll, what do they do?”
“The priestesses are going to have to choose between the economy or their own power,” Nadine said thoughtfully. “We have to support our people.”
Something crashed in an alleyway nearby. I thought it sounded like broken glass. Nadine went rigid, and we exchanged a glance. A groan came, and it sounded like someone was in trouble. We took off running toward the sound.
I slowed when we reached the alleyway. A bearded man sat slumped against the side of a building, next to a dumpster. Glass lay shattered at his feet, and the strong scent of alcohol filled the air.
“Aw, fuck,” the man slurred. He reached for the broken glass, but he swayed so hard he couldn’t find it. We rushed over to him.
“Sir, the glass is broken,” I told him. “Don’t touch it.”
I placed a hand on his chest to help him sit upright, but he shoved me. “Geh off eh me,” he said drunkenly.
My jaw dropped when he looked my way. His hair was longer than I remembered, and he’d grown a short beard, but it was definitely Magnus Knight. I didn’t know whether to help him or let him stay in this alleyway. He’d killed Professor Daymond and run drugs through the coven. He was the reason Professor Daniels was hanged. He’d wronged the coven in so many ways. It looked like he’d completely given up on life.
Nadine didn’t have the same reservations. She saw a sad, sick man in front of us and rushed to help him. She knelt to his level.
“Magnus?” she said softly.
“Who’s askin’?” he demanded, lolling his head from one side to the other. “Oh… you’re that Curse Breaker, aren’t ya?”
“You’re not well,” Nadine pressed. “Let us get you some help.”
Grant conjured a few potions ingredients and fumbled with them. A vial fell out of his hand and clattered to the pavement. “I might be able to brew something to help.”
“You can’t help me,” Magnus slurred. “I’m done. Ruined! The priestesses have blamed me for nightshade.”
“Well, you were responsible,” Talia muttered, but Magnus didn’t hear her.
“My businesses are shutting down,” he continued. “The priestesses are going to kill me.”
“If they wanted to kill you, they would’ve already,” Nadine said. “Perhaps with cooperation, they’ll lower your sentence.”
“They’ve already sen’enced me to this hell. You think they’ll put me in jail when they can enjoy the sa’isfaction of watching my world crumble around me? They’d rather watch me waste away. I’m done. If the priestesses don’t kill me, I’ll be dead sooner than later.” Magnus stumbled to his feet and slurred, “You’re a priestess. You can go to hell with the rest of them.”
He shoved Nadine, and I caught her. He didn’t seem to care as he stumbled down the alleyway. My nostrils flared. Nobody touched my girl like that. I went to step forward, but Magnus stopped behind a dumpster and started retching.
I had the thought that leaving him there was worse than anything else I could do to him. “Whatever trouble he gets himself into is his own damn fault.”
“We have to at least tell the police, so he doesn’t hurt anyone,” Nadine said. “We should get him someplace safe, for everyone’s sake.”
A man emerged from a doorway nearby, carrying a garbage bag. He stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the sound of Magnus puking. The man’s shoulders slumped. “Not again.”
He tossed his garbage bag into the dumpster, then went over to Magnus. “Come on. Let’s get you inside, sober you up.”
Magnus muttered something, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
The man caught sight of us down the alleyway, and his features darkened. “Come to see the show, kids? Get out of here!”
“Let’s go,” Talia said, sounding disgusted. “Magnus is his problem now.”
I kept an eye on Magnus, until he had disappeared inside the building with the man. At least he was off the streets.
As we emerged from the alleyway, we heard shouting down the street. A group of people had gathered around a shop, and they sounded angry—though I couldn’t make out their words. There had to be a dozen of them or more. Someone threw their coffee at the window, and it splattered everywhere. At least, I thought it’d been coffee. As the liquid seeped down the glass, it appeared that the glass itself was melting. The window remained intact, but it looked like goop in so many places that we could no longer see through it. The coffee must’ve been a potion of some sort.
“You’re what’s wrong with this coven!” someone shouted. “You shouldn’t be allowed to stay in business!”
“That’s Everly’s shop,” I realized.
