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Ram smiled. “I’m glad you found people who can make you happy.”
I shifted uncomfortably because he wasn’t one of those people, even though he wanted to be. We had spent our younger days as broken people lashing out at the world and each other. The pain we caused didn’t vanish because we had worked together for a few days, and he had protected JEM. On top of that, he and my best friend were still enemies.
“What are your plans now that you’re free and legal?” Ram said.
I sighed. “I started Free Jinx to create a safe place for outcasts, and now they’re all living in a school gym. Maybe…” I glanced around the street.
A yeti and mermaid were making out in front of the club. A zombie rode a bike along the cobblestones until his arm fell off and he had to stop to retrieve it. Finally, the club behind me was full of dark magic users partying in the open after the town had campaigned to release me from prison.
“What are you thinking?” Ram said.
I didn’t dare hope. Hope was a seagull: you watched it soaring majestically on angel wings through blue skies, then it shat on you and stole your French fries.
“Maybe we can make a safe home here.”
Ram chuckled. “The local coven will hate it.”
“Even better.” I laughed. Covens tended to spit on dark magic users, so I liked pissing them off. “I’ll need to find a way to earn some money. We’d need homes, food—”
“You’ll have money,” Ram said.
I eyed him. “What are you going to do?”
“Nothing you’ll have to put a stop to.” He shifted his feet. “Beyond that… I don’t know. When I was a kid and the pastors would perform exorcisms on me, I thought, I want to make sure this doesn’t happen anymore. At least, I did when they were just chanting Bible verses and not… you know.”
Torturing him. I clasped his arm to give extra comfort.
“I wanted to make the world safe for little lonely magic kids trapped in the normal world. But clearly, I shouldn’t be in charge of lost souls and traumatized kids. I encouraged the worst in everyone I was looking after,” he said.
“You shouldn’t be anyone’s mentor or therapist,” I agreed. “But Juniper always says redemption comes from action. So, maybe you can find those little lonely magic kids trapped in the normal world and guide them to people who can help. Schools, covens, even Screech so they can see there are others like them.”
“The dark magic users can’t go to covens for help. Maybe they can come here? To your reborn Free Jinx.”
“They’d need a sort of Xavier’s School for Gifted Children,” I said. “I’m not looking after kids, but maybe some of the others would want to run it. A place where kids can be loved and supported so they don’t end in crime and supervillainy like we did.”
“If you’re sticking around, maybe you can set it up. You don’t have to teach the kids.”
I looked at the brightest star twinkling above. “Maybe…”
Ram stroked my hand with one finger and I stroked him with my thumb, reveling in the sensation of his warmth and his touch on my skin. It made what I had to say hurt all the more in a complex mess of pain, like when someone beats the shit out of you.
“We can’t be together right now.”
Ram stared at the dark street. “I know. We have seven years of baggage between us, and we’ll only fuck this up if we don’t work it out first. I don’t want to ever hurt you again, so if we do this, we’re going to do it right.”
I pressed my lips together to stop any sobs clawing up my throat. “Maybe we can try after we figure out who we are now that we aren’t villains… or at least, now that we’re lesser villains.”
After all, Ram clearly meant to do illegal shit. It would be smart to wait and see what crimes he ended up committing. I figured he’d stick to stealing money, but if he fell back to his taking-over-the-world schemes, I’d have to get a group together to throw him in prison again.
“And I can’t be with you until you work things out with Juniper. She’s been my friend for fifteen years.”
Ram frowned. “I know.”
We held hands in silence and tilted our heads to watch the few stars that could be seen from town. I don’t think we had ever watched the sky together before.
When the door to Vee slammed open and Delphine and her sister stumbled out, laughing, I shook off the warm reprieve.
“I better get back before someone looks for me and finds you.”
