Page 114 of Echoes of the Banshee

Why Date a Ladder When You Can Topple the Whole Damn Tower

I’ve been dragging my feet. I know I should have gone to see Professor Tennant as soon as I got the bracelet and necklace last week. But even still, I’m terrified of putting it on. I could barely try it on without having a panic attack. But I’d managed. After reliving the memory last night, feeling the suffocating grip of the real shackles again, I know I can’t let myself go back to that place. I have to stop it from happening again. After everything I’ve been through, I know I’m strong enough to handle wearing a bracelet.

I step into Tennant’s office, and she greets me with a warm smile. “Did you find replacements?”

I nod, handing her the bracelet and the necklace. She quickly adds a charm to the necklace, ensuring it will make me immune to any other jewelry, then begins working on the bracelet.

It takes her a few minutes to make the changes, comparing the fake bracelet on my wrist with the new one. I take a deep breath. The cool metal feels wrong in my hand, overflowing with memories I don’t want to revisit. Slowly, I slide it on my wrist. The moment it touches my skin, something inside me flinches. Hard. I can’t do this. I yank the bracelet off, my hands shaking. Panic grips me, sudden and sharp. My breath comes in quick, shallow bursts I can’t control.

I take one step back. Then another. I turn, desperate to escape. I run and don’t stop. Even when I hear Tennant’s voice, calling after me, I don’t look back. I find myself in the dining hall, unsure when I got here, or when I grabbed this slice of unappealing pizza. I don’t even notice Benson until he slides into the seat across from me, his usual grin spread across his face.

“Still not eating, huh?” he says taking a big bite of his shepherd’s pie.

I give him a half-hearted smile. “Not hungry,” I mutter. “Just… thinking.”

He doesn’t push me. Instead, he glances at the food in front of me, then at me. “I’ve seen you devour a whole plate of fries in less time than it takes me to finish a sentence. What’s going on?”

“You ramble.” I shrug but the smile is fake. “I guess I’m not in the mood for anything today.”

“Alright. Fair enough.” He smiles mischievously and reaches forward, stealing my pizza and eating the whole thing in two quick bites.

“Hey!” I yell at him. “That was mine.”

“You weren’t eating it,” he tells me with a smile, glad to have gotten a rise out of me.

“I thought you were a human sandwich, not a damn garbage disposal!”

He doesn’t laugh, he reaches out and grabs my hand.

“Want to talk about it?” he asks.

I wrinkle my nose.

“What’s this?” Anita’s shrill voice cuts through the hum of conversation as she stands over our table. Benson jerks his hand from mine as Sloane and Mavis fall into formation behind her.

“It looks like… dinner?”

“Seriously, how low have you sunk? You went from Zair, to shadow boy, to this goblin in a couple weeks. Did I miss when you fucked a cur?” Her voice curls with disgust, loud enough to offend every shifter. A hush spreads through the dining hall as they all hear the slur.

“It’s called being friends, Anita. Not everything is about sex and power.”

“Whatever,” she scoffs. Then moves on to the next thing on her list. “I just came by to see if you needed any comfort after your spectacular failure in your pursuit of Zair. Everyone’s talking about how pathetic you are.”

“Was I pursuing Zair?” I ask innocently. “Well, I’m sure there are lots of things I fail at that I was never trying to accomplish. Like pretending to care about this asinine conversation.”

“Anything is better than a goblin. Seriously Thea, how low are your standards?”

“Obviously higher than yours if all you care about is climbing the ladder, not who’s holding it.”

She switches tactics. “Ethan asked about you. Said he wanted to hook up again. He’s a much better option than this goblin, he actually has a brain and a future. More than lifting heavy stuff or smashing things. Plus, with their disgusting throuples, you wouldn’t just be stuck with him. You’d be stuck with two of them.” Her glance at Benson comes with a shudder. “Ick.”

She lets the insult hang, expecting silence or shame.

I lean back in my seat, slow and casual.

“Tell Ethan I’m fucking the goblin.” The words drop like a stone in a pond. I watched as her face turns from shock to outrage. “Big step up from that weak-willed witch.”

“The weakest witch is still better than a chainborn!” Her face is an ugly sneer.