Today, I learned two things:
1. My girlfriend is not, in fact, a witch.
2. My girlfriend is one of the people who’s been trying to murder Katie.
I should probably stop calling her my girlfriend.
My brain and heart are pummeling each other, trying to win the battle of how I’m supposed to feel. Part of me wants to vomit. Another part of me wants to scream and throw something. And underneath it all, a voice keeps hissing: how did you miss this? You, who notices everything, who catalogs details and has entire notebooks full of lists. Was I that desperate to be wanted?
The betrayal sits heavy in my chest, squeezing my heart. Every moment with Oaklyn is replaying in my head through a different lens, cataloging all the evidence I missed. Was every smile, kiss, and touch fake? When I showed her my chimera tracking map and she called me smart, kissed me and got all flirty, was that just manipulation? Has her seduction been a strategy, reducing me to the gullible fool who couldn’t resist a pretty girl?
Fuck. I can’t believe this is happening.
I’m sitting in Natalie’s car in a hiking area in Squamish while everything collapses around me. Oaklyn, her mom, and Wyatt were already here when we arrived. My heart seized when I saw them stalking through the trees. Seeing Oaklyn in this context, coiled like a predator, a scowl twisting her face, was an out-of-body experience—like looking at a stranger wearing the face of someone I thought I knew.
There was no time to process. They saw us pull up, and Natalie and Sky leaped out to meet their attack. Beside me in the back seat, Katie grabbed the golden net and bow.
When I tried to climb out with her, she put her hand on my shoulder and stopped me. “If Oaklyn finds out you’re with us, she might kill you.”
The words burned like acid. I couldn’t be sure how true that was, and damn, that hurt.
Knowing who Oaklyn is does make me a little afraid of her, I admit. The logical part of my brain is screaming at me to stay far away from her and block her number.
But…
Would she actually hurt me? Since we met, she’s only made me feel more amazing than I’ve ever felt in my life. If it was all a ruse, she’s a very good actor. She’s called me beautiful, wonderful, amazing. She opened up to me, even cried a little when she told me about losing her brother. She’s kissed me all over, caressed my skin when we cuddled, worshipped my body in a way nobody else has… And I’ve done the same for her. It’s hard to believe she might throw that all away. That it might have never been real.
Can someone fake that level of intimacy?
But outside, there’s a whole other Oaklyn—one who hurts people, who has no problem with murder, who will go to any length to get what she wants. The possibility that I was just a convenient path to Katie makes anger bubble up so hot I can taste it. When we cuddled in bed, skin against skin, was she just enduring it until she could use me to get to Katie? When she told me about her brother and tears welled in her eyes, was that real grief or a performance?
I couldn’t be sureabout any of it.
So I let Katie slam the door on me. I sank down in the back seat, as useless as ever when it comes to playing with witches. A bystander. A sidekick. A chess piece.
While more capable people are fighting outside, Katie with that ridiculous bow-and-net contraption and the others throwing bits of earth at each other like the world’s deadliest snowball fight, I’m just…sitting here with my pen and notebook.
Oh, did I mention the chimera has taken the form of an actual griffin? Beak that could swallow a baby hippo, lion body with ropey muscles, wingspan to match a jet.
Seriously, nothing surprises me anymore. I should’ve brought popcorn.
Katie’s made a few decent shots, but she’s no Katniss Everdeen. The net keeps plopping back to the ground, and the griffin is casually flying from treetop to treetop like this is a game.
Natalie and Sophia have paired off, blasting each other with earth. The ground rumbles beneath the car, a charge in the air lifting strands of hair off my shoulders. Sky and Oaklyn are also going at it, and…
Wait. Holy shit, is Oaklyn a witch after all?
No, Katie would have told me.
But I swear she’s got a wand or something. A knife? Whatever it is, she’s shooting roots out of it. I wonder if she would let me try using that thing.
Ugh, listen to me. Still thinking I’m going to see her again while she tries to kill my friend. What’s wrong with me?
Ouch, she totally smoked Sky in the gut with a root ball, and now Wyatt is making a snack out of Sky’s leg. The same dog that cuddled me on the couch and licked my cheek now looks like a wolf tearing into prey.
Jesus, I’m sitting here with a pen in my hand when I could be helping.
You know what? Fuck this. I’m scribbling in a notebook, watching my best friend and the girl who’s possibly been analyzing me like a lab specimen try to kill each other while an actual griffin flies overhead.
