"It was nothing," I grumble, opening a random book to avoid their earnest stares.
Kenzie snickers, too. "Awe! Are you getting embarrassed? Who knew you were so bashful, May?"
I kick her under the table, only I miss and kick Dirk instead. He jerks, looking at Crypt suspiciously. My unhinged Nightmare Prince takes full credit, grinning nice and creepily slow so that everyone across the table immediately busies themselves with studying.
Baelfire sits on my other side while Everett and Silas leave to look for more books. As we sit in the quiet library, I once again study the countless bookshelves and the hallways leading into the restricted areas and wonder…is there anything archived away about what I am?
When I arrived at Everbound, I spent exorbitant amounts of time in its two libraries. I've read through their collections about the five planes of existence, human and legacy history, the Great Wars, the six gods, theories about what afterlives await inthe Beyond, and all their records about the shadow fiends and monsters that legacies fight at the Divide.
But there are gaps in their knowledge about what else lurks in the Nether. Which is disappointing since I'd hoped to find something about my condition. I'd even hoped there might be an antiquated, long-forgotten method of how to reverse what they turned me into.
Alas, hope is a cold-hearted bitch. There's no fixing what they made me.
I'm pulled out of my thoughts when Luka clears his throat and glances over my quintet. “So, are our quintets like…allied together? None of us are going to harm each other, right?” He glances at Crypt warily.
“We don’t need allies,” Silas drawls at the same time Baelfire says, “Sure, why not?”
Kenzie grins. “Pretty sure that’s left up to the keepers, guys. And since Maven and I are the keepers, we officially say we’re allied as fuck. Right, May?”
I nod.
“Very convincing,” Luka mumbles.
Dirk gently swats at his shoulder. “Stop being a brat. They’re our friends, so of course, none of us are going to cause problems for each other.”
I notice when Baelfire tenses beside me. He's glaring daggers across the library…at Harlow Carter, who's watching me.
Finally.
She's been like a splinter in my brain ever since the changeling mentioned her last name. I didn't have time to track her down, so it's awfully nice of her to show up on a silver platter like this for me.
"I don't like Carter staring at you, Raincloud," Baelfire growls.
I guess Raincloud is the new Mayflower. Maybe nicknames are my curse.
Kenzie looks up with a grin. "If someone's staring at Maven, it's probably because she's so pretty."
Luka makes a face. "I can't tell if you're kidding. No offense, it's just she's kind of bland and?—"
"Close your mouth. If you ever open it around me again, you'll learn what your innards taste like," Crypt drawls.
Vivienne hiccups in fear. I bury my face in the book to hide my wicked amusement. I don't care much what anyone outside my quintet thinks I look like since, apparently, my appearance is so divisive. But it's fun to see how easily my match frightens people.
"She's still staring at you," Baelfire grits. "If she knows what I think she knows…"
"I'll talk to her," I decide.
Crypt vanishes immediately, so I know he'll be listening in on my conversation. Baelfire looks at me pleadingly. "I might end up losing my shit and killing someone if you look even slightly upset while talking to her. I'm that far on edge. Fair warning."
Kenzie looks at me wide-eyed. "Oh, my gods. And I thought your matches were insanebeforemy little hiatus. This is so cute!"
I admit, their violent tendenciesarepretty cute.
I leave the table, ignoring the legacies who watch me from all over the library, including Engela Zuma, who glances up as I pass by. There's something unsettling about her that I can't put my finger on, but I ignore it as I reach the corner table where Harlow sits alone.
Her hair is still spiked, but it's hot pink now instead of purple, and she pops gum as she pulls out a seat for me. "Been looking for you, Oakley."
"Not hard enough. I would have preferred to kill you sooner."
