A sinking feeling hit my stomach—lead weight in my gut, trying to flatten me to the ground.
“No,” I whispered. I shook my head. “No.” If he couldn’t hear it and I could, that meantonething.
Ghost.
A brush of hot air tickled my neck and every hair on my arms stood on end. My splinter screamed in pain so badly and so suddenly that I doubled over my knees, hissing in pain. Pollux dove towards me, touching my back.
“Avaaa,” my name sounded like an exhaled breath. It was high pitched and young. “Ava,” she said again. A little girl, the same one from the haunted house in Williamsburg. My splinter burned like a fire inside my body, eating away inside me.
“We need to move,” I gasped out, gripping Pollux’s jacket and pulling myself up. I was opening my mouth to explain more but he didn’t need me to. He immediately pulled me into his arms, collected the flashlight for me to hold, and took off deeper into the tunnel.
I’d never seen someone run so fast. The wind whipped my hair and I realized his long legs were only hitting the ground between each powerful thrust of his wings.
5
“It’s a ghost, “ Ava said, sweating in my arms as I ran.
Why would we run from ghosts? They couldn’t do anything as far as I was aware. They were aimless pieces of aura that barely existed. Since I could see auras, I could see them. Something humans seemed incapable of.
Ava could see ghosts then. I’d known she was different from the start. Her aura was too bright, her pheromones too taunting.
Right now, she looked terrified and in pain. Even now she was the most beautiful human I’d ever seen. Normally her aura glowed like honey in the sunlight but right now it was dim and murky while she took deep, labored breaths.
She needed me to save her. What was I supposed to do about a curse? What was I supposed to do about a ghost?
This was all happening so fast that I was suddenly terrified of what might befall her. Just a moment ago she was mostly fine. Tired, a little sick, confused. That’s why I’d sucked her off. She had needed a little pick me up and I had needed to see her come. Win, win.
I loved human women, they had that lovely little button for me to suck on and they always quivered and moaned. Ava’s sounds and quivering were the most thrilling I’d ever heard.
The way she’d lean into me, gripping my clothes, pushing her fingers in the thick fur at my neck. When I’d forced her to look at me as she came, she didn’t try to look away. Her woodsy brown eyes had been half-closed but stayed focused on me.
What was going to happen after this? She probably lived in a city. I couldn’t live in a city. Could I? Fuck, I was actually considering how to make it work. I visualized myself hiding in city park trees for unsuspecting humans to stumble upon with terror-filled screams.
I looked down to see Ava’s eyes fluttering and her hair sticking to her sweaty forehead. I swallowed and swiped the hair away from her face. Yes, without a shadow of a doubt I’d move to a city if that's what it took.
She had saved me right when I had been thinking of giving up. I would spend the rest of my life doing everything I could for her. She’d know what she was to me soon enough. I’d given her the diary. She’d get better and read the fucking diary. She had to get better. We only just met, but I couldn’t lose her. I couldn’t have fate hock spit in my face once again.
Please, Ava. Please my beautiful human. Be okay so you can read my stupid rambling nonsense. Get better so I can fly with you and fuck you. So Caspian and I can fight like children. So that Brandon could keep mumbling to Caspian, asking if I might actually eat people because he thought I couldn’t hear. It was funny. I wanted all of that. I wanted more. I wanted Ava to be okay because without her there was nothing.
We burst into a large cavern and Ava’s eyes flew open, her complexion going back to normal and her aura brightening a little. She looked significantly better in an instant.
We were in a big area—the ceiling stretching up and the sound of water dripping and echoing around. There seemed to be different offshoots we could take. She took a deep breath and looked up at me.
“I get it now,” she started. “This splinter is a piece of the house the ghost is attached to. It lets the ghost travel with me since it’s under my skin,” she said. I nodded in response, letting her know I understood.
“Thomas!” she called out, sounding tired. “I can stand,” she insisted but I didn’t let her down. No, I’d carry her everywhere from now on. I shook my head and gripped her tighter. She gave a tiny smile and didn’t fight.
“This way!” Thomas called out. I moved us toward the direction of his voice. There was a tunnel with a large round rock partially obstructing the entrance. There was no way I could fit through the entryway, but Ava could possibly squeeze in. Which meant there was no way we were going in there. Caspian had made clear no one was splitting up and it was a good rule to have. I would not be sending the light of my life into some tight-fitting hole after Thomas the psycho climber. Especially not with her sick.
“Let me down,” Ava said and I relented with a huff. She shuffled towards the crack and aimed the flashlight inside. “It’s another big tunnel,” she explained before yelling for Thomas again.
“Ava, hurry,” Thomas said.
“Are you okay?” Ava called out in concern.
“Ava, please. Hurry,” he repeated.
“We need to go in,” she said and I reached out and gripped her shoulder, shaking my head. She opened her mouth to say something but goosebumps popped up on her skin. She grabbed her forearm and squeezed her flesh tightly as she ground her teeth. Her sudden pain was obvious and it made me panic. I grabbed her shoulders, pulling her close, bending down, and brushing my face against hers.
