Jacob remembered Mary’s expression when she came out of the pod the day before—oddly calm and confident. He remembered the hints that she and Tad had been disappointed in their son. They weren’t anymore. The senator was right. This treatment wasn’t only giving Justin a chance to return to how he had been. It was giving him a chance to try being someone new.
It was important.
He returned to his team, picked the ballots up, and scrolled through them with a smile.
“It seems we’re in agreement,” he said. He picked the phone up, dialed, and waited until he heard Tad’s voice on the other end of the line. “Senator. Yes. We’ve decided that we’d like to accept Diatek’s offer. How do we proceed from here?”
Chapter Fifty-One
Lyle had stopped arguing by the time the group circled to the witch’s hut, but his disapproval was clear. As far as Justin could tell, he didn’t trust anyone who tried to hire killers, which gave him a wonderful mental image of the dwarf operating as the world’s best and worst assassin—someone who would always get the job done, only to come back and kill his client as well.
He, however, still held out hope that one side of this argument would emerge as the reasonable one, and he’d secured promises from both his teammates not to attack the witch right off the bat.
The door to the hut still stood open as they approached, and he decided to go in first. He was the one who asked them not to attack, after all, so should take the most risk.
From the darkness, the witch surveyed them calmly. “Are the wolves dead?”
“Tell me more about what happened between you,” Justin said. “It sounds like you fought over the ruins. I’m interested as to why.”
She tilted her head to the side and folded her arms. “Are they dead, adventurer, or aren’t they?”
“Some witch you are,” Zaara said, “if you can’t tell.” She raised an eyebrow. The group had decided that, even if they went with his plan, it would be way too suspicious for all of them to behave nicely.
“I can tell the forest is not regenerating,” the witch said, “and I can smell a potion on you that I know is meant for me. However, I also felt an extraordinarily strong bolt of death magic in the ruins, and the three of you smell of that as well. What am I to make of these facts?”
Justin had the urge to tell her the absolute truth. The death magic had come from a relatively untrained sorceress who had been imbued with her powers by an all-powerful god and let loose to kill a single larger spider.
He couldn’t allow the conversation to be dragged sideways like that, but it would be worth it to see the witch’s face.
“I could ask the same thing,” he said. “I’ve heard three stories now, all different and all pointing fingers. I’ve heard the people in those ruins did nothing to anyone except take the ruins when you wanted them—and that they weren’t even ruins two months ago. I’ve heard, from yet another of the wolves, that they were bandits who crossed you and stole something of yours, only to receive a disproportionate punishment. And I’ve heard from you that they’re thieves and murderers whose very existence is causing the world to die, although you won’t explain how they became werewolves in the first place. What I want to know is—”
“So you didn’t kill them,” she interrupted. “They’re still there. Their presence still taints the forest. Their pack still hunts the villagers and their flocks. Not only that, but you also came back with the means to kill me.”
She raised a hand as casually as if she might shoo them away, but what came from her fingertips was a bolt of lightning.
Justin swung his sword up in time and the bolt of magic ricocheted off the blade to punch through the ceiling with a sizzle. He stared at her and disappointment twisted in his chest.
“You couldn’t answer a simple question,” he said, thoroughly angry now. “You know, when you tell someone to commit mass murder, it’s polite to tell them why.”
That was the signal. On the word “polite,” Zaara flicked the lid of the potion open and flung a few drops at their opponent. The woman gasped, curled her hand around her forearm where the liquid had splattered, and looked at Justin with venom in her eyes.