AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The prison guards returned my belongings—the black clothes I had been wearing when re-arrested, and the Astrosmos. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to realize it was a magical relic or they probably wouldn’t have given it back. After I changed from the orange jumpsuit, Vigga walked me to the prison’s front gate.
“Don’t ever come back here,” she said.
“Thank you for being the least shitty guard,” I said.
She practically shoved me past the gate. I stepped forward, out of the prison’s ward, and felt my magic flood my blood like a wonderful drug.
The same crowd waited for me on the road outside the prison. Juniper ran to me and threw her arms around my neck. I hugged her back. Fuck, it had been so long since we had been close enough to actually hug. Neither of us was the most affectionate person, and we had years of bad blood between us to make it worse.
But now… Now, we hugged like we were back in high school and comforting one another after the school had expelled us for using dark magic.
“The protests were your doing,” I said. It wasn’t a question.
“Of course, but I didn’t force anyone to show up, though I could have.”
I chuckled. “Don’t say that outside the prison, they might hear you.”
We broke off the hug and I met her eyes, now bright and a little sly, like normal. “You came for me again.”
“Always,” Juniper said. “I figured you didn’t want to break out, so…” She shrugged. “I went the legal route. Mostly. I maaaay have forced their hand to allow a hearing in the first place.”
“We never do anything fully legal.”
“Don’t say that outside the prison, they might hear you,” Juniper said with a wink. Then her expression turned serious. “Thank you for finding me. You always seem to when I vanish.”
“Always,” I promised.
“You were the hero you always wanted to be.”
My heart expanded like a cock turning into clarinet. “Pfft, I never wanted that.”
“Yeah, right.” Juniper glanced away. “I should have stopped Azea when I had the chance. She has been after me for years, but I never had the heart to kill her, curse her, or lock her up. I’m sorry I let her destroy your home.”
I shook my head. “It’s not your fault. You were trying to give her a chance. You always said redemption didn’t come from sitting in prison but from doing good in the world instead.”
“You’re proof of that… though maybe Azea needs time in the ward to cool down.” She nodded to the waiting crowd.
My gaze went straight to Jag, Elliot, and Moe, still carrying his glass tank with his snail climbing up the side.
“Come on,” Juniper said. “We have a surprise.”
Chapter 38
Rockmusicblaredthroughthe speakers in Club Vee. Candles that flickered through different colors floated in the air, lighting the space in a way that was half cozy and half disco ball.
All the Eclipses were here, and I had spent hours catching up with as many of them as I could in between dancing with Jag, Elliot, and Moe—who could break dance, because, apparently, he had been in one of those dance troupes who compete on street corners. The most I could do was sway sexily like a drunk stripper.
I leaned on the bar and the bartender, a vampire named Rose, handed me a mocktail that smelled of orange and pineapple.
“Everything is non-alcoholic tonight,” she reassured me for the tenth time. I kept asking.
A woman with blonde hair leaned on the bar next to me. She wasn’t dressed for a party, just a tee shirt and jeans.
“Fuzzy navel, please.”
“It’s non-alcoholic,” Rose repeated.
The woman shrugged.
