Page 61 of Novice Girlfriend

The one who threatened my friend and would go after his family.

I owed him at least that.

I didn’t help him or figure it out while he was alive.

But I was damn sure going to get him justice so he could be at peace with the gods.

14

Bevin

Something was wrong.

Something was very fucking wrong.

I mean, no shit I’d just watch someone kill himself. I was shaken and so was everyone else. Winter was and he hadn’t even seen it. He’d mumbled that he’d wanted to find me before work when Clare had said I was doing something at the council estate. So he just headed there because things always seemed to go wrong when I was there.

Understatement of the year right then for sure.

He’d left, and I was in the kitchen talking to Clare and Nelly about basically nothing as a distraction. Food changes I wanted to wrap up the semester now that it would be cold. I knew what they were doing, Nelly being nice even if she thought I was spoiled and not worth the hype.

She wasn’t a total bitch or I would want her gone.

“Quiet,” I told them both, Clare freezing but Nelly looking like she had some choice words to say to me. I met Clare’s gaze. “Loki’s here. Something’s wrong.” I was off the kitchen stool and racing for the back door before I’d even finished. I had it open and was out of it seconds later.

“Bevin, I can circle to Loki,” Clare reminded me, which was the only reason I stopped. She caught me and asked where he was on the property. She nodded and did what she needed to, seeming shaky.

“Link dropped Loki off and is way across the property. Why?” Horror filled me when I realized the answer, Clare’s face going pale as I saw she knew too.

To buy himself time when Loki would be in the way, but he wanted him somewhere safe.

Somewhere he’d be taken care of no matter what.

Fuck.

The circle flared and I turned to see Loki racing towards us, the familiar already shouting to tell me everything.

“No,” I breathed, knowing how bad this really was. “I’ll get him, Loki.”

“Oh fuck, this is—did Link go after Jason?” Clare hissed.

I didn’t waste time answering because she didn’t need to ask. “You can circle to Link, right?”

“Bev, call for help. Don’t do this,” she argued.

I grabbed her arms. “He came for me when I went for Kevin. Clare, please. Just send me and call everyone. I don’t care. I wouldn’t be here—I have to. You can circle to Link no matter what, right? All of us can. That was part of the security protocols in an emergency.” I lost patience when she tried to argue again. “We’re wasting time! Do it now!”

She flinched at whatever was on my face and started laying the circle with tears in her eyes. She frowned. “I can’t. I swear I can’t. I’m blocked.” She swallowed loudly. “It’s Jason’s security magic. It would be the same at the Shaw estate, Bev. It’s not my fault.”

No, but it was something I could get around. I knew how, and people were going to be pissed, but so be it. “The circle is laid?” I checked.

She gestured to the spot. “Yeah, but it’s useless to—”

I stepped on it and flooded it with my magic. “Call who you need. I’m sorry I was mean.”

And then I was gone, the circle bypassing whatever the Berns estate’s magic was and letting me through.

Link had to have been on the move when Clare had set it, and with the delay he was now about twenty feet away. I felt like I’d walked into the second act of a play because there was tons of context I was missing and so much going on that no one even noticed me. I hit the record button on my watch because… I wasn’t a dumb blonde like people thought.