Page 49 of Immortal Game

Shea unbuckled her seat belt. Aideen, clearly annoyed, said nothing. She got out of the car and slammed the door shut. No sooner had they stepped onto the porch than Shea heard the shouting.

When Mom and her boyfriend fought, it was usually cold and simmering, all hushed voices and late nights. She never saw anything. But sometimes, if Shea walked up behind her mother too quietly, she would flinch. Shea hated to watch the terror in her eyes harden into anger.

But now, if they were yelling…

Fear slithered through her. She was frozen, her pulse hammering in her throat.

Do something, she urged herself.

Shea cracked open the door. She could see Travis and her mother in the dim kitchen light. He wasn’t a big man, but in that moment, he seemed enormous. He loomed over Mom, jabbing his finger hard into her sternum as if punctuating his sentences.

Do something.

Shea couldn’t make out what he was saying. Her ears were ringing too loud, and her hands were still trembling. She despised herself for it. She had a killer instinct on the board, but when it really mattered, she was useless. All the power she felt earlier slipped away like water through her fingers. If only she could be like one of her knights: someone gallant and brave, someone capable of driving back the people who would hurtthem. Without a board in front of her, she was just a little girl, unremarkable and powerless.

Aideen took Shea by the shoulder. “Stay here.”

I’m practically an adult, Aideen had said. It had seemed ridiculous at the time. Now, with the exhaustion and resignation on her face, it felt painfully true. Shea had been there the first time Aideen used her power; it had been an accident. Every time she’d used it since had been on purpose. Shea knew how much it weighed on her.

Aideen didn’t need Shea to protect her. Of course she didn’t. But one day, she wouldn’t need to do this. One day, she wouldn’t have to be the thing she was afraid of: the monster everyone believed she was.

Shea grabbed her hand. “It’s not fair.”

Somehow, Aideen seemed to know what she meant. She tucked a strand of hair behind Shea’s ear. “I know. It’s okay.”

“I don’t want him to hurt you.”

“He’s not going to hurt me. I promise.”

Tears slipped down Shea’s cheeks. Humiliated, she swiped them away. “Okay.”

At last, Mom’s voice reached Shea: “You need to go home. You need to leave now.”

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Aideen said.

With that, she burst through the door. There was a startled silence before Travis thundered, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Aideen!” Mom cried.

“Stop talking,” Aideen said, her voice pitched low and shimmering with magic. Power radiated from her. It skittered along Shea’s spine and raised all the hairs on her arms. Travis staredat her, slack-jawed, horrified, and captivated. “You heard her. Walk out that door and keep going. Just keep going.”

Shea pressed herself flat against the siding of the house. Travis didn’t notice her at all. He shambled past her, his eyes vacant. He walked out the door, then past his own car. He kept going down the street, illuminated here and there by the streetlights, until he vanished into the darkness.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Shea sat in her bedroom’s bow window with her forehead pressed against the cool glass. Through the gray-gauze mist, the sky blushed pink with dawn. She should’ve been asleep long ago, but her thoughts refused to quiet. Not when her body still buzzed with the joy of that last game.

Joy.It should have been impossible, when Midir had killed that part of her. And yet, here she was. Somehow, Ciara had stanched that psychic wound and breathed new life into her. She’d made Shea start thinking about the future.

And then, Shea had almost kissed her.

She groaned. She’d trodden too far into dangerous territory. Her feelings had gotten too confused. Sorcerers on the loose or not, she needed to clear her head. She emerged from her room just as another door down the hall opened. Lily stepped out, then stopped short when she noticed Shea.

Lily, wrapped in a loose black sweater, stood there with a heavy book tucked under her arm and a glare that could corrode steel. Shea considered continuing on her way, or maybe just turning around and crawling into bed, but something made her hesitate. Their last conversation flashed through her mind.

I did earn my way here, even if I wasn’t invited.

Shea hated being wrong. What she hated even more were players who underestimated and devalued their peers for no good reason. It seemed pointless to delude yourself when confronted with new facts.