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My stomach grumbled at the thought. For one fleeting second, I could almost smell the savory mix of hot, crisp vegetables and steaming jasmine rice.
And now I’m hallucinating. Excellent.
I pressed my hand gently to the knot forming on my head. It was a small thing, certainly not concussion/hallucination worthy by any measure. The mouthwatering scent faded, but my stomach continued making its displeasure about being empty known, audibly.
Nothing I could do about that in the short-term.
I felt around for my boots and found them within arm’s reach, but my socks were another issue. In a place with magical beings who could zap people from place to place, you would think I could figure out how to conjure a firebug or something to lend a hand.
Out of nowhere, a soothing warmth spread through my hips and a dull yellow glow pulsed from my pocket. I blinked down at it a few times, then pulled it free. The light wrapped around me, beating back the darkness.
Holy shit. Had I made that happen?
I glanced over my shoulder but only shadows stretched out behind me until they melded with the darkness.
Turning my attention back to the pendant, I reached up to touch the glowing stone but pulled my fingers away at the last second.
“First things first.” I needed to take advantage of the light while I could. There was no telling how long the magical batteries in that little rock would hold out.
I spotted my socks and snagged them, keeping an eye on my surroundings just in case something decided I was easy prey. Which I totally was at that moment. Barefoot and sitting on the ground like a preschooler wasn’t exactly prime positioning in terms of self-defense.
I fastened the necklace around my neck and did my best to brush the dirt off the soles of my feet before pulling my socks on. When I reached for my first boot, the light flickered weakly.
“Stay with me, little light,” I said quietly. Grabbing at my boots like a drowning girl flailing for one of those bright orange floating rings, I yanked them on and laced them as quickly as I could. The light, bless the stars, didn’t falter again.
Then I checked for my knife. It was still there, wedged safely between my jeans and my belt. “It’s a freaking saturnalia miracle,” I muttered, letting a wave of relief wash over me. I could find another weapon if I needed to. Hell, a sharp stick was better than nothing, but I was good with my blade, my Stabina. I knew how to handle it, how to move with it. Knowing I had it with me gave me a sense of control over the carnival ride my life had become in the last forty-eight hours.
It felt like weeks had passed since I’d stumbled upon Clint with the slutty cop riding him like one of those spring-loaded plastic animals toddlers bounced on in the playground, and it occurred to me that it was the first time since all that shit had gone down that I’d thought of him.
To be fair, the last two days had been a fuckstorm of weird, but still. I should’ve felt something when I thought about him, right? Love, loss, hate. Anything.
But I didn’t. I was indifferent.
Two days after my boyfriend of six months cheated on me and I was over it. Just like that.
“Yeah,” I muttered, getting to my feet. “I’m definitely broken.”
As if my luck for the day weren’t already total shit, the light from the pendant snuffed out.
“No. Shit. No, no, no.” I tapped the pendant gently. “Come on, magical necklace night light thingy, don’t fail me now.”
It didn’t respond. The thing was now just a cold, dead weight around my neck. I leaned my back against the tree and sank down until I was crouched against it. Then I rested my head in my hands and I wallowed. A full on, pathetic wallow. All the mean, hateful things I had to say about myself? Yeah, I let myself stew in them for a solid sixty seconds.
But that was all I would give myself. I could kick myself and call myself stupid for sixty seconds, but then it was back to business.
After my designated minute of hard-core self-loathing, I drew in a deep breath and let as much of it go on the exhale as I could manage. In my book, it was okay to feel like crap from time to time, but it wasn’t okay to carry it around with me. Life was too damned short for that bullshit.
“So, what do I do next?” I asked the darkness. There was no answer, thank the stars. If someone had answered me right then, I might have pissed myself. At least my options were simple: stumble through the darkness and try to find Matty or stumble through the darkness until I could find a safe-ish place to hole up until the sun was up.
“Choices, choices.” I slapped my thighs and stood. If I was going to be fumbling around in the dark either way, I might as well use the time to my advantage.
And with that, the pendant started to glow again.
“Seriously, what the hell is up with this thing?” I asked, not bothering to keep my voice low anymore.
That time, when I reached up to touch it, I followed through. Cautiously. It was radiating this incredible, reassuring warmth into my chest, but when I took it in my fingers and rolled it gently, it felt like it was the same temperature as my skin.
I set it carefully back against my chest and waited. When the light didn’t flicker or fade, I let out the breath I’d only just realized I’d been holding.
