Page 61 of XO Karma

My mouth falls open. “Mean!” I stalk her way, nudging her shoulder as I pass. “Come on, we’re wasting moonlight.”

She giggles, trailing after me. “If you insist.”

I fill her in on my little one-on-one with Vetrel earlier, which truly gave me no more answers besides he clearly knows something, and twenty minutes later, flickers of illumination scatter through the trees.

“We’ll have to use those as a guiding point from here,” I suggest in a hushed tone, and we both click off our flashlights.

Slowly and carefully, we make our way through the brush, the minimal visibility causing the last hundred yards to be more difficult than the three-mile trek here.

A large stump appears in my path, and I step over it with Lily behind me. “Watch out,” I tell her. “There’s a⁠—”

A quiet yelp slips through the air, and Lily’s body slams into mine. I lose my footing as we both tumble to the ground and land with my back to the earth and her slumped on top of me. She bursts out laughing, and given our proximity to the estate, I throw a hand over her mouth. My other hand grips her waist, and she quiets instantly, her wide eyes meeting mine.

“You okay?” I whisper.

She nods, her warm breath hitting my hand, and I remove it. “Do you think they heard me?”

“I think the astronauts orbiting the moon heard you,” I tease, pulling a leaf out of her hair.

“I’m serious,” she says, pressing a hand on my chest to look towards the estate. Fuck, she’s so pretty.

“I think we’re good,” I choke out.

“Are you okay?” she asks, our eyes meeting just inches apart. The proximity of her lips makes concentration difficult.

“Oxygen’s a little lacking, but nothing is broken or bleeding this time.”

“The night is young,” she says, and I stifle a groan as she slides her body off mine to stand.

I force myself off the dirt, and a few minutes later, we finally make it to the tree line of the estate. The yard is illuminated like an airstrip thanks to solar lights placed around, but there are still a few parts shrouded in shadow.

A tickling feeling scatters on the side of my neck, and I jump, swatting it away.

“What’s wrong?” Lily asks, and I glance over at my shoulder, noting something on my shirt.

“Eww!” I flick a few creepy crawlers off me, swiping my hands through my hair and checking every inch of my clothes to make sure there aren’t any more.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

“There are bugs on me,” I shriek as quietly as possible. She clicks on her flashlight to the dimmest setting, pointing at the ground, and chuckles. “What’s so funny?”

She gestures at a pile of leaves. “It’s just a few beetles.”

“Yeah, well”—I fight a full body shudder—“I don’t like beetles very much.”

“I’m sorry.” She holds up a hand. “You’re a serial killer who’s afraid of bugs?”

“We’ve been over this,” I say in a hushed, firm tone as my blood simmers. “I. Am. Not. A. Serial. Killer.”

“You kill people, yeah?”

“Well, yes, but⁠—”

“What’s your body count?”

“I mean…” A grin splits across my face. “Feels like a bit of a change of subject, but I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours, gorgeous.” She slaps the back of my head, and I bring my hand up to rub it. “Ow, what was that for?”

“Murder body count, dumbass.”