“Fuck,” he swears, pulling out his phone. I’m standing close enough to hear Simon pick up on the second ring. Pisces is standing so close to me, my nose is almost brushing against his torso. The little stairwell isn’t really meant for two people to stand side by side.
Pisces puts his arm out on the wall next to my head, looking down and meeting my gaze in the dim light. “Yeah, the door’s locked.”
“Can you unlock it?”
“Unlock it? Why didn’t I think of that?” Pisces rolls his eyes. “It locks from the other side.”
Pisces breathes in and out deeply, maybe trying to keep a bit of calm.
After a couple minutes we hear pounding on the other side of the door. “Pisces?” another voice calls. It sounds like Evan.
“Ev? Can you get us out of here?”
“Yeah, just stay back, and don’t touch the handle.”
It takes a few seconds, but suddenly the door handle turns bright red. Pisces urges me back down a few steps, putting himself in between me and the door.
I hear Evan kick the door handle and it crashes to the ground, still glowing red. “Come on,” Pisces says, helping me step over the molten handle as Evan swings the door open.
“Well, that was fun.” Evan grins. He turns around and leads us over to where Simon, Reese, Taser, and a few others are waiting.
Reese comes over and brushes some wisps out of my face. “Are you okay?”
I look at her, confused. “Yeah, I’m fine. We didn’t even realize we were locked in. Guess that explains why no one ever found us.”
“The door must have gotten locked after you went down there,” Simon says. “Huh, weird. Well, I guess you win.”
“What’s my prize?” I ask, putting a little sultriness in my voice just to spite Pisces. Fuck what he thinks.
Simon laughs nervously.
“Well, you did get to hang out with Pisces one on one for a little,” Evan says cheerily. “Isn’t that a pretty great prize?”
I arch my brows at Evan but turn my attention back to Simon. “I think I’d rather have been trapped in there with you, actually.”
I can hear Pisces let out a breath, and out of the corner of my eye I see him walk off without a word.
Simon, however, is beaming at me with a pleased but also bewildered expression that’s actually extremely endearing. “I mean, if you want, we could hang out some time—?” Evan swings his arm around Simon and pulls him away from me, and Simon turns bright red.
I can’t help but laugh. “So where’s Amelia?” I ask Reese.
“Blake took her back to the house. She needed some space to calm down. I’ve never seen her that terrified.”
My face falls and I nod. “Okay, let’s get back, then. I wanna check on her.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
BLISS
Apparentlyit really pays to be a headliner at a music festival—especially a fae one.
The Phantoms have been spared not a single luxury; their lodging for the week is a much nicer house that stands alone at the end of a row of townhomes. There’s a pool, a huge yard, and room after room.
And the Phantoms themselves have spared no expense with the party. Drinks are flowing. There are at least three different rooms playing music. It’s a little overstimulating, if I’m being honest.
I already know Amelia and Reese will want to spend a ton of time here dancing. And I know they’ll also be wanting to find some fun companions for tonight.
“Bliss! Amelia!” A familiar voice calls, and I immediately want to melt into a puddle on the floor and drain through it into the ground, where I will seep deeper and deeper and never be seen again.
