I laughed, and for the first time all night, I felt like I could breathe.
“You’re not allowed to fall asleep ever again,” I whispered to Nyx. “Things got rough out here.”
“No,” she gasped. “What happened? Give me all the tea.”
Grinning despite it all, I retold the tale of Augustus butchering my mind, like it was exciting and not deeply traumatic.
Nyx oohed and aahed appropriately.
Then she told me the mysterious Montana plague (which became a national news story on the radio and hit the trailer park when I was six) was really her biting all the neighbors who were mean to me. I prayed she was joking, but I feared she wasn’t.
Still, I laughed (panic cackled) along with her because that was what friends did.
The room buzzed with conversation.
Drinks flowed.
The piano music was bright and airy.
And then, just when the despair had leached away, the fireplaces went out in a dramaticwhoosh.
The room was dead silent.
Darkness reigned.
Low lights flicked on. Embedded in the floorboards, they cast everything in shades of crimson. Men smiled and leaned back in their chairs with anticipation.
A hauntingly seductive melody began to play.
Then . . .
Theycame out.
The sirens.
Beautiful men and women sauntered into the room, clothed only in their shimmering naked skin. More breathtaking than the supermodels in vintage magazines.
Even in the muted light, their hair sparkled like diamonds.
Pastel eyes dazzled in shades of colors I’d never dreamed could exist.
Their faces had symmetry beyond compare, and their bodies were sculpted curves that only a master artist could imagine.
Each siren who sauntered out from the back room was somehow more perfectly unique than the last.
Dozens of the ethereal creatures spilled into the room.
Spartans leaned toward the sirens, eyes greedily tracking as they spun sensually around the space.
They were thoroughly enraptured.
Hypnotized with lust.
Nyx slid around my neck to get a better view, and I stroked her warm scales.
A laugh bubbled in my throat.
The irony was undeniable: I was literally falling apart while angels spun around me.
