And He Walked A Crooked Mile by M.M. Crumley

Author:M.M. Crumley [Crumley, M.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lone Ghost Publishing
Published: 2024-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Ollie was releasing her frustration one strike at a time on the punching bag when Tessa walked into the attic. Tessa didn't speak right away though, so Ollie just kept on punching.

The trouble with trying to release her anger was that the thing she was angry at was still there, so no matter how many positions she showed Curtis, no matter how many punching bags she destroyed, no matter how many arm wrestling contests she won, she was still angry.

"The ring's about to pop," Tessa stated.

"It usually does," Ollie grunted as she turned and kicked the bag with all of her strength.

The bag swung sideways; the ring holding the bag's chain split; and the bag hurled free of the stand, hit the wall, and dropped to the floor with a thud.

"I'm not sure why anyone would willingly fight you," Tessa said.

"I'm a girl," Ollie shrugged. "Girls don't count."

"We count," Tessa said firmly. "We're the new House of Graves. Screw Virgil, screw the patron, screw all that man shit."

Ollie flinched at Tessa's words because Tessa flinched, and that only made Ollie's anger burn hotter.

"Anyway," Tessa muttered. "It doesn't matter. You've proved how incredible you are. So what if Virgil never knew? I know."

Ollie managed a grin, and Tessa managed to return it.

"They don't control us anymore," Tessa said, voice insistent in spite of the creases of pain around her eyes. "We have to stop acting like they do."

Ollie gazed at her, awed by Tessa's strength and conviction.

"You're amazing, Ollie," Tessa went on. "You could have kicked Virgil's ass in less than a minute."

"Thirty seconds," Ollie countered.

"Twenty," Tessa grinned.

Ollie chuckled softly, imagining it.

"I don't even think he knew how to fight," she said after a moment.

"He didn't," Tessa confirmed. "That's why he had Frank and the others." But since she didn't want to talk about Frank, she held out the vial to Ollie and said, "Could you put this into one of your syringes for me?"

"What is it?" Ollie asked as she took the vial.

"Just something," Tessa said vaguely.

"Why have you decided not to trust me all of a sudden?" Ollie demanded.

"It's not that I don't trust you," Tessa said apologetically. "I don't trust the patron, of the arts. Because really, how do we know he's never compulsed you?"

Ollie bit off her immediate protest and forced herself to think about, hissing with dismay when she realized that it actually made sense. How could they really know that they hadn't been compulsed?

Fear filled her, and she stared at the vial in her hand as if it might bite her. What if she had been compulsed? What if she was a sleeper agent for the patron? What if Tessa trusted her with this, and she switched it out with something else?

She couldn't believe that she had never thought about it before. She had been certain in the knowledge that her mind was her own. But now?

"Have Jury check me," Ollie demanded.

"What?"

"If I've been compulsed, won't he be able to tell?"

Tessa seemed to mull that over, and she finally said, "He would.

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