“Sooooo…” Macy pauses like she doesn’t want to ask the next question but someone has to. “How are you dealing with having someone so evil inside your head? Are you okay? I mean, I know you said he can’t do anything in there anymore, but still…”
To be honest, I don’t have the energy to go down this rabbit hole right now. And I don’t know, maybe I never will. Heather’s mom told me after my parents died that it was okay not to focus on the pain, not to discuss the trauma, until I was ready. So that’s exactly what I plan on doing now.
The loss of control, the sheer violation on the deepest level, plus what it means to have another person in my head…much less a murderer… Well, I’m not ready to even think about any of that yet. So instead I’m going to do my best Dory impersonation and just keep swimming, just keep swimming. And—in this one instance—lie. “About like you would expect me to feel. Nauseated but it’s manageable.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Besides cry and eat a boatload of Cherry Garcia ice cream?” I offer flippantly.
“I’m thinking two boatloads, but yeah. Besides that?”
I tell her about the spell and the five things we have to get to turn Hudson human again.
“So that’s why Hudson made you take the athame?” she asks, astonished. “He wants out, too?”
“That’s what he says. Although he was only going for the four items. He has no interest in being turned human.”
She looks alarmed. “We can’t let him out if he still has his powers. You know that, right?”
“Believe me, I know. I’m just not sure how long I can handle having him in my head.”
“I can only imagine.” She moves to my bed and sits down next to me so she can wrap an arm around my shoulders. “But don’t worry. We’ll get started tomorrow on figuring out how to get the last three things. And we should probably rope Flint in. I bet he’ll have some ideas about how to get the dragon bone.”
“I don’t— You don’t—” I break off, not sure how to say all the things I’m feeling right now.
“I don’t what?” she asks.
“You don’t have to do this with me. I mean, it sounds like at least two of the tasks are going to be really dangerous, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” Macy demands, and she looks outraged in a way I’ve never seen from her before. “You really think I’m going to let you do this by yourself?”
“I won’t be by myself. Jaxon—”
“Jaxon won’t be enough. I know he’s like super powerful and all that,” she says, waving her arms in a woo-woo kind of gesture. “But even he can’t take on the Unkillable Beast and win—even if you are there to help him. There’s a reason the thing is called ‘unkillable.’ I’ve heard stories about it since I was a child. To be honest, I didn’t think it was a real thing. More like the monster your parents warn you about so you don’t venture far from home. But if it’s real, I’ve got your back in defeating it.”
“Macy.” There are so many things I want to say, so many things I want to tell her, but I can’t get any of them out. I can’t organize my thoughts, and I definitely can’t squeeze them through my too-tight throat. Finally, I settle on the one thing I can say. “Thank you.”
She grins. “You’re welcome.”
Then she reaches behind me and fluffs my pillow. “Let’s both get some rest. Tomorrow sounds like it’s going to be a big day.”
I couldn’t agree more. My eyes close the second my head hits the pillow, and just as I’m drifting off to sleep, I swear I hear Hudson say, “Sweet dreams, Grace.”
38
Take Me Under
Your Dragon Wing
“Hey, New Girl! Wait up!”
I roll my eyes at Flint but move to the side of the hallway to wait for him anyway. “It’s March. When are you going to stop calling me that?” I ask when he finally catches up to me.
“Never,” he answers with his usual grin. “I have a present for you…”
He waves a packet of Pop-Tarts in the air above my head, but I easily jump up and snag them. I overslept this morning and am so hungry because of it that I almost pat the familiar silver foil wrapping and whisper, My precious.
As we weave around the rest of the students in the crowded hallway on our way to History of Witchcraft, I quickly open the packaging and take a huge bite of the first pastry I pull out before sighing happily. Cherry. He knows me so well.
“So…evil brother in your head?” Flint asks warily. He must see the question on my face because he quickly adds, “Macy told me.”
I glance around the halls, note everyone who—per usual—is staring at me. As I do, I can’t help but wonder if Macy told the whole school. I mean, the other students have been staring at me since I first arrived at Katmere, so it’s hard to tell if I’m just the new gargoyle attraction…or the new gargoyle attraction with a healthy side of psychopath. Either way, a weight presses down on my chest, making it hard to breathe.
“Hey, hey,” Flint says and places a strong hand on my back. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Macy just told me so you didn’t have to go through the trouble. On strictest confidence. I swear.”
The skin around his mouth is pulled tight, and I suddenly remember what Macy told me several months ago—that Flint’s brother was one of those killed in the tug-of-war between Jaxon and Hudson last year—and I feel like a total jerk. He must be as freaked out as I am that Hudson is back, and Macy figured she should warn him so he had a chance to process it in private.
“It’s okay,” I tell him as we make our way through the door to class and slide into our seats in the middle of the room. “He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
“How sure are you about that?” Flint asks, an urgency in his voice that I’ve never heard from him before, even when he was trying to stop Lia. “You don’t know him, Grace. You can’t make blanket statements like that about someone as evil and powerful as Hudson Vega.”
He’s deliberately kept his voice low, but obviously not low enough, because several people turn to look at us in alarm when he says Hudson’s name.
“Evil and powerful, hmm?” Hudson strides into class and plops down into an empty seat on the other side of Flint, then proceeds to stretch…loudly. “I like the sound of that.”