“What is wrong with you?”
“With me?” Jack flaps his wings, hovering right in front of my face before seamlessly shifting into his human form. “What’s up withyou? Your face specifically, why are you looking all constipated like that?”
“Oh shit, another fight,” Dagger yells out the window. “Who should we take bets on? What shall we bet with? Socks or rum?”
“It’s oats.”
“Fine. Socks or those little cake things?”
“Cookie’s not going to be making them, so we might as well not bother.”
I rub my face tiredly, not realising as I do that I’m using the wrong hand. Jack’s eyes instantly snap to the empty sleeve where my hand should be.
“What is that? Where’s your hand?”
“It’s still there,” I mutter, turning away from Dagger’s twitching ears. To demonstrate, I give Jack a flick around the ear. “See? You just can’t see it.”
He blinks at me. “And when were you going to tell me you were turning into Mr Invisible Man?”
I grunt and give a shrug that doesn’t disguise the fact that... I wasn’t going to. Not unless I could help it.
“I think all the gunk back in the labs messed me up.”
He grabs my hand and tries to inspect it, but I pull it away. There are far too many busybodies with absolutely nothing better to do than watch shit going down and gossip about it.
Jack huffs. “Oh shit, has it extended to your dick and you’re scared to show Reva your invisi-dick?”
“Keep. Your. Voice. Down,” I hiss at him, eyeing Dagger warily. “Of course,thisis why I’ve been sneaking around the house like an idiot. Reva deserves better than me. A messed up monster is one thing, but one that’s straight fading from existence? That’s a whole other kettle of fish.”
“But you’re not fading away, dummy,” he says. “You flicked me hard enough to show you’ve still got working hands.”
“And my cock’s not disappeared,” I add, right on cue for Dagger to stop hammering. “So far, it’s just my hand.”
Thankfully, Dagger is too busy crowing that both barrels are filled with rum to notice me yelling about my cock.
“Well, you’re not the only one acting strange either.” Jack scoffs, rolling his eyes at me like the little turd he is. “Kit’s acting weird, too. I’m going to see if he’ll join the party.”
With a flap of his wings, he’s off again.
“Hey, Tor, is something burning again?”
Tugging down my sleeves to cover my missing hand, I stifle a sigh. Something tells me tonight’s going to be a long one.
Then Dagger slaps me on the shoulder with a commiserating look. “You might have lost your hand and your dick, but things'll be okay. You just need to work out what to do with the appendages you have left.”
I shut my eyes for a moment, praying into the ether for strength. I suppose that Jack’s unwanted and unhelpful visit to the kitchen did have a purpose after all—even if it’s one he’s unaware of. Now that both Jack and Dagger know about my hand, as well as anyone else who might have been eavesdropping, the rumours will get around the rest of the crew quickly enough.
I guess it’s finally time to have a proper conversation with Reva.
Chapter 10
Reva
“Well,” Frannie says, fluffing her black hair and long black skirts. “I can’t say I had a house party in a mouldering mansion on my bingo card while we were on the run.”
My stomach flips over itself at the reminder that if it wasn’t for me, she’d be safely back home without risk of arrest for consorting with criminals. But when I glance up at her, I find her grinning widely.
“From the look of them, these guys know how to party,” she continues, peering out the window. I don’t know how she can see anything with all the fog that’s around, but she chuckles under her breath.
