My fingers itch for my camera.
My heart aches for something.
Iknow not what.
1
I’m having one of the top five most epic dreams of my life when it gets thoroughly derailed.
“Wake the fuck up!”
Nooo.
I was chasing Princess Sparkles, and she’d been leaving a trail of scent, and fuck, I know it was just a dream, but I’m harder than a granite baseball bat right now.
Peeling open an eye, I see Cosmo glaring down at me.
The room comes into focus, and I realize I’m still in the hospital waiting room.
Oh yeah. That whole shit show.
“How’s your sis?” I ask, stretching out my stiff limbs.
Though not the ‘stiff limb’ in my pants—I don’t think Cos is in the mood for a morning wood salute.
“Alive,” he sighs, “but we've got other shit to worry about. Come on.”
I watch as he stalks out of the room, trying to slam the door behind him, but failing because it’s one of those heavy soft-close things.
What’s wrong now?
I catch up to him at the hospital entrance. The air outside is cold, the sky just beginning to turn from black to gray, so I guess it must be, like six-ish?
Lexi and Dono are waiting in the car, the engine idling.
Hart twin #2 is not there. I guess Wes is still full ‘Children of the Corn.’
“Where’s Sparkles?” I ask, squeezing in the back next to Lexi, whose mouth is in a tight, pissed-off line. He stinks of smoke, like he’s been chainsmoking for hours. Or maybe it’s from all the All-Hallows Ball chaos.
“She’s missing,” he snaps at me.
The world stops.
WHAT. THE. FUCK?
“What do you mean, she’s missing? Since when?" I roar. “Has anyone tried doing the mind-contact?”
—THEO, BABE. LET US KNOW WHERE YOU ARE—
“Of course we have,” Cosmo grunts, gunning the engine. “And no reply. When did you last see her? Don’t fuck around, Max. Just tell us.”
Of course I’m not going to fuck around—this is Sparkles we’re talking about. I lean forward and shove at Donovan. “What the fuck happened, Hart? How did you lose her?”
My Hellhound is rabid right now.
Donovan leans away from me and slams his fist into the front dash. “The last I saw, she was with you, asshole. Then the protestors broke in, and I got knocked out. I don’t remember anything else until it was basically all over.”
“Bullshit!” I bark, shoving the back of his headrest. “I saw you, Hart. When I was hauling Aurora’s body out, I looked back. Theo was right there with you. You think I was hallucinating? I literally thought, ‘Okay, Dono’s got her, she’s safe.’ I wouldn't have left her if I hadn't seen you two together with my own eyes!”
