Chapter 66

“J-Jesse?” I breathe, staring at my favorite cousin, blinking hard to ensure that he’s not a mirage.

Jesse stares right back at me, his face the mirror image of my complete shock. But when he whispers my name and takes a step towards me, I know that he’s real – because there’s no way that some imitation could replicate that voice -

A cry bursts from my throat as I leap out of my chair, sending it flying backwards, skittering out across the wooden floor. But I barely notice the clatter as I run for my cousin, throwing myself into his arms. Jesse clasps me tight to his chest, tucking his head down next to mine, shaking in his relief and surprise.

“What the hell are you doing here, Jesse!?”

“What am I doing here – June!” His arms tighten. “What the hell are you doing here!?”

I start to cry then, big crocodile tears into my cousin’s shirt, letting loose all the stress and the rage and the worry I’ve been carrying. Because he’s my family – and beyond just being family, he’s one of the ones that I like. For one of the first times in this Underworld, I feel completely safe.

“Seriously, June, what’s going on?” Jesse murmurs, softly stroking my back, sensing that not all is well and that I need a good cuddle to set me right. “How did you get here? How did you –“

But then Jesse again goes rigid.

I pull back a little, worried, and look up into his face, which is still again with complete shock – maybe even fear – as he looks over the top of my head.

I turn a little to see Anton standing by his chair, smiling a little, his hands sunk into his pockets.

“Hey, Jess,” Anton says, his voice unusually thick with emotion.

“Oh…oh my god,” Jesse whispers, his arms going slack around me.

A little smile finds my mouth as I step away from my cousin, remembering that – of course –these two knew each other even before Anton came to me in the Underworld. That they’re friends – really good friends, if Anton’s stories were right.

I take a moment to nod around to Orion and Laila, letting them know that it’s all right. And I take another moment to frown at the strange, tiny girl standing a few feet away from me, her arms crossed over her chest and a confused frown on her own face.

But none of them could truly hold my attention as Jesse moves towards my ghostly handmaid, awe all over his face.

“Tony?” Jesse says, his eyebrows drawn together as he comes to stand about a foot away from Anton, his shoulders starting to shake with both shock and hope. “Is that…is that seriously you?”

“I mean, I’d say in the flesh, but,” Anton smirks a little and shrugs, trying hard for humor despite the clear emotion in his voice. “Yeah, it’s me. It’s a long story – but it’s me.”

Jesse stands perfectly still for a single moment more before a strangled little cry breaks from his throat and he stumbles forward, reaching for Anton, trying desperately to wrap him up in a hug.

But, of course, he passes right through the blue light of Anton’s body.

Anton gasps and I laugh a little when a shiver passes through Anton, Jesse spinning around on the other side and reaching for him again.

“Easy, man,” Anton says, putting his hands out, “you can’t –“

But Jesse ignores or doesn’t hear him, passing through Anton as he again tries to grab for him.

“Jesse!” Anton laughs, dodging away. “Seriously, stop – it gets all cold -“

“What’s going on!?” Jesse gasps, shaking, confused.

“He’s a ghost,” the small girl next to me says like it’s completely obvious. I snap my head to the side to see her rolling her eyes like it’s ridiculous that Jesse hasn’t figured that out. “I mean, a very conscious ghost, and I’ve never seen a blue one before but yeah. He’s a ghost. You can’t touch him.”

“Sorry,” Anton says, giving Jesse an apologetic shrug. “It’s all very ‘look with your eyes, not with your hands,’ with me these days, man.”

Jesse groans a little, sinking his hands deep into his hair as he continues to stare at Anton, and then looks back at me, and then back at Anton. I can’t help but smile at the mix of confusion and utter joy on his face. “I just – I can’t believe it. You’re – you’re dead, but you’re here? And you’re a ghost? And you’re hanging out with…Juniper?”

Anton slowly nods, giving Jesse the time to put his world back together. “That pretty much sums it up, yeah.”

“And you’re –“ Jesse snaps his gaze back to me for a moment. “No – I don’t get it. Why are you here? Why is June here?” He looks around now at Laila and Orion with a frown. “And who the hell are they?” He snarls a little, immediately protective when he finally takes a moment to consider the strangers, one of whom is a very tall, very powerful Alpha.

I can’t help but laugh as I move to Jesse’s side and wrap my hands around his arm. “Anton is here because granny gave him to me. As a present!” Anton gives me a dirty look, but he can’t help the smile that chases it.

“What?” Jesse asks, utterly confused, looking down at me.

“And these are our friends,” I say, waving a hand at Laila and Orion, introducing them by their formal titles. Jesse just stares, still baffled.

“And who are you?” the girlish voice says behind me. I turn with a frown towards the ragged girl with her cascades of black curls falling around her cheeks, not liking that tone one bit.

“Excuse me?” I say, raising my chin as well as an eyebrow.

“Oh geeze,” Orion murmurs. “These two together…this is going to be trouble.”

“I think it would be nice if you would get your filthy little hands off of my mate,” the girl snarls, moving her gaze down to my hands for just a moment before snapping her eyes up to Jesse. “Tell me now. Is she another one of your whores?”

A series of shocked gasps and protests go through the pavilion all at once.

“She’s not a whore, she’s my cousin,”

“Did – did you just call me a whore? And did she say mate!?”

“Well, are you a whore?”

“Oh my god, Midnight,” Orion groans, dipping his face into his hand.

“Do you know her?” I gasp, spinning to stare at the Prince.

“Of course I know her!”

“Whoa, whoa!” Anton shouts, stepping forward and putting his blue hands out between all of us. “Can we please just all calm down? Clearly, there are some misconceptions and missing information here. If we could all just…take a seat? Eat some cake? Talk it out?”

Anton looks pointedly at Orion, who conjures two more chairs with a sigh.

“Is there cake?” The girl – Midnight – asks, and I snap my eyes to see her looking absurdly cheerful at the idea.

“If there is cake, I definitely want cake,” Jesse murmurs, moving to lift my chair back up and then scootching his closer towards it so he can be near me. As we both take a seat, still staring at each other in shock, Midnight growls and moves her own chair closer to Jesse’s.

“Is she…seriously your mate?” I whisper, peering beyond Jesse at this strange little person.

Midnight flashes her teeth at me as she takes Jesse’s hand in hers, the possession in her eyes and gesture very clear.

“Yup,” Jesse says, and I think I see him working hard not to sigh as Anton takes his own seat on my other side, fascinated. “Everyone, this is Midnight. She’s super cool.”

Midnight pastes a weird smile onto her face and waves as she looks around. “It’s nice to meet me. Or whatever I was supposed to say.”

She looks at Jesse for confirmation. He just shrugs. “’Nice to meet you’ is the usual phrase, but close enough.” He turns back to me. “We’ve been working on polite conversation.”

I just stare at him just…not getting this at all.

“So yeah, is there cake?” Midnight asks, perky. Laila immediately murmurs in the affirmative, jumping up and moving to the hamper to unpack some. As she does, Midnight glares over at me again. “Don’t give any to the whore.”

“She’s not a whore, Mids,” Jesse sighs, taking a moment to rub his hand over his forehead and down his cheek. “She’s my cousin.”

“Cousins can’t be whores?” Midnight asks, genuinely curious, looking at Jesse with wide dark eyes as she reaches to take the plate of cake from Laila’s hands.

“No they –“ Jesse takes a moment, cocking his head to the side. “Well, technically, I suppose they can, but -”

Midnight snarls at me again.

“What is your deal!?” I snap, leaning forward to stare at her, incredulous.

Jesse snaps a hand out, his arm crossing my chest. “Easy, June. Let’s…all take it easy for a few minutes and…just swap some information. Because I seriously need to know why you and Transparent Tony are having a barbeque in the Underworld with a Dark Prince and a Seal Princess.”

Orion and Laila murmur their agreement for the knowledge swap, but I just slowly turn to Anton in surprise.

“Tony?” I whisper, incredulous. “Your – your name is Tony!?”

He shrugs, a little grimace on his lips. And I just burst into laughter.