Love and Other Crisis | Season 1

Episode | 18

Kaliope blitzed the punching bag with her wrapped fists until her sore arms surrendered.

He'd seen her.

And she ran.

She ran from Ronin McIntyre, embarrassed and exposed under his scrutiny. What must he think of her? And the fact that she cared...Kaliope kicked the punching bag and sent it swinging. Eyes darted in her direction as she drew the attention of others in the gym.

Stupid magic. It must have fried her brain. There was no other explanation for her spontaneous breakdown. She'd have to see Dr. Joriah about a stronger prescription.

The next day, Kaliope exited her apartment to the toot of a horn. Inola's swanky, gunmetal gray sports car rolled up to the curb. The early morning sun shimmered off its sleek, aerodynamic body. The first time Kaliope saw it, she'd been too caught up in the McIntyre sibling drama to appreciate the masterwork of engineering.

Inola said Gale was stupid rich, but she had to be in the same bracket to drive something like this. Were all of them well-to-do? Did all of them live in the Upper District or someplace adjacent? The tinted driver-side window rolled down, and Inola popped her head out.

"Yo." Inola waved at Kaliope as if they hadn't seen each other the day before.

"Inola, why are you here?"

"Carpool."

Inola's sentence trailed off with her attention as she focused on a man pulling the hood of his black sweatshirt over his head, strolling the opposite way.

"Who's that?"

Kaliope recognized the graffiti design on the hoodie. "Neighbor. Why carpool?"

"Save on gas and emissions."

"I don't drive, Inola. And the train won't stop running if we carpool."

Inola rolled her eyes. "Hop in already. I have an update on the case."

Inola zoomed down the road, effortlessly weaving in and out of traffic as she updated Kaliope on the latest development surrounding the missing jewel. Kaliope sat with the information awhile.

"Zohar's daughter turned him in?"

"Yep. Quite the scandal." Inola sighed. "Downside is the assembly investigators aren't one to share information with us. Ronin's duking it out upstairs so we can question Rowena and Zohar for our case. Jurisdiction this and jurisdiction that. Most times, we do the work, and those pricks swoop in to steal the glory."

"So it really was a family feud."

"Don't sound so disappointed. Better internal quarrels than the alternative."

"Yeah. No. It's not—" Kaliope frowned at the source of her disappointment. She wasn't an agent of anarchy. Avoiding a social implosion was the objective at any cost. But witnessing another family fall apart because of selfish motives stained her tongue with a sour taste. "It's just unfortunate, that's all." They'd found the ring. Juniper should be relieved by the news. But a new web of unfortunate events was about to unfold. "What will happen to Zohar and his daughter?"

"Criminal charges for the theft. Sanctions from the Witcher Council for breaking the house constitution. Excommunication if they can't convince the Main House to show leniency."

"Damn." With the minor branch out, the pressure would be on for Ballister to carry on the family name, lest it ends with him after his father's impending death. Poor Juniper. How will she hold up? She already blamed herself for the whole affair.

Other witches warned her against allowing a mix-blood into the family.

"What do you know about mix-bloods?"