Even if I didn't already know for certain it was Dante from the Thread guiding me there, I would have known as soon as he responded to the kiss by hauling me in even closer.

"How did you know?" he gasped, the glamour already fading as he lost concentration.

"Threads don't change with glamours," I said, though I was still more focused on kissing him than talking. "I don't know how you got in here, but I've never been happier to see you."

"Even that time I saved you from a vampire?" he asked, smiling cheekily. Even through the glamour, his expression looked the same.

"I think that's gotta rank second now, yeah." I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry. I was too happy to have him close by to worry about much more in this moment, through I was certainly glad Calen and his cronies hadn't been here long enough to set up any real security camera system.

"I'm surprised you can even get out of Calen's sight," Dante said. "I hear you've been a real pain in the ass."

"Aww, how sweet of them to talk." I smiled brightly and tossed my hair over my shoulder, positive he was talking about the multiple attempts to kill Calen. I probably should have felt worse about those, but at this point I was a little numbed out, especially knowing that he came back without fail every single time.

At this point, I was pretty much seeing how well I could follow the scientific method rather than actively committing murder, or maybe that was what I told myself for the sake of my own sanity. In any case, Calen was still here, and so was I. I couldn't really even leave because the wards were keyed to alert-

My train of thought skidded to a screeching halt as I suddenly thought about the wards. Though there wasn't a modern security system yet, there was certainly a magical one.

"How the hell did you get through the wards?" I hissed, eyes wide.

Dante grimaced. "I'm really not sure you want to know the answer to that."

"I... yeah, I do," I insisted. "If there's a way to sneak in and out of here, I want to know."

It could be useful to know, especially if it might help let others infiltrate the cult.

"We used Callie's skin," he said slowly, the grimace only growing. "Or rather, I used Callie's skin. She said we should keep it after..."

I gagged, covering my mouth with my hands.

Dante had to slice the tattoo away from Callie's arm when she escaped, including the inky roots working their way into her muscles and bones. I had never questioned what exactly happened to that part of her arm after she healed, and to be frank, I didn't think it was something I'd ever need to ask.

"You're carrying human skin in your pocket?" I hissed.

"I really, really don't like it, for the record," Dante admitted, shuffling awkwardly. "It's way too close to necromancy for my liking, but Callie was right that it worked... and considering I'm using the skin with permission-"

"Okay, fine, fine," I groaned, gesturing for him to stop. "You were right. I didn't want to know."

He was also right that it wasn't exactly common to have permission to use significant chunks of people parts in magical activities, but we could debate the ethics of that later. Actually, I didn't even want to debate the ethics later. I wanted to call this an emergency situation and then never, ever think about it again.

It seemed like Dante was all for that option as well, so I thought it would be best if we moved on.

"Wait. If you're here, then who's Calen watching?" I blinked furiously, frowning.

"Callie," Dante said happily. "She's wearing a glamour of me."

That could go very well or very poorly, but either way, it had gotten him out. It also was enough that, apparently, Calen hadn't noticed. That was its own game, and it was a smart trick to pull.

"I'm not sure if you're an idiot or a genius, but I'm really glad you're here," I sighed, hugging him tightly.

"I wasn't going to just leave you," he murmured, resting his head on my shoulder. "I love you too much for that."

My heart jumped in my chest. I paused, stiff, but not because I was uncomfortable. I wanted to cry or scream or jump, or even laugh, but I really couldn't do that from a tiny storage closet under very stressful conditions.

"I love you, too," was all I managed to say.

"It was stupid of me to wait to tell you," Dante said, voice breaking. "I should have said it as soon as I felt it. I should have been saying it for months. I was just... I was afraid you'd change your mind."

Months?

That was something I might have to process later. It would absolutely send me into emotional overdrive to think about now.

"It's okay." I leaned forward to kiss him again, just happy he was here. "Well, it's not really okay. We're hiding in a closet in a magic cult headquarters, but... it's going to be okay."

That moment felt more real than any memory I'd witnessed with Calen, more real than any other date I'd been on in my life, and more like home than I'd ever imagined to be with Dante. It was all I wanted, and after we got through this mess, I didn't ever plan to let him go again.

We held each other for a long time, just breathing and taking in the moment. It could have been seconds or minutes, but we needed that closeness. We needed that moment of sanctuary among all the chaos, and I just hoped it would be enough to help steel us for what was to come.

"Now," Dante finally said, pulling back slightly. "How do we get you out of here?" He looked fully himself now, though he'd need to put the glamour up again before leaving the room.

"We can't just get rid of Calen," I sighed. "He's got to go, but there are too many higher up members that are basically his brainwashed cronies. If we make him a martyr, then this whole thing just keeps going."

"Shit," Dante huffed. "I didn't know it ran that deep."

"He's really, really leaning into the whole 'witches inherit the earth' deal," I said, shaking my head. "Some people want that just as badly, but they don't have the power he does."

"Am I right in suspecting you have a plan?" Dante asked slowly.

He was. I'd had plenty of time to cook up ideas, and to cross many of them off as either unlikely to succeed or just plain ridiculous. At the very least, keeping up my normal string of attempting to poison Calen at every turn did slow him down, and it gave me a weird sense of vengeful satisfaction. Every attempt was a small chip at justice for one of my past selves.

However, it would take more than that to dismantle the whole organization.

"I really, really hate to ask this..." I began. In fact, I didn't even like saying it.

"What?"

"Do you think you could do some tattoo removal on a few willing people?"

"Depends on the severity, but yes," he said slowly. "Why? Did you find other people held here against their will?"

I was starting to suspect that more people were coerced into this position against their will than not, and that many of those who were here willfully had been brainwashed. However, that was a conversation that would take more time than we had. I couldn't be away for too long, or people would start looking for me.

"I don't think an army is going to help," I said carefully. "This has to be something he won't see coming. It has to be from inside, and it has to be fast."

"How long do we have to prepare?"

"I'd like to say months, just to make it harder for him to undo everything in one fell swoop, but... We just don't," I admitted, huffing. "I'd say a week at most. That's when he's planning the next attack across the Veil."

"Anyone who wants the mark removed will also have to keep the skin on them if they need to come and go, I'm afraid," Dante said, looking a little green. "It's unfortunate, but necessary."

"Makes sense," I muttered. "Luckily, I think most people who want out are forced to stay here, anyways. It shouldn't be suspicious if they want to stay inside." The wards here worked like doors with panic bars. If you didn't have a tattoo, you had to be brought inside, but you could leave at any point you wanted to without triggering an alarm. People with Calen's tattoo could enter freely, but couldn't leave without magical permission from someone higher up in the organization.

And then there was me. I had my own special, stupid rules due to the witch's promise. I had to do whatever Calen said, which I was afraid might come back to bite me in exactly the way it had. The only way that I could get out of the bargain was if Calen broke it first. And, in order to do that, he'd have to put my family in danger.

I blinked.

Something clicked in my mind. Calen was planning an attack on the Veil. He was planning to attack the Sylvan Court, too, based on what I'd heard through the door, which was where my family was staying. If that didn't count as a move against them, I wasn't sure what would. There was no way to know for sure if he'd ordered his agents not to harm them, but the attack would put them in jeopardy regardless.

I called up my magic, searching for the Thread of the witch's promise that Calen and I had forged. I remembered what it looked like- a sickly green that I'd noticed the night after I traveled here. However, no matter how I tried, I couldn't find it.

"Sunday? What are you looking for?" Dante's brow furrowed. By now he knew my silences, and he understood the expressions on my face that meant I was looking for something in the Threads.

"He broke his promise," I realized, the beginning of a laugh bubbling in my chest. "He broke it and he thinks I don't know!"

Bastard. Cocky bastard, though, and that ego would work to our advantage.

"What... do you mean?" Dante asked carefully, eyes narrowing.

"I made him agree to a witch's promise where I said that if he made a move against you or my family, I got to go free," I said excitedly, though I did intentionally leave out the part about slitting my own throat. "I think breaking through the Veil to attack the Sylvan Court counts as a move against my family, even if it isn't a direct attempt on their lives. I heard them talking about it through the door."

"You sly witch," Dante said proudly, a slow smile spreading across his face.

"Thank you, sweetie," I murmured, leaning forward to kiss him.

As long as we kept Calen in the dark, as long as we leaned into the idea of letting him think there was nothing we could do to stop him, we had a chance to exploit all the holes in his defenses. We just had to move fast.

"Let me update you on what we know." I took a deep breath, taking a seat on the floor of the closet.

This was going to take a while.