I say to Dani the next day. “I still can’t believe he gave it to you,” Dani says, sitting at my desk, poking the Ouroboros with a pen. “Nothing says love like a ring hacked off a demon!” Dani shudders. “I can still hear its blood sizzling in my head.” “At least the pumpkins were sweet,” I say, trying to defend Connor’s honor. I reach over and light the candle again with my hand, and then lean back on my pillows. “Plus, he was more concerned about me trusting him than where the ring came from.” She pulls the ring around in a circle across the desktop with the pen and shakes her head. “Yeah, after what he pulled, I guess he knew he needed something more than a couple of squashes.” She turns and looks at me with raised eyebrows. “I still don’t see why you couldn’t go over to his house today— I mean with his mom coming over to work with your mom, the timing would be perfect.” “But we don’t know how long she’ll be here, and since his mom is going to be out of town for a few days next week after Sascha’s initiation—I have an open invitation to visit then.”
