“Thanks for the offers, but you don’t have to worry about it,” Ivy assured us. “Things are different around my dad, but it’s fine.”
Chancey scoffed. “Fine? Ives, he dead-named you every chance he got.”
“Yeah, well…” Ivy didn’t quite sound like themselves. “It’s easier to be that dead person around him. I can raise my old self from the grave every now and then.”
“You could get away with joking about that if you were a necromancer, but you’re not,” Marcus said, sounding concerned. “This isn’t funny, Ivy. Your dad’s a real piece of work.”
“You think I don’tknowthat?” Ivy demanded. They stood from whatever piece of furniture they’d been sitting on— I couldn’t be quite certain of the layout of the room yet— and started pacing back and forth. Ivy fidgeted so loudly I could hear it. “You guys don’t know my dad. You think the vampires inthisprison are bad? You have no fucking idea what’s out there, and what kind of power my dad has.”
Something wasn’t right with Ivy, and it wasn’t just nerves. They held it together when their father was around. I’d heard how Ivy spoke around him. This was different.
“Everyone calm down,” I insisted. “If Ivy doesn’t want to talk about their father, then let’s respect their wishes.”
Ivy immediately stopped pacing, and an awkward silence ensued.
“What?” I asked innocently.
“You… called methey,” Ivy said timidly.
“You said you wanted to try out different pronouns. If you don’t like it—”
I was caught completely off guard when Ivy slammed into me, squeezing me into such a tight hug I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know Ivy had that kind of strength— they were a lot smaller than me. But then again, they were part vampire, part merfolk.
“Thank you!” Ivy gushed. “You don’t know how much that means. Chance and I try different pronouns in private, but to hear it in casual conversation! Oh, it’s a delight.”
Ivy’s choice of words sounded odd, even for them. They drew away, and that’s when I caught it— a sickly sweet scent that didn’t seem to have a place inside these four walls. It was reminiscent of an alchemy room. Whatever was on Ivy’s breath had magical properties to it, and I suspected it wasn’t the kind of potion an inmate could find in their classes.
A dark heaviness shrouded me, instantly bringing me down to a dark reality. I had suspected Ivy was using for a while now— ever since my wedding, really. It explained Ivy’s odd behavior and the smell on their breath. I wondered if Chancey knew.
“You smell… nice today,” I remarked, testing their reaction.
“Ivy loves perfume,” Chancey said.
“Yeah, it’s my favorite,” Ivy added.
“I think it smells awful. It’s gotta smell different to a vamp-merfolk nose,” Chancey said.
Chancey didn’t have a clue Ivy was using. That, or he was actively denying it. He had to be, because he knew what addiction looked like.
Ivy was being unfair. Using drugs didn’t just affect them— it affected Chancey and all the people who cared about them. The least they could do was tell someone, so they could get the help they needed. I wanted to rush back and tell Ava immediately, but it would crush her. I didn’t know where she was at mentally right now, and I couldn’t risk hurting her like that.
And telling Chancey? Well, that wasn’t my place. I needed to talk to Ivy before I told anyone.
Ivy turned back to the others. “Anyway, we’re not here to rag on my dad. We’re here because Marcus is a string bean and needs to bulk up.”
“Hey!” Marcus whined.
“If I can do it, so can you,” Ez said. I heard a lightthwackas he playfully punched Marcus.
“Ow!” Marcus complained.
“All right,” Chancey called. “We’re not here to spar. We’re here to keep up our strength.”
“Give me some weights,” Alistair said. “I’ll show you what a real man can do.”
“You think you can outlift me?” Marcus challenged. “Let’s go.”
As the others competed with each other to see who was the strongest, Chancey walked me around the room to give me the layout. “We’ve got a few dumbbells we stole from fight club, a bench we found in a classroom, and a bar above the window we’ve been using for pull-ups. And if you’re really ambitious, Ez and I dug this boulder out of the yard. It was one hell of a time getting it back here, but we managed.”
