“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because, this would change everything. We need to be sure.”
“Well, I will need to examine her of course, and go over the records, but her aura is above standard.” He smirked at me, then said to Cash, “If this is true, the monarchy is going to have a field day. It’s bad enough we’ve let one slip through the cracks, but two?”
Chapter 14
Cash and Marc spoke about me like I wasn’t there. Examine me? I didn’t think so. My fingers grew hot and my knuckles were white as I squeezed the glass bottle. I was examined at the police station after my recent arrest and I was examined three years before as well—when they’d collared me. My eyes glazed over as I remembered the humiliation, the leers plastered across the faces of the officers. I wasn’t up for that again anytime soon.
“Hey.” Cash angled himself in my direction so the weight of his gaze rested on me. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, why?”
He pointed to the boiling bottle of beer foaming over my hand.
“Whoops.” I bit my lip and gently placed the steaming bottle on the coffee table. The bubbles stopped. I cleared my throat and looked at the men. Cash grabbed my chin and leaned in to sniff the surrounding air.
“You lovers want some privacy, yeah?” Marc moved to leave.
“Marc,” Cash said in a clipped tone, without looking away.
Marc lowered himself back onto the couch. He grinned. “I get to watch?”
This was insane. All I wanted was to hide under my purple blanket until I fell asleep. I rubbed my temples.
Cash tapped his fingers on the back of the sofa sending little vibrations through the couch, then rubbed his thumb across his lip. “Your eyes went black,” he said, finally.
I swallowed and lightly touched my lashes. “Like a witch?”
“Not quite. The black only covered your irises. A witch’s eyes go inky all over, completely covering the whites.”
“Well, aren’t you just a wondrous thing?” Marc gave me a tight-lipped smile. “Right-O, let’s dance. Up you get, love.” He stood up and moved to the edge of the coffee table, then waved for me to join him, a glint in his eyes.
I didn’t move. “I’m sorry, but I don’t even know who you are. Your aura is ten kinds of crazy, waving at me from all sorts of frequencies. You changed appearance in the blink of an eye and you keep staring at my boobs. I need a few explanations before I agree to be examined. What the hell is going on?”
Marc stepped around the coffee table to move closer. “Did you say you can read my aura? How old are you, love?”
“I’m almost twenty-four.”
“It’s true,” Cash added.
“Twenty-four!” Marc looked up and glowered at the ceiling. “What a monumental cock-up.” He set his glare back on me. “Surely you noticed you were going through some changes around the time of your twenty-first birthday?”
I stared at the floor, eyes blurring as it hit me. I spoke softly. “They collared me just before my twenty-first birthday. Since it’s come off, I’ve noticed some differences, especially the aura thing. That’s new.”
“You can really sense auras?” