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Chapter 1

GAGE

“Hell yeah!” Dice announces, his eyes on his phone as I tirelessly sift through the endless amounts of bullshit

This looks like a preschooler’s idea of organized chaos

“Finally,” Dice says, trying his best to get me to question what has him so excited

Not happening I really don’t want to knohatat his phone—one that is definitely hooked to the internet Sick

“I’ve been waiting for so daet me to fold

After several more attempts to baitto let ive in

“What?” I snap

“Since you have to know,” he says in that da is back!”

I keep waiting for him to telllike a child on Christ I don’t have time to be patient either

“Well?”

He frowns as though I’ve just stolen his pass to the chocolate factory

“Well? Really? I said the hashtag is back It quit being cool about ten years ago, but it’s cool again, da”

Why in the hell did I get stuck with the incubus? Oh That’s right Because no one else can stand him Assholes

“Glad they brought it back,” Ihe drops it, but I’ve never been lucky

“It’s an i sounds soYou can rant about your day, then you add a hashtag and say sohs My heart broke when people stopped using it”

Itto be concerned about

“What are you working on?” he asks, not sounding genuinely interested

I need to be working on a spell that will forever leave hiht of silence However, I vent instead of ignoring him the way I probably should

“Drackus sent over a detailed list of various dark users for me to track down But the damn order of these docuanization I still don’t knohy Alyssa puts hie”

“Probably because you aren’t there to handle things You’ve sort of avoided them for over twenty years”

“That long?” I h

“Yep Closer to twenty-two years You’ve missed a lot in that time They could really use you”

The only thing I’ve had to irl who broke my heart I understand the fact that she loves him, and they have soe inflicted onthenore it

“I’ the dark user council, just as she requested I don’t have to be there to handle those things The only thing I don’t do anye or live close by But I’ll have to talk to thee a about this”