“You seem like you’re in a bad mood,” I noted.
“Kallie put a stupid hex on my warlock textbook. Every time you open it or turn a page, it makes a sex noise,” Marcus bitched. “I had to use it for an exam in my Miriamic Spells class, and it was moaning all hour.”
He handed me the book. I opened it to see, and sure enough, it let out a gasp that definitely sounded sexual.
I snickered and handed him back the book. “That’s hilarious.”
“Not when everyone in class thinks you’re a pervert! I got an infraction forbeing inappropriate. People thoughtIwas making the noises!” Marcus huffed.
“You’re a Curse Breaker. You can break fae magic,” I pointed out. “Just remove the spell from the book.”
“I don’t know how!” Marcus grumbled. “I’ve been working on breaking wards, and it’s hard!”
“As I can see from my book,” Kallie noted as she returned.
“It was a mean fae trick,” Marcus complained.
“One of my specialties,” Kallie said proudly.
Charlie followed behind her. The sight of him caused my insides to plummet beneath the floor of the prison. Ancestors, I felt like vomiting. I was allergic to his very presence.
Oberi, who was splashing in the pool, blew a spout of water out of her blowhole. It sputtered out of the pool and landed on Charlie’s shoes.
“Thanks,” he said sourly. She let out a high-pitched whistle, and the narwhal waved her horn in the water.
“You didn’t have to do that, Kallie. You could’ve played a nicer prank,” Marcus complained.
“It would’ve been less fun,” she argued.
“You’re my bully,” Marcus shot back at her.
“And I’m proud of it,” Kallie said.
“You’re so ridiculous!” The book flopped out of Marcus’ lap as he stood. It landed on its spine, opening wide between Charlie and me.
The book gave a particularly loud moan, and Charlie and I both cringed. Something involuntarily flared through our bond that I didn’t like, and I instantly shut it off. Charlie felt it, and he scowled.
“You should be grateful! That hex is the closest to being laid you’re ever going to get. I bet you don’t even know what a vagina looks like,” Kallie teased.
“I know what it looks like,” Marcus grumbled. “I took sex ed.”
“Can we focus?” Charlie complained. “We’re wasting time being here in the first place.”
“Good to know you think saving the world iswasting time,” I growled under my breath. The sound of his voice was grating on my nerves. “If you have better things to do, there’s the door. In the meantime, I’m going to be saving as many lives as I can.”
“What is it with you andsavingpeople?” Charlie scathed. “No one’s buying the self-righteous act you put on.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought that’s what we were doing,” I shot back.
Charlie’s voice grew louder. “It wasn’t that long ago you wanted to give up on this whole thing! Last time we talked, you wanted to let all the Elves die. Today, you want to save everyone. You’re being bi—”
Charlie cut himself off at the last second, and I seethed. “I’mbeing bipolar, is that right?” I spat back.
Charlie took a short breath. “Look. We can’t save everyone. That’s naive and childish. We need to save the people we can and forget about the rest.”
“I forgot what apositiveoutlook you have on life.”
“I’m a realist. I don’t fool myself with fairy tales, unlike some people,” Charlie spat.
