“Show-offs,” I taunted.
“Oh, goddess, I’m so sorry!” Marcus bumbled. He’d dropped Kallie on the floor while trying to lift her.
Kallie huffed a piece of hair out of her face. “I’m fine,” she said as he helped her up. “It wasn’t a big deal.”
Charlie let out a small laugh under his breath, and his hand shifted from my hip to press into my back. We rocked back and forth, and everything felt perfect, a blissful moment tucked away for us in a dark world.
Dancing might’ve been something we enjoyed together… if we had time.
Oberi changed into a unicorn and walked to the stereo. She pressed her nose on a button and switched the song. It blasted hard metal music, and she began head banging to the beat. It was funny, watching a unicorn rock out.
“This is so much fun,” Opal gushed over the noise. “We could start our own swinger’s club!”
“Swing club, you mean,” Ez corrected. “The former sounds like we’re all hanging out to have group sex.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” Ivy said coyly. Chancey grabbed him around the waist and tickled him.
We danced the rest of the night away, until it was nearly time for our cells to be closed for the night. The looming ten p.m. deadline seemed like a death sentence. Our friends left us alone as Charlie walked me back to my cell.
Every step was painful. I wanted that walk to go on forever. He stopped in front of my door, and I mustered up my best protests. “Let me stay with you. Just one more night. Please,” I begged.
“I think it’s better if we’re not together when they come get me, and we don’t know when that will be,” Charlie said.
He knew I’d fight them, and he didn’t want me getting involved. Tears rose to my eyes. “So this is goodbye?”
Charlie had a physical lump in his throat. “Ava, I…”
He bent forward and pressed his lips to my head. I felt him entwine a hand in my hair, and I thought I was dying.
“Don’t…” The word suffocated in my throat as I felt him step away. I grasped for his arm, but his fingers fell away from mine, leaving me grasping for something that wasn’t there.
Oberi let out an angry nicker and stomped her hoof. She went to go after him, but Charlie sharply turned.
“No, Oberi. Stay,” Charlie commanded. He continued walking the other way, and Oberi bowed her head.
He wasn’t going to stay in his cell. He’d camp out somewhere until they found him. At least he had the heart to hide, to not give in too early.
I watched him until he was out of my sight, then chasmed inward. What was I supposed to do? Go neatly inside my cell, pull the covers over my head and cry like a little princess that he’d been stolen from me?
Fuck no. There had to be some other way. Curfew was close, but I wasn’t giving up.
I ran throughout the prison until I found someone I knew. Everyone else had already gone to bed. The only friend I discovered was Marcus, sitting inside the Villain’s Den and looking dead inside, as if he didn’t care if he got caught by the guards.
I scampered inside and stood before him. He took one look at me and visibly crumbled.
“Marcus,” I wept. “Don’t let me lose him.”
His mouth became a thin line, and he straightened up. “Never. Come on, Ava, let’s go back to the library. There must besomethingwe missed.”
The library was closing when we got there. We only had enough time to grab a handful of books and check out. We raced back to my room, where we started going through the books we’d grabbed all over again.
“Dammit, I’mnotgoing to let someone else die because of a mistake I made,” Marcus hissed. “Fucking give me something!”
He yelled at the books, but obviously, there was no response. He furiously turned pages by moonlight, searching for an answer.
I was sprawled on the floor, papers scattered around me, and Oberi curled around my body. He was back in his husky form and nosing books my way.
I kept reading, but I found my eyes growing heavy. The grief and sadness I felt was just too much to push away. I couldn’t handle it.
