Which was just a fancy term for sparkling orange-blossom water. Alcohol was forbidden on the premises and outside guilds as well. Consumption of substances that altered the brain or body’s performance was majorly frowned upon and costfeathers.
I turned off my holo-ranker, then slid off my stool on legs that felt devoid of blood and bones. I stumbled, catching myself on the seat Eve had just vacated. Before I could remove my hand, the Ranking Room vanished, and I found myself standing in front of a little girl with tears streaming down herface.
I’ll g-g-give it b-b-back,shestuttered.
You already took the slime kit out of its packaging, Amy. You can’t give it back.I heard Eve’s voice, which sounded different, younger, a bitnasal.
I was reliving one of hermissions. . .
B-b-but she had sooo many p-presents.
Which were all hers. Not yours. Now, write that letter, and we’ll go give it to hertogether.
She’ll tell everyone in sc-school.
Should’ve thought of that sooner.As the little girl rubbed her streaming eyes, Eve let out an annoyed grunt.Come on. I don’t have allday.
The image faded into another, this time a bustling primary school hallway. I watched Amy carry the letter to another girl her age, the sheet crinkling in her hands. After handing it over, Amy curled her fingers into fists and dashed away. I dashed after her. Or rather, Eve did. We found her locked in a bathroomstall.
No more stealing, okay? Or I’ll have to come back. You don’t want me to come back, now doyou?
N-no. I’ll never stealagain.
Goodgirl.
The gray peeling paint on the bathroom wall crumbledaway.
“Eve!” I gasped as I raised my hand off her disintegratingfeather.
“What?”
I tipped my head to the sparkling dust. “You lost afeather.”
She stared at the levitating dust until it spangled out of existence. “So Idid.”
“How?Why?”
She lifted her gaze to mine. “It’s the first time I want something that might not becomemine.”
Guilt crimped my heart. I didn’t want to lose my friend over a man, Seraphim or not. “I didn’t realize jealousy was a sin,” I found myselfsaying.
“That’s because you’ve never truly beenjealous.”
I’d always disliked the orangey shade of my hair and envied Eve’s elegant figure. Weren’t longing and envy the same asjealousy?
Chapter 5
After leaving the Ranking Room,I didn’t return to the festivities for Angel Bubbles. I didn’t feel in the mood to celebrate. If anything, my upcoming mission had my stomach so knotted I felt sick. Sensing my unrest, Eve walked me back to our bedroom and helped me fold three days’ worth of clothing inside a roomyhandbag.
“What’s the name of the person who told you abouthim?”
The leather belt Eve was rolling unspooled. “Why?”
“I was hoping I could ask them why they didn’tsucceed.”
She wound it back up, then slotted it inside my bag. “They said Jarod Adler was rude andunreceptive.”
I frowned. “Most are at first. Can I still get the person’sname?”
