Chapter 117

The rest of the evening passes with a great deal of joy and joking. Drinks go around and Faiza really lights up after the alcohol loosens her lips, telling us her spy stories and having all of us basically rolling on the ground in laughter. But after the bartender leads the five of us (plus one squirrel) up to what is indeed a very comfortable suite, sleep eludes me.

Instead of having pleasant dreams, I spend most of the dark hours curled up with Anton on a chaise lounge contemplating…what the hell I’m going to do next. After all, getting to the temple is just step one of what’s in reality probably a thousand-step plan.

How, actually, am I going to confront the God of Death and take the throne? And what about all of the girls who are still in the Competition – are they even still here? Has he hurt them, or perhaps let them go home? And honestly…what about Orion? Do I need to marry him to legitimize my position in the Underworld, or can I really do a complete coup as my father has done?

Is that possible, with a living heir still hanging around?

And that thought just leads me to consider my family…

If I’m the Queen of the Underworld, does that mean I can’t go home anymore?

My head rolls with the questions and I spend the majority of the night unsettled, wishing for sleep and rest but truly unable to get there except a few dozing minutes towards dawn. When my eyes open after too-brief a sleep, I scowl jealously at Blythe, curled up all peacefully in the curve between Laila’s neck and shoulder on the big bed that she’s sharing with Faiza and Orion.

For half a second I consider asking Faiza to turn me into a squirrel too so I can take a nap.

But then I scowl, sitting up, knowing that’s a bad plan.

I sigh, looking down at my sweet ghost boy, taking a second to run my fingers through his messy sleep hair, glad that he’s resting even if I couldn’t. My hand drifts down his neck and then over his chest and I wonder, passively, what it’s going to be like to…do this for real.

When he has a real body. When he has warmth. What will it be like to wake up next to him?

A smile takes my lips and my wolf snuggles up warm and happy in my soul at the thought.

“Hey.”

I turn towards the big bed at the whisper, surprised to see Laila sitting up and rubbing her eyes, gathering Blythe up in her palm. “You okay?” she continues, her voice still soft.

I nod to her, giving a little smile, but then tilt my head towards the doors to a little balcony. She nods and grins at me, taking my meaning, and we both quietly stand and move towards the door, stepping outside and closing it behind us.

As soon as I turn away from the door my friend opens one arm to me, wrapping me in a hug, holding squirrel-Blythe in her palm at her side. “You doing okay, Junie?”

“I’m fine,” I say with a sigh, hugging her back and accepting the lovely gift of her friendship and warmth. “It’s just…a lot. Am I crazy for doing all this?”

“Yes,” she says, pulling back and giving me a little pout that makes me laugh. “But we love you for it.”

I give her a friendly little shove on the shoulder and conjure up two cups of coffee as we sit down in the two tiny chairs by the edge of the balcony. Laila murmurs her gratitude as I lean down and consider Blythe. “Should we give him his own coffee? A tiny squirrel coffee?”

He turns his head at me, considering me with his little beady black eyes, making me laugh. Privately I wonder how much he understands of all of this and how much of his conscious mind Faiza took away. Either way, I hope he’s happy.

“He can’t drink it,” Faiza says with a sigh, stroking a finger over Blythe’s head. “Even if he’s all fuzzy, he’s still a ghost.”

“Poor little dead squirrel,” I murmur, conjuring up a teeny tiny cup of coffee for good measure and placing it before him. Laila bursts into laughter and for a moment we both just enjoy ourselves, sipping our coffee and watching Blythe experiment with the little cup, first prodding it and then – adorably – picking it up in his tiny squirrel hands.

“I love having magical friends,” Laila says with a sigh as her laughter fades, her face still delighted.

“Not sufficiently magical,” I grumble, still moody and with a bit of a headache after not sleeping. I slump back against the back of the chair, lifting my coffee to my lips. “After all, I still can’t get us to the stupid temple.”

“You don’t think the butterflies are working?” Laila asks, cocking her head at me.

“I think they’re working,” I say, glancing up at the stupid glowing temple that rises above us. “I just…don’t know if they’re working fast enough. We’ve got a lot to accomplish and the more time we spend here the more time Death has to come up with a plan to counter me.”

Laila hums consideringly, nodding at me. “Do you regret it? I mean, I think we can go back now and try this again later.”

I twist my mouth to the side, considering. “I don’t know. I just…really want Anton to have a body and be sorted. And have Blythe…get what he wants or needs. Or whatever. It just feels…right to do this first. But am I just being selfish?”

“Are you being selfish?” she asks, grinning at me with no small amount of glee. “Are you just getting him a body because you want to make out with Tony?”

“I don’t know,” I moan, tilting my head back dramatically, making her laugh. “Honestly, maybe.”

“You guys are so cute,” she says with a sigh as I pick my head back up, breathing deeply, worried now that I’m just a big hussy who’s ruining her chance at world domination because she’s too busy wanting to kiss her boyfriend.

“Do you think so?” I ask, kind of hesitant. I mean, Anton and I never told Laila that we’re…together, or whatever. But clearly we haven’t been keeping it a secret.

“Yes,” she says, nodding decidedly. “Plus, your horoscopes match up. And I knew you weren’t being all innocent that time I caught you in bed –“

“We so were!” I gasp, sitting up straight, utterly genuine. “I didn’t even think of him that way –“

“Oh, you two have been crushing on each other since day one,” Laila says, smirking at me over the rim of her coffee cup. “Innocent my beachy little ass.”

I burst out laughing and blush at the same time, shaking my head even as I wonder if it’s true. Anton…he says he loved me from the first day. But how long did it take me to fall?

“Anyway, if your gut is telling you to do the temple first,” Laila says, more thoughtful now. “I think you should listen to it. You’re all powerful and goddess-y now. Your intuition probably means more these days than it did before.”

“I hope so,” I say. “Not getting us up there any faster, though, is it?” I point up to the temple again, still worried about the time and the costs of delay.

“Well, what can we do?” Laila says, frowning. “Can you like, conjure up a map?”

I sit a little straighter at this, interested in the idea. Because, I mean, I don’t think I can just conjure a map – like Orion said so long ago, he couldn’t have conjured up a donut if he’d never thought of it before. So, if I did conjure up a map with no knowledge of the city, it’s unlikely that it would be accurate. But…

“Laila,” I say, holding out my hand and conjuring up something I have seen before – a little bag of sticks and mouse bones and other assorted odds and ends. “Want to try some divination?”

“Ohhhh!” she says, sitting up with interest and grinning at me as she reaches for the bag. “Gimme. Let’s see what we can do.”