Chapter 100

I look beyond Laila and am not very surprised to see Heralds showing up, vanishing girls away, presumably back to the palace. I growl a little, remembering my promise to kill Death if any more of them show up dead.

My wolf turns in an anxious circle within me, both of us wondering if that was kind of an empty threat.

But…I mean. I guess my hope is that I’m enough of a wild card right now that Death doesn’t know the answer to that question either. Hopefully that’s enough to keep him from trying to call my bluff.

Orion lifts his head as he comes close. “Hey, June. So…what now?”

I sigh as I look at him, at the hopelessness on his face, realizing that…his world is falling apart too and he’s just as lost as me. That he went into this whole Game weeks ago thinking that he was in control, that he was going to come out of it meeting his mate, having found a bride.

And now…

I’ve kind of wrecked it.

“Games done,” I say on a sigh. “Time for a new plan.”

I study Orion’s crestfallen face, searching in my heart for pity for him and not really finding a great deal of it. After all, he was willing to let nineteen girls die so he could marry one. And he’s repented for that but…

Well. He, like the rest of us, is going to have to play it all a bit by ear from here on out, isn’t he?

“Maybe we should go somewhere?” Laila asks quietly, tucking her hands behind her back, looking steadily at me. “Get you…dried up? And you can tell us your plan?”

I look at her with a bit of surprise and then shift my eyes to Orion, and then to Anton beside me. And then beyond all of them to a series of girls who are all looking at me with a mix of surprise, and fear, and wonder before their Heralds vanish them away.

All of them looking to me for a plan that…I don’t have.

“Oh god,” I sigh, looking down at my sodden shoes, a shiver running through me as I come back to myself and realize that I’m absolutely freezing. “Maybe…a hot shower? And we’ll go from there?”

Anton laughs, light, taking his wrist from my hand and stroking his palm down the length of my soaking hair. “Shower sounds great, June. Orion?” He turns to our friend. “We’ve been kind of banished from the palace. Got any idea of somewhere we can go?”

“Yeah,” Orion says on a sigh, turning to me with a bit of a smirk. “I’ve got…a place.”

I cock my head to the side, curious.

Because what sort of place might Orion have that’s out of his dad’s control?

Orion vanishes us away to…a very strange, very cute little house. It seems to rise out of the dirt of its own accord, like it…grew there, like some sort of plant, its edges and walls rounded and fading into the earth instead of standing distinct.

“Oh, it’s so cute!” Laila gasps, her shock and surprise about the day fading quickly into delight at the sight of the little home.

“It’s kind of weird outside,” Orion says on a sigh, running his hand through his hair. “But it’s really nice on the inside. It was my mom’s.”

I shiver, wrapping my arms around myself. “Your mom had…a lot of property here,” I murmur.

“Yeah, she…didn’t really like dad,” Orion says, glancing at me from the corner of his eye, striding forward to open the door. “She liked to be away.”

“I wonder why,” Anton murmurs, dry, walking close at my side as we follow Orion, Laila bringing up the rear.

When we get inside I look around quickly, taking in the small cozy living room, the little kitchen beyond, and the door that I think leads to the bedroom. I clear my throat, my Sinclair training for politeness at war with my desire to get warm –

And, indeed, to put together the shattered remains of my reality. I start to shake in earnest now, my hands clasped tight to my arms, dropping my head as I look down at my feet.

“Juniper?” Anton asks, his voice soft as he steps close, watching me tremble. “You all right?”

“Yup!” I chirp, whipping my head up. “Um, I’m going to go take my shower!”

I scurry away, my mind whirling, my wolf trotting an anxious line back and forth in my soul as I dart into the bedroom and slam the door shut behind me. I move immediately for the bathroom on the other side, releasing a relieved breath when I realize that Orion was right – that it’s not some dumpy bathroom, but instead beautifully walled with emerald-green tiles, a large glass shower standing in the corner.

I wave my hand, lighting candles all over the room – not really knowing if the candles were there to start with or if I conjured them p – and vanishing all my clothes away in an instant. The shower starts at a thought, perfectly warm water streaming down from the wide head like rain.

I dart beneath the stream of water, moaning at the feel of it on my skin, my arms still wrapped around me as I shake.

Shake, because I am indeed cold –

But also because –

What –

What the fuck just happened!?

Did I seriously just threaten to kill a god because he tried to vanish away my handmaid?

Did I actually just seize this Game from his hands!?

Did…

Oh my god.

Did Anton and I actually…make out under the waves?

