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“Once upon a time, you gave me a speech that made me accept myself. Told me I could control my own fate if I decided who I wanted to be.”
“Something to that effect,” I say with a small smile.
Her lips form a ghost of a smile, but she sighs heavily. “You don’t seem as surprised as I expected,” I tell her honestly.
Alyssa is my oldest and dearest friend from this group. Ella is the one who seems the most hurt. Alyssa just seems... accepting. Too accepting.
“I think I knew.”
“How?” Mom blurts out, then grimaces.
“I didn’t know what he was, but assumed it was more than met the eye. He’s always been too strong to be a duster. And then there was that speech and the distinct lack of fear back when I first changed into the creature goddess,” Alyssa says, studying me. “Even my parents were afraid of what I’d become once they learned of my fate,” she goes on.
“We weren’t,” Calypso lies.
“We were,” Drackus agrees, causing Alyssa’s lips to twitch.
“They tried to protect me by hiding my secret from everyone, including me. Everyone seemed afraid except Kane and you.”
Kane slides his fingers through hers as though that reminds him of a different time—a harder time.
Her eyes stay on mine as she continues. “You preached acceptance, the way only someone who’d struggled to accept themselves could. I gave that same speech to my own daughter, in my own words, because I didn’t fear what she’d become. I’d already survived the monster. Just as you had.”
“So he gets a free pass?” Ella asks bitterly, wiping away a tear. “You tear into Zee for lying about his family, but Chaz has kept himself locked up from us all this time, and it’s okay?”
I expected her to be hurt, so I try not to take it to heart. It still slips in there, because I hate seeing her tears.
“It’s not a free pass,” Alyssa says to her daughter. “But I understand not trusting the world to trust what’s inside you. Y
ou have to accept yourself first before anyone else can accept you.”
Ella gets up and stalks out, and Kimber follows her. She wasn’t upset with Zee, but she’s pissed at me. I’ll fix it somehow. If I can.
Speaking of Zee... He walks up and claps me on the shoulder.
“You had my back. Now I’ve got yours. Just... don’t grow a spiky dragon tail while I’m at your back.”
He grins, and I laugh under my breath.
“So you aren’t really a weak little duster that I’ve been taunting?” Dice asks meekly, but gets ignored.
“This changes a lot,” Gage says, leaning up on his elbows. “And you’re just now unleashing your powers?”
I nod slowly, still waiting on some people to blow up as Ella did.
“Yet you managed to thwart off a major attack with the best fucking illusion I’ve ever seen,” he goes on. “Just the small illusion took a lot out of you when you helped me save Kimber and Karma.”
“You knew he wasn’t a glitter farter and didn’t warn me?” Dice harps. Then gets ignored again.
“I hadn’t unlocked the other parts of me. I was using red jinn only at that time, and since I didn’t feed like I needed to as often as I needed to, I wasn’t as strong.”
“But now you don’t need to feed?” Gage muses.
“I don’t know. I haven’t felt too weak since...” I let the words trail off. It was the day I had my hands on Kya... The time I almost took her against the side of the dilapidating old cabin.
That memory is still seared into my brain, and I still love and hate them for stopping me by showing up.
“Since when?” Thad prompts, listening intently but not saying much about what I’ve told them.
