On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3 by Yolanda Sfetsos Page A

me realize that as far as relationships went, I’d been settling for most of my life.  
    That was how I felt right now, and nothing was going to take the happiness away from me. Ebony might not want me in her life right now, but Lavie, Conrad and Papan were right—she’d come around eventually. The Obscurus might still want to use me for some twisted ritual that would serve as a gateway to the demon Legion, but I wasn’t going to let them. Sally might have predicted my death, but we were all going to die anyway. And I was determined to help Willow sort out whatever problems she had.
    This new and positive outlook was something I wanted to hold onto. I just hoped my bubble wouldn’t pop too soon.
    “Ah, do you have the password?” Oren asked behind me, having switched seats with Papan.
    I grabbed the mug of coffee—I’d managed to fill the cup on autopilot—and sat down in the chair between them. “Um…” I recalled what Lavie had suggested. “Try Obscurus …”
    “That’s not it. I’ve already tried.”
    “What about demon?”
    Oren shook his head.
    “How about morons, did you try that?”
    Papan laughed, and it filled the kitchen with good cheer.
    “Ritual…”
    Oren shook his head. “That’s not it either.”
    “What about Sierra? ” Papan said.
    We both turned to look at Papan, but I was the one who asked, “Why the hell would they use my name?”
    “They’re obviously obsessed with you, so why not?” Papan took another hearty sip from his mug and sat back in his chair.
    Oren tapped away at the keyboard. “As much sense as it makes, that’s still not the password.”
    I exhaled slowly. There was only one other possibility I could think of. “It’s gotta be Legion, then. If it’s not, then I have no idea what it could be.” How had Lavie and Sally made this sound so easy? And why the hell had I agreed with them? There was no way this group of maniacs determined to give themselves over to a demonic creature would make anything simple.
    Oren typed in the word and the tiny pop-up box requesting the password disappeared, leaving in its place a text document I’d never seen before.  
    “Ah, I hope you know what that is because I sure don’t.” I leaned forward, keeping my mug close to my chest as I narrowed my eyes at the squiggly writing. “Actually, none of that even looks like words.”
    “I recognize it. This is an ancient dialect of symbols used long ago in the practice of witchcraft.” He scrolled down—the text seemed to go on forever. “This might take a while. Do you mind if I get a copy and take it home?”
    “Be my guest.”
    Oren reached into his jacket and pulled out a slim silver drive. He seemed to carry lots of things in his pocket, almost as if he could conjure up whatever he needed by sticking his hand inside. And for all I knew, maybe he could. If so, it was a trick I was very eager to learn.
    I was about to voice my curiosity when The Ghostbusters ringtone on my mobile cut through the silence. I groaned. Who the hell kept calling me?
    “You should answer that, Sierra,” Oren said while plugging in his USB drive.  
    “Nah, I don’t think I will.” I shook my head before turning to Papan, and found him staring at me with a strange look on his face. He seemed to be lost in thought, a tiny smile twitching his lips. “What?”
    His smile broadened. “Nothing, I’m just thinking about something.”
    Heat rose along my face. I was pretty sure I knew exactly what he was thinking about. The intense look in his green eyes made me feel as if I was already naked.  
    “Yeah, well, don’t think too much.”
    “I won’t,” he said. “I like to take the hands-on approach.”
    “Could you two stop with the innuendoes?” Oren said, shaking his head. “The temperature’s rising in here already.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I snapped.
    Oren turned his gaze away from the laptop’s screen long enough to flash me a look. His light blue eyes