“You know what I mean.” Adam’s voice softens. “Felix, talk to me. What’s going on? Are you okay? Did something happen?”
Yes. I summoned a shadow king and trapped him in my living room and he’s currently sitting in a summoningcircle ten feet away from where we’re standing and if you walk in there you’re going to see him and this entire situation is going to explode in my face.
“I’m fine,” I say again. “Really. I’ve just been... distracted.”
“Distracted by what?”
My mind goes completely blank. I can’t think of a single plausible excuse. My brain has turned to static and panic.
“The Great British Bake Off,” I blurt out.
Adam blinks. “What?”
“I’ve been watching The Great British Bake Off. The reruns. All of them. I got really into it and I just... lost track of time.” The words are spilling out now and I can’t stop them. “It’s very engaging. The baking. The competition. The... soggy bottoms.”
Adam stares at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“You’ve been ignoring my calls because you were watching soggy bottoms?”
“Yes.”
“A baking show.”
“It’s very compelling television.”
“Felix.” Adam’s voice is flat. “You don’t even bake.”
“I could learn! Maybe I want to learn! Is that so hard to believe?”
“Yes. Extremely.”
“Well, you’re wrong,” I say quickly.
“I still think something’s wrong,” Adam says. He moves to step around me. “I’m coming in.”
“No!” I grab his arm. “I mean, it’s messy. Very messy. Embarrassingly messy. You don’t want to see.”
“I don’t care if it’s messy.” Adam gently but firmly removes my hand from his arm. “I care that you’re okay.”
He walks past me into the living room.
I have approximately two seconds to prepare for disaster.
I follow him, my heart hammering so hard I can feel it in my teeth. This is it. This is where everything falls apart. Adam’s going to see Dis and he’s going to freak out and Hex is going to freak out and they’re going to discover that not only have I trapped a shadow being, I threw a himbo at him, fed him myself which was way too intimate, and got him addicted to daytime TV, and now everything I’ve been trying to accomplish is going to crumble.
Adam stops in the doorway to the living room.
I hold my breath.
He looks around. His gaze sweeps over the second-hand sofa, the rolled-up carpet against the wall, the chalk marks on the floorboards.
The empty chalk marks on the floorboards.
Dis is gone.
Not just hidden. Not just invisible. Gone. The circle is empty. There are no blue eyes burning in the darkness. No shadows that are darker than they should be. Nothing.
“See?” I say, my voice coming out strangled. “Just messy. Told you.”
