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“Yeah, Mom,” came another urgent voice. “Cut it out. We don’t have time, anyway. Let’s get out of here already. Everyone’s gone flipping crazy.”
Glancing past Aunt Melaina, I realized more had arrived with her. Two of her children—Quailen and Questa—stepped from behind her and tugged on her arm. “Someone could catch us out here any second; we have to go.”
I backed nervously away, eyeing my cousins the entire time. They didn’t look as if they’d been gripped by the urge to kill, but I wasn’t willing to take any chances. It was rare for one person in a family to escape the bloodlust, so it didn’t seem possible for three of us to have avoided it.
Since they were both older than me—already teenagers—they could probably kill me easily, too. If they were infected. But when they glanced my way, they looked just as cautious and uncertain and afraid as I felt about them.
“Quilla,” Aunt Taiki called, turning to me suddenly and waving me forward. “Come.”
“Quilla?” Aunt Melaina repeated in confusion before she spotted me scurrying toward them. Immediately, her eyes narrowed. “No!” Grabbing Aunt Taiki, she yanked her protectively away. Then she lifted her hands toward me, prepared to dispel magic. And probably not the good kind that could make my hair pretty and eyes extra shiny, either.
I squeaked and skidded to a stop. Uncle Palmer might’ve always scared me, but Aunt Melaina downright terrified me.
“Get back!” the red-haired woman ordered.
“No. Stop!” Aunt Taiki leaped forward, dodging in front of me as she grasped Aunt Melaina’s arm and pushed it down. “She’s harmless. Just look. The girl’s immune.”
Aunt Melaina shrugged her off, sniffing. “Impossible.” Her disgusted gaze focused on me yet again as she pushed red curls out of her face. “Two of mine are already immune.”
“Then there are three,” Aunt Taiki reasoned desperately. “Because I’m telling you, Quilla is innocent.” She tugged the other woman back another foot. “Melaina, please. She’s just a child.”
“She’s a Graykey,” Aunt Melaina snarled, her accusation slicing into me until I wanted to drop my face in shame. “And her abilities are insanely powerful. You’ve said so yourself. She’s probably stronger than anyone else in this whole godforsaken realm, which makes her more dangerous than the rest of them.”
“She just saved my life,” Aunt Taiki insisted, causing Melaina to pause and finally turn her critical glare from me so she could glance at the other woman, one eyebrow lifted.
“Did she?”
“Yes. She did.” Aunt Taiki plopped a hand against her hip. “And besides, I think I can determine who’s immune and
who’s not. I just watched two of my own children tear each other apart, for God’s sake. And I’m telling you, Quilla is not like them.”
Aunt Melaina shuddered and seemed to relent, only to pierce me with a deep scowl. “Well then, so what? What exactly do you expect us to do with her?”
Relaxing, Aunt Taiki held her hand out to me. “I expect us to bring her along.”
“Impossible,” Aunt Melaina scoffed. “She can’t come with us.”
“She is,” Aunt Taiki countered and grasped my fingers. “Now come on.” And she took off jogging down the hall toward the back exit of the manor, towing me along with her.
Aunt Melaina dogged our heels. “The hell if she’s going anywhere with me! I don’t trust the brat. There’s no room for her, anyway. We only have four amulets on us to complete the ritual. That leaves her shit out of luck.”
Behind us, something crashed to the floor and shattered.
Both Aunt Melaina and Aunt Taiki slowed to a stop before glancing around to where Questa had tripped and fallen to her knees. A broken amber crystal lay scattered in pieces on the ground in front of her. With her face paling and eyes widening, she looked up and winced. “Oops.”
“Make that three amulets,” Aunt Melaina ground out from between clenched teeth before wailing, “Fuck it all, Questa. That was your ticket to freedom.”
“I-I…” The teen’s face crumpled as she sobbed out a quick hiccup. “I’m sorry. It slipped.”
“Of course it did.” Cursing under her breath, Aunt Melaina stormed back to her daughter and jerked hold of her hand, yanking her back to her feet and starting forward again. She stalked past us with Quailen hurrying after them. “Now keep this one around your fucking throat or I’ll wring your neck with it until you stop breathing, got it?” she instructed as she tugged another amulet on another chain up and over her own head before she irritably thrust it at her daughter.
“Got it.” Questa rushed to gratefully slip the new necklace into place.
Tightening her fingers around my hand, Aunt Taiki hurried after them as Aunt Melaina led the way outside.
A scattering of servants took off running when they saw us, but otherwise, no one else was about.
“It’s settled, then,” Aunt Taiki announced, sounding logical. “We can all still go through the portal. So, we’ll give an amulet to the three children, and you and I will just have to come back through when the bridge closes.”
