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“I…time-traveled through Sha
“That was Eve’s ability,” Victoria said, “not yours.”
“I know. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe when she left, her ability somehow stayed with me. Or maybe she gave it to me, even. A final gift in case I ever needed to right a wrong.”
“Or maybe you time-traveled so much, your body simply learned how to do it without her,” Mary A
That made sense—as much as anything in his life did these days. “You, Mary A
She gri
He rushed to the bathroom, where he hurriedly washed and dressed. By the time he returned to his room, Riley was there, sitting on the edge of the bed, stiff, obviously uncomfortable. Mary A
Only thing they could be fighting about was that defense lesson. Was Riley still throwing a tantrum? Baby.
Victoria sat at the desk, composed again. Thomas had moved to the window, no longer an outline but as clear and sparkly as always.
“Oh, good. You’re back. I found this.” Victoria handed him a sheet of paper. “It’s for you, from Dan. Don’t worry. He had no idea we were here. I made sure of it.”
He peered down and read.
Aden,
You have another session with Dr. He
Dan
Great. More Dr. He
“So what happened to you?” Mary A
“Once upon a time, a goblin took a bite out of my leg…” He told them everything but what he’d learned about Sha
“I’m sorry I didn’t protect you, my king,” Riley said, standing and bowing his head. “I take full responsibility for your ordeal.”
“I’m not your king.” The denial slipped from him automatically. “And the responsibility lies with me.”
“Thank you for the exoneration, my king.” Such a stiff, formal, irritating tone. “I can promise you nothing like this will happen again.”
Aden rolled his eyes. “You’re such a jerk, Riley.”
Victoria wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his shoulder, her body hot as fire. “You’ve been injured too much lately. No wonder Elijah thinks you’re going to die soon.”
“What?” The single word exploded from Riley’s mouth.
“Oops,” Victoria said with a grimace. “Sorry.”
“Looks like I’ve got another non-fairy-tale to weave.” Sighing, Aden explained about Elijah’s prediction. That soon Aden would die on a darkened street, a knife in his heart. Though he tried, he couldn’t keep the fear from his voice.
“Oh, Aden,” Mary A
“You knew? You knew and you didn’t tell me? Thanks for keeping me updated, sweetheart.” Riley practically vibrated with sardonic rage.
“First, I only found out the other day. And second, we had other things on our minds,” she snapped. “I pla
The wolf accepted the explanation with a stiff nod. “You won’t be hurt on my watch, that I swear.”
“Thank you.” Later, Aden would tell him that nothing could be done—and yeah, he’d once pla
“We go to school,” Riley said, still fighting his emotions. “My brothers are currently letting every creature in town know we have a witch in our custody. Which means the fireworks should start tonight. Use today to catch up in all your classes. Tomorrow you might be too…sore.”
In other words, there was going to be a fight. Great. Worse, there was nothing else they could do right now. Except wait. And hope. And pray.
THROUGHOUT THE DAY, Aden expected a witch to jump out of every shadow and ambush him. Or if not a witch, then something, anything. A rabid gnome, maybe, or a vampire with a complaint. Even a fairy making a play for his head.
Instead, he arrived at school in time for lunch, ate, attended his next three classes, and boom, that was it. Class dismissed, time to go home. Nothing happened.
Aden was almost disappointed in the lack of combat. Just two more days until the death curse affected his friends. Two was too close for comfort. A year was too close. He had to do something.
Victoria walked him home and left him at the ranch, as silent and distracted as he was. In his room, he found another note from Dan, telling him not to forget to do his chores or his therapy. Like he could. Aden headed to the barn to muck the stables and feed the horses. He loved the horses and hated that he hadn’t spent much time with them this past week. Sometimes, as a special treat for good behavior, Dan let him and the others go for a ride.
The souls loved the horses, too, and cooed at the beautiful animals while Aden worked. And yeah, it felt weird doing normal things. Acting normal, the other boys working alongside him. Redheaded RJ, punked-out Seth. Sha
What was freedom, really? Once, Aden had thought he knew the answer: to be alone, without the souls, to be able to do anything he wanted, damn the consequences. Now he had friends, a girlfriend, and everything he did affected them. Consequences mattered.
No one could ever truly be free as long as they loved, and life wasn’t worth living without love. So freedom? Overrated. He’d much rather have Victoria, Mary A
So how are you going to save them from the witches? The thought was his own, the souls still baby-talking at the horses—and maybe the horses could hear them, because they were calmer than usual, even with all the activity in the barn—and he wished he could blank his mind. He couldn’t.