Chapter 9

Lilly

I didn’t know how everything would play out a few nights ago when Mythic found me. I demanded she prove she knows Snoopy and has been helping him before I agreed to stay close to her. The conversations between the two of them proved not only does she know him, but she’s the one who gave us almost all the information we have on Enterrador.

She is somewhat of a mini shadow now. She’s in the room next to mine and is letting me have a few days to explore this little city. Even when I go to Sedona to get my palm read and future told, she tags along. Though she’s whined about me using brujeria the whole time.

Aside from the fact that she's in her thirties and has a major vendetta against Enterrador, I don’t really know much about her. Hell, I don’t even know why she hates him to begin with. But having her follow me around is better than the lockdown I’d have been under back home when they saw Enterrador’s latest note.

I still haven’t called to tell them I’m okay. I wanted to my second day here. Mythic offered to help conceal the phone so the call couldn’t be traced, but I just don’t know what to say to them. I'm not ready for the wave of questions I'm bound to get about where I am and why I left. It’s selfish as fuck, but I just need some time to get my head on straight.

Pounding on the door pulls me from my thoughts of home and how much I fucked this all up.

“What did you do,” Mythic hisses before I even get the door fully open.

I can’t help the look that crosses my face as she barges past me into my room, clutching her laptop to her chest. Huffing out, she scolds, “Don’t give me that deer in the headlights look, Lilly. He knows you’re here. So, again, what. Did. You. Do?”

My heart is in my throat. What did she just say? He knows I'm here? How the hell does he know where I am?

“I… I… I don’t know,” I stammer out. “I haven't done anything with my debit cards. I don’t know how he could know where I am.”

Placing her laptop on the desk, she points to the screen, and I can see him. The screen is grainy, but the man I see pacing is definitely Enterrador.

“How do you have this?” I question, leaning in to get a better look.

“Now is not the time to worry about that, Lilly. Listen to what he’s saying.” She points at the screen, tapping her foot impatiently.

It only takes me a second to know where I fucked up. Bringing a hand to my mouth, I gasp, “How would he know about that?”

“What bracelet, Lilly? How would they know we’re in Flagstaff because of a bracelet?”

“Shit,” I exclaim. “You said no cards,” I tell her as I begin to pace back and forth across the room. What the fuck are we going to do now? How could I be so stupid?

“Lilly,” she yells grabbing my shoulders as I pass her. “What. Did. You. Do?”

“I was out of cash, and you said no cards, “ I whimper.

“Okay, I need more than that.”

“Enterrador’s been sending me gifts. Well, he was before I ran away.”

“Snoopy told me. What of it?”

“I brought them with me.”

She lets my shoulders go as realization crosses her face, “Damn it, Lilly,” she yells throwing her hands in the air. “You pawned one of the gifts?”

I nod in response. “Just this morning.”

“Well, your little break from reality here is over, Lilly. Pack your shit,” she says as she snatches her laptop from the desk and heads to the door.

“Where will we go?” I whisper, tears flooding my eyes.

When she glances over her shoulder at me, her anger subsides a bit as her shoulders fall. “He’ll find you just as fast if we go back to Texas, so you’re coming with me. I have a place in California we can stay at.” Walking back to me, she pulls me in for a hug.

“We’ll leave your car here. I don’t know who the cartel has in California. It's not worth the risk. Besides, it might slow them down long enough for us to get out of the state.”

Stepping away from me, she looks me in the eye. “I won’t let him get you, Lilly. He’s ruined too many lives already.” With that, she strides out of my room.

I don’t know what happened to Mythic or if Enterrador was even the one to do it, but for just a moment her eyes held nothing but pure regret. Every time I ask her anything about who she is or why she’s helping me, she evades the questions. Questions I think it’s time she starts answering.