Impossible breathing. Impossible desires.
I step toward them. Toward where Vanessa settles on the ground, sending shockwaves through the open space.
The others move around me. The goddesses. Dagda. My guys.
It’s all just white noise.
On her back are Pepper and Sabina. One having the time of her life and the other making a face.
When Vanessa transforms, gasps ripple through the Fae.
I’m halfway toward them before I know I’ve moved.
Time slows as I take them in. Pepper in ripped jeans, a band shirt. Nirvana. And her hair cropped short. She looks the mostdangerous of the three. She is dangerous. But the most? That’s up for debate.
Sabina looks exactly like Artemis. Bow strapped to her back, her long blonde hair in a braid over her shoulder. She fits in here minus the ears. And she’s wearing what I’m pretty sure Peter Pan would have.
And Vanessa. The most disarming. Wearing a white knit skirt with bright pink and orange patterns. Her long brown hair kisses her ass. A knit tube top, also orange. Hexagon sunglasses. She’s also using a toothpick to fish something out of her teeth.
No shoes.
They’re staring at me as much as I’m staring at them.
“What the fuck, Ash?” Pepper steps closer, her eyes wide. She blinks and they’re all black before they fade back to normal. She grips my hair. The hair that’s nearly down to my ass. “What the fuck?”
I laugh.
It’s the most honest thing. It’s perfect and it’s her.
“You’re like a—” Sabina snaps her fingers.
“Poison Ivy.” Vanessa dances around me.
“Nessy, you have—” Sabina stops when I stare at what I swear is a bone in Vanessa’s teeth.
“Another?” Vanessa rips it out and tosses it. “I ate a bird.”
“It was not a bird.” Pepper pinches the bridge of her nose as though this conversation has already happened and she is fucking over it.
Vanessa glares at her, her pupils slitting.
“Nessy, baby.” Sabina pats her arm. “It was in fact a bird-shaped human. So you are both right.”
“Are those real?” Vanessa leans in too close before grabbing my arm and bringing it to her eye. The thorns under my skin reach upward until a bloom forms beneath her chin.
“Yes.” I withdraw them.
“You are so fucking badass.” Pepper flicks the tip of my ear.
“Ouch.” It stings, but you know what—I’d probably flick her ear, too, if she had pointy ears.
“I apologize.” She blushes. “They’re pointy.”
“Touch, don’t flick,” I say.
“You were always tall, but why do I feel like you now have a foot on me?” Sabina scowls. She was always the shortest, and it annoys her.
“I don’t know, actually.” We all stand in this awkward little circle, no one moving. Gods, I want the puppy pile of hugs. Tears burn the back of my eyes. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
