I left out Shade’s confession, that if I had died, he would have gone with me. It felt too private. Too… crazy. We hardly knew each other, after all.
“He swooped in like a knight in shining armor, saved your life, got locked up, and you just went home and left him there?” Fiella asked, aghast. “Have a heart, Ginny.”
“What else was I supposed to do?” I pleaded. “I just woke up from a gods damned coma. I almost died! And he was insisting he speak to me. So, I spoke to him. That’s it.”
Redd hummed something under his breath that had Fiella chuckling, but it was too quiet for me to hear. I ignored him—I wasn’t interested in his nonsense comments anyway.
“I still think we should bust him out of there,” Fiella insisted.
“It might not be safe, love,” Redd chided.
“For fate’s sake. That’s so fucking romantic! Hesavedher! And he obviously likes her, with the wholeclaiming her as his wifesituation. I say we rescue him, and then let them run off into the sunset together.”
“I’m not running off into anysunsets,” I argued.
“Come on,” Fiella whined. “Let a girl live vicariously through your love story.” She glanced at Redd. “Not that our love story isn’t the best. Or you two,” she flapped a hand in the direction of Kizzi and Tandor. “I just love love.”
I stubbornly shook my head. “Not happening. I hate him.” The lie was surprisingly bitter on my tongue.
“Hate and love are two sides of the same coin!” Fiella insisted.
I clamped my mouth shut.
“I should talk to him,” Kizzi mused. “See if I can get a read on the guy. Figure out who, or what, he is.”
“If you’re talking to him, I’m coming,” Tandor insisted as he crossed his thick arms over his chest.
“If you two are going then I’m certainly coming, too,” Fiella said.
“I’m in,” Redd agreed.
I sighed and dropped my head into my hands. “You lot are going to interrogate him, too? I think Tommins has done that enough. With his sidekick Linc.”
“He’ll survive another round. If he deserves it.” Kizzi’s voice was surprisingly harsh.
I hesitantly rose. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
CHAPTER 31
Shade
Darkness crept over my fingertips, seeping below my nails and up over the first knuckle.
I examined my hands closely. The swirling pattern on my skin was subtle, but strangely familiar, ringing in the back of my mind with something I almost recognized.
Almost.
My muddy mind was slowly clearing, but details still refused to be recalled.
Frustration was my constant companion.
As my anger mounted, the cell around me darkened, and that curious darkness began to spread. It inched, slowly, past my first knuckle and onto the second, rippling and slipping like a drop of ink in a puddle of water.
I curled my fingers into a fist and then stretched them flat again. I scrubbed my hands over my dirty trousers. The color remained.
I began to experiment.
I thought of Ginger, her flowing auburn hair, the delicateposture of her shoulders, the way she glared at me so beautifully.
