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He sighed and slumped against his sun-warmed door, remembering for the first time in minutes that he was driving and should probably pay attention to the road. He’d always found it kind of funny how he could space out and still manage not to crash.
Sayagul came out of Roman’s shadow and shook out her wings, black sparkly dust drifting through the car. She crawled up onto the dash, claws clinking on the vents, and spread herself out on her belly to sun.
I miss her too, you know, the dragon said, stretching her long neck out.
“You?” Roman scoffed.
She opened one green, reptilian eye. Yes, me. I was growing fond of her. Could have done without your endless pining, though. The girl’s too. You’re both insufferable and desperate. Couple of horny, insufferable, desperate fools.
“Are all Familiars made of sass like you? Or am I just that lucky.”
Maybe you should look within. We are merely a part of our people. The scaled corner of her mouth inched upward, exposing a hint of black gums. Though your recipe might have given me more sass. The cap must have fallen off the sass shaker when you were being made.
He snorted a laugh.
Perhaps the girl is not as bad for you as I thought.
His hands tightened on the wheel, but he glanced at the dragon, who still eyed him with compassion and scrutiny. “Why do you say that?”
Sayagul puffed out a snout-full of smoke that smelled like candles—like magic. You were beginning to open up to her. You haven’t done that with anyone since Kylar and Willow.
He stared out the window, sunbeams splintering across it. “Didn’t do me any good in the end. She’s gone.”
Who says it’s the end? Sayagul countered. She didn’t want to leave, stupid boy.
“Doesn’t matter, alright?” he snapped. He drew a breath, but his lungs felt like they were squashed. “She’s gone. I can’t have her.” He forced his hands to loosen on the wheel before he could crush it. “She just wanted to find her sister, anyway.”
Sayagul’s eyelid slid shut. Perhaps she found something else, she said drowsily, that she didn’t know she needed.
The dragon fell asleep. Roman mulled over her words for the rest of the long drive.
And prepared to face the shambles of his life back in Yveswich.
63
The House of Blue
YVESWICH, STATE OF KER
Shay had only been back at the House of Blue for an hour, and she already felt like she was suffocating.
She sat on the edge of her bed in the single room that she could call her own. It was drafty in here and smelled of brine and mildew—scents that instilled a fear deep inside her, as opposed to smelling like home.
Her eyes flicked about the furniture—the dresser that had nothing on it but a hand mirror and a music box. Very few of her things were here; she kept all the important stuff at her apartment in the district of Zima—the apartment her mother didn’t know about. The orange glow of the sunset streamed in through the blue glass of the windows, casting rectangles of sapphire light on the floor.
Shay stared at those rectangles for a long time. Not blinking. Not moving. Her bags sat beside her on the bed—untouched. The last thing she wanted to do was unpack. This wasn’t her home, and no matter what Athene said or did to her, she wasn’t staying.
She couldn’t stop thinking about Roman. Couldn’t stop thinking about the Facility. About Anna.
Had all of that been for nothing? Out in the desert, she’d had the feeling that she was drawing closer to Anna, closer to answers, but now that she was back, she felt as though she had squandered her time.
A part of her felt like those four days hadn’t even happened at all.
The door to her room opened, and Pia stepped inside.
“Ever heard of knocking?” Shay’s voice was flat. She continued to stare at those squares of color, her eyes drying out.
Pia sighed. “Athene wants to see you.”
