It’s a voice.
Myvoice.
That’s not possible.
I strain to hear it. Feed a little power through, just to get close enough. And then?—
Monster.
Monster.
Monster.
The words reverberate down the roots of my abilities, infusing with all the strength and will I can muster.“I’m a monster too, Kaye, and I am not afraid.”
The tendrils grow to vines, thick and layered. I plunge them into the wall, cracking to the foundations.
Kaye’s power leaves impressions on my mind, like footprints on a sandy shore. Varying shades of lavender and silver make up its core, but the heart of it is an ochre so rich and golden it puts starlight to shame. My own is formless and green against her glow, but I reach for it. The color combines, mixes until the glow is muted and luteous in hue. For one second, both are mine to hold.
Then it sucks on the threads of me with vampiric voraciousness. It claims the ownership I sought to reach, and I feed myself to it gladly.
16
KAYE
Songbirds chatter just outside the window, warm and full of light. I blink awake, slowly at first, then harshly as sunlight temporarily blinds me.
A rubbery bit of plastic presses into the apples of my cheeks, making the upper half of my jaw ache. The pressure intensifies the more I gather my thoughts together. My limbs weigh heavily beside my body, dead with the burden of sleep too deeply taken.
“Kaye? Can you hear me?” The voice is not entirely unfamiliar. Someone sits beside my bed, obscured behind the line where periphery meets eye socket. It takes every ounce of control I possess, but I turn at a turtle’s pace to look at them.
“Geor—?” I don’t even get the last letters out. My voice echoes inside the mask, emphasizing the croaky broken thing to come out instead of her name.
Something in her lap thumps to the ground as she stands. “You’re awake! I can’t believe it worked.”
My numb fingers tug on the mask. George pulls my hand away, keeping it pressed between hers.
“You have to leave that on,” she says. “We need to make sure you can breathe on your own. The poison’s still in your system.”
Poison?
“You stole Zane’s car and—I don’t really know the specifics, but when he brought you back, you were in bad shape. Any of this ringing a bell?”
I nod, skin-warm plastic shifting with me. “Cha-rade?”
“A little scratched up, but he’ll live. He said you saved him. Is that true?” Her eyes are wide and bright.
I barely remember doing it, but a flash of something fills my mind. Silver flashing under a streetlight. Blood spilling down my skin. White-hot pain. My arms pinned together like a butterfly to a board. I bring them close to my face, finding nothing more than a thin, puckered scar.
“What happened?”
Something soft yet solid jostles the mattress at my feet, pushing the fabric down. Warmth curls next to my calf, purrs rumbling through the blanket.Apollo. George perches delicately next to him, mindful of the tubes and wiring running up and out of my sight. Her dark eyes brighten even more, and I realize how red they are at the edges. How rigid the line of her shoulders is.
“You don’t remember?”
“No.”
She fiddles with a snag in the hem of her shirt, worrying a hole into the stitching.
