Chapter 14

“Anton!” I groan, wiping my snarl from my face and flopping back on the bed, kicking out at him, embarrassed. As usual, he just laughs. “This is so ridiculous! That can’t possibly be true!”

“It is, though!”

“But how?” I ask, cuddling up in the comforter a bit, feeling weird and shy. “First, how do you know, and second…just, how?”

“Well, I know because he definitely could have shut that whole conversation down much earlier,” Anton says, considering, remembering back. “He had all of the power in that situation. The moment you told him that the ghost wolf at your side was an emotional support animal that alerts when it smells jackasses –“

He pauses here, giving me a significant look with a broad grin on his face, and I groan, tucking my face down against the blankets in mortification.

Because I completely forgot about that.

“My smart-ass mouth,” I grumble, shaking my head into the blankets.

A tingle at my shoulder lets me know that Anton is touching me, and I peek out from the blankets to see that he has placed a comforting hand there.

“Your smart-ass mouth has that prince all wrapped up,” he says, quite kind and encouraging. “Think about it, June – he could have just laughed at you and walked away at that moment, writing you off as the easy person to eliminate tonight. But he stayed – he was intrigued.”

“So, what?” I sigh, sitting up a little. “Is he some kind of like…masochist?”

“No,” Anton says with a shrug, “it’s not like he was getting off on you yelling at him – he liked arguing with you. Think about it, kid – this guy has probably never had someone stand up to him in his life. You’re interesting – you have a strong opinion about everything and you don’t take any shit. Clearly, that appealed to him.”

“I don’t get it,” I sigh, sitting up and running my fingers through my long hair, wishing desperately for an elastic band with which to tie it up. “But…if you say so…maybe we can work with that?”

“Bingo,” Anton says, nodding confidently. “Now that we know who Orion is and what kind of girl he likes? All we have to do is make you that girl so he can fall in love with you.”

I turn my head to the side, studying my friend. “Is it really that easy?”

“For a lot of guys, sure,” Anton says. “And in this case, it’s probably your best bet. We’re just lucky you already seem to naturally appeal to him – the rest should be cake.”

I turn my head away from Anton, staring into the darkness off the terrace for a moment, wondering if it could really be that simple. I mean, I come from a world in which many people’s lives are upended the moment they meet their mates – that one person who appeals to them on such a visceral level that they can’t not be with them for the rest of their lives.

The idea that I can…become that for someone else. Just figure out what they want and embody it and thus make them fall in love with me…

I mean, on one hand it sounds absurd.

But on the other? It’s ridiculously tempting. Especially as it seems it’s our only shot of getting out of all of this.

And my only shot at getting my boyfriend back.

Guilt turns within me as I realize that I haven’t thought about Blythe for a moment tonight – the man at the center of this entire project, the whole reason I’m here. But I sigh, and duck my head, and forgive myself.

Because, I mean. I’ve been really busy and confused.

“Hey, do you want this?” Anton asks.

I look up to see him nudging a finger at a little black hair elastic just sitting on the bed next to him, trying to see if he can budge it.

He can’t.

“Where did you find that?” I murmur, leaning forward and picking it up, holding it between my fingers.

“It was just there,” he replies. “And I saw you messing with your hair. Thought you might want it.”

“No, I definitely do,” I murmur, grabbing it and quickly throwing my hair up in a messy bun. “I’d trade this and a great deal more for a meal though. Honestly, when and how am I supposed to eat?”

“Oh,” Anton says, his eyes going wide before he glances down at his own stomach.

I grimace a little, feeling for him. “I guess you don’t get hungry anymore.”

“No,” he sighs, looking back up at me. “I guess I don’t.”

We’re silent for a moment, just looking at each other, before Anton slaps his hands against his thighs, clearly not wanting to dwell on it. “So!” he says, forcing a smile onto his face. “What I think you and I need is a plan.”

“A plan?” I ask, screwing my lips to the side as I study him.

“Yup,” he replies, giving me a sharp nod. “I don’t think you can just continue being a bitch to him for twenty weeks and expect him to fall all over himself. I think that what we need to do is turn you into a complete and utter heartbreaker, Juniper Sinclair.”

“Me?” I say, pressing a hand to my chest as I lean forward to stare at him. “A…a heartbreaker?”

He nods again, one corner of his mouth deepening.

I laugh, shaking my head. “Listen, ghostie, I think you’ve got the wrong girl.”

“Nah, I think I’ve got precisely the right girl,” he says, leaning back and letting his eyes move over me, studying me. “We’ve just got to teach you the right moves.”

“Moves?” I ask, leaning forward into the space he just vacated. “And you’re going to teach me them? What, Anton Davis, you think you’ve got game?”

“Oh, Juniper Sinclair,” Anton says, leaning forward to grin at me a bit more deviously than I’ve seen him do before. “I’ve got game. And I’m going to teach you everything I know.”

When I wake up the next morning I yawn, stretching my arms over my head, and looking blearily around at the strange room, which is still dark.

But of course it’s still dark – it’s always dark here. There’s no sun.

Disoriented, I sigh and sit up, but then I start a little when I turn and see the glowing ghost boy curled up on the mattress next to me.

I just stare for a moment, waiting for him to say something, but the breath goes out of me when I lean forward and realize that…

That he’s asleep.

“Whoa,” I whisper, leaning closer and studying him.

I mean, can ghosts sleep?

I grimace a little, not wanting to wake him. If he needs his sleep then he should certainly take it. But why…why on earth would he need to?

My grimace fades, though, as I study Anton’s sleeping form, especially his peaceful face. My head turns as I try to figure out…well, what precisely he is anymore. I mean, he is clearly not a ghost in the way that ghost stories made me think of them – haunted beings caught in the past. No, he’s a full person – he jokes, laughs, learns, and adapts like a normal guy.

It’s almost like…he just lost his body, got separated from it. But does he have a wolf anymore? If your wolf is your soul then…what the hell is Anton? I sigh, frustrated by how much in my life I just don’t understand anymore. And also a little surprised that having Anton here – waking up with him in my bed of all places – just feels so…easy.

My eyes drift over this guy I’ve known for so short a time, taking over the details of the features so plain on his face even though they’re just sketched out in transparent blue light. The long, thick lashes that drift over the delicate skin beneath his eyes. The high cheekbones, the full bottom lip.

And I can’t help wondering what color these features all were in life – what shades of white and beige and black and brown. I sigh, guilty at the warmth of the breath that slips over my lips, suddenly incredibly sad that I’ll never know.

Anton stirs a little and I watch as his eyes drift open, as he turns onto his back, his eyes focusing as he peers up at me. “Hey, June,” he whispers. “Ready to make a Prince fall in love with you today?”

I stare at him for a second as I remember again who I am, remember the detailed plans we came up with last night and this insane trouble I’ve gotten myself into. I laugh a little, because honestly – for a single peaceful moment in this quiet morning - that was the last thing on my mind.

“Sure, Anton,” I say, grinning down at him. “Let’s make him fall in love and then tear him to shreds.”

“That’s my girl,” Anton murmurs before he grins and turns over for a moment, trying to wake up, pressing his face into a pillow that doesn’t move an inch.