I groan, totally confused about what is reality and what isn’t, my mind spinning, all of this new power thrumming through my veins. My wolf yelps, darting back and forth, not knowing what to do with it all, snarling at the glowing waves of it that alternate in color and keep coming and coming and coming –

Now white as moonlight –

Now soft lavender –

Blue flames –

Waves and waves of darkness – endless – consuming me, consuming my mind -

I groan, not understanding it – not understanding anything –

“June?”

I snap my head up, my eyes going wide when I see Anton standing there – in the shower with me – fully clothed – looking down at me, concerned –

“Tony!” I shriek, wrapping my arms around my chest and stumbling forward, “what the fuck, I’m naked!”

“June,” he groans, his arms immediately snapping out, snatching me close and pulling me tight against him. “I don’t give a shit if you’re naked – are you all right!?”

“What are you talking about!?”

“You’ve been in the shower for like forty-five minutes!”

“What!?” I whip my head up and stare at him, wide-eyed. Then I glance down and pull my hands up between us, looking down at them and realizing that my fingertips are like raisins. “Oh, geeze,” I sigh. “I’m sorry –“

“Don’t be sorry,” he murmurs, stroking a hand over my hair. “June, seriously, are you okay?”

I lift my eyes up to his face, my lip trembling a little. “I don’t know,” I whisper.

Anton groans, pulling my slippy body closer, resting his cheek against my head. “Tell me,” he commands. “Tell me everything.”

“Is it weird that I’m naked?” I whisper.

He laughs a little. “If you think that I’m going to like, get all creepy when you’re having a mental breakdown, Juniper, then you probably should have let the God of Death disintegrate me –“

I burst out laughing then, a little hysterical, because…how is that real? “So, that happened?”

“Oh, that happened,” Tony says on a sigh, still holding me close. I lean against him, letting any embarrassment about my lack of clothing fade, just letting him comfort me in my most natural state. “You were magnificent, June. But are you okay with it all?”

“I don’t know,” I murmur, letting my eyes flutter shut. “I – I got all this magic, Tony. I don’t know where it came from.”

He hums, letting me know he understands, letting me continue.

“As soon as I said it?” I whisper. “It like…became true.”

Anton nods. I can feel it, his cheek moving against my hair.

I sigh, letting a few moments pass, letting myself rest. “What’s happening to me?” I whisper.

He’s silent for a moment or two. “Do you want my theory?”

I whip my head up to stare at him and he gasps when my forehead bangs into his nose.

“Easy, June!” he groans, lifting a hand to his wounded nose.

“You have a theory!?” I hiss, kind of pissed.

His eyes flash at me, a momentarily pissed right back at me in his pain, though I know it won’t last.

“Why didn’t you tell me!?” I snarl, smacking at him.

“Because it’s your magical destiny, June! It’s yours to figure out!”

“I hate puzzles,” I growl, narrowing my eyes at him. “You tell me. Tell me now.”

He smirks at me, dropping his hand from his nose. “You’re pretty, you know, when you’re all pissed off at me. Too bad I’m not corporeal, or else I’d kiss you all over again -”

My eyes flash wide, my cheeks flushing red at his gall – because wait –

He’s not corporeal!?

I gasp as Anton suddenly flashes transparent and I fall right through him, stumbling a few steps forward before smacking my face hard against the glass wall of the shower.

I cry out in pain, moaning as I turn around and sink to the floor, holding my nose in my hand, blood pouring out of it.

“June!” Anton gasps, sliding to his knees next to me on the ground, reaching for me, his hands passing right through me as I curl my knees to my chest, tears slipping from my eyes as I glare at him.

“Anton!” I gasp, my voice all choked and nasal, “why the hell did you do that!?”

“Oh my god, June!” he says, lifting a bashful hand to clench in his hair, shaking his head at me, apology all over his face. “I’m so sorry – but I didn’t do that! You did it!”

“What are you talking about,” I snarl, and then I choke on the blood and gag.

Anton laughs a little, pity in the sound, and I glare a good deal of hatred at him.

“Don’t you get it, June?” Anton says, still shaking his head at me, smirking a bit. “I said that to demonstrate that in this world – or at least in this world, maybe elsewhere too – things happen when you believe that they can! That’s why you finally accessed your power – because you believed you could.”

Anton’s smile grows wider as my face falls with shock.

“And you’re real,” I whisper, my hand falling from my face. “When…when I believe that you’re real…”

“Or when you forget that I’m not,” he whispers.

“So you tricked me, and made me break my nose,” I growl, “to…”

He smirks, “to show you that I’m only not corporeal when you remember that I’m a ghost.”

I stare at him for a long moment and then shift my eyes to his body, believing it. Believing him real.

Before my eyes, Anton’s form becomes solid. The water slides over him, soaking his hair, his face, his neck, his clothes.

And I just…stare, my mouth falling open, as my ghost handmaid crouches before me, real.

Real.