Page 45 of Fang Fiction

“Does this get you a lot of friends, usually?” Tess waved her hand in his general direction. “This whole snide sarcasm thing, do people find it charming?”

“Why, did you want me to try to charm you? Sounds a lot more fun than feeling up some bloody statue, I’ll give you that.”

“No! I just—ugh! You’re so—”

He couldn’t conceal how much he enjoyed watching her squirm. The way her face flushed, how hard she tried not to ball up her little fists—honestly, it was the best part of his day.

“All right, all right, out with it then.” He’d better put the poor thing out of her misery. “What’s your grand idea?”

“I think we should go to the moonflower meadow.”

Great, another of Octavia’s favorite places. This girl really knew how to twist a knife.

“Why would we go there?” he asked gruffly. “Where did you even hear about it?”

“Sylvie told me,” Tess said hurriedly. “She said it’s a source of magic on the Isle—maybe even more powerful than the graveyard in the forest. What if Octavia’s crossing wasn’t about the statue—what if it was about accessing that magic?”

“That’s brilliant,” Callum jeered. “Or at least, it would be if we had the first fucking idea of how to harness that magic.”

“What about desire?” Tess asked.

“Now you’re on to my area of expertise,” Callum teased, and Tess rolled her eyes.

“No, I mean—portals. I met a portal witch at Bar Between, and she told me creating portals was all about desire. Being in one place, needing to be in another. Maybe Octavia’s desire to get off the Isle was so strong, and she was experiencing it in such a specifically magically powerful place, that she was able to create the portal? Even though she didn’t know it? So if the moonflower meadow is even more powerful than the graveyard, maybe your desire to get back to your sister combined with the magic there would be enough.”

He thought about what Nantale had said—about having hope, about how much Octavia needed him. Unfortunately, none of it was enough to supersede the fact that everything Tess was saying was really, really stupid.

“Mate, do you honestly think this is like a children’s story and fairy dust? Just think lovely thoughts, and you’ll be able to fly?”

Her face fell. “I don’t hear you offering any better ideas.”

“Because there aren’t any better ideas.” He exhaled with frustration. “My sister spent years trying to figure out how to get out of here and got absolutely nowhere—”

“That’s not true!” Tess interjected. “She got back to New York, she’s there right now—”

“Says you!” Callum thundered.

“Is that why you don’t want to go to the moonflower meadow?” Tess pressed. “Because you don’t believe me?”

“There’s a difference between disbelieving you and thinking your ideas are a waste of time,” Callum explained. “In this case, it’s both.”

“It’s like you don’t even want to leave the Isle,” Tess snapped. “Don’t you want to see your sister again? She’s all alone, she doesn’t have her powers—”

“What?” Callum interrupted. “She doesn’t?”

“Oh.” Tess stopped, apologetic. “Sorry, I should have said. Since she got back to New York, she can’t glamour anymore, and her strength and speed are mostly gone too. So she’s just kind of stuck there, you know? She thinks it’s because her power is tied to you, and you’ve never been so far apart.”

“And that’s why she wants me back in New York.” Callum sighed, everything making sense for the first time since this girl appeared. “Not because she misses her dear old brother.”

“What? No,” Tess pushed back. “She misses you badly, she told me—”

“Cleverer people than you have fallen victim to my sister’s lies, believe me,” Callum said, rising to usher Tess out of the room. “I think it’s time you stop speculating on matters you don’t understand, and time for both of us to abandon this inane little group project Nantale assigned us.”

“Are you serious?” Tess snapped. “You’re just going to give up on escaping the Isle? What about everyone else?”

“What about them?” Callum asked.

“Sylvie has grandchildren back home—alive, human grandchildren who miss her! And I thought Nantale was your friend? But I guess that doesn’t matter to you at all. God. No wonder you’re the fucking villain.”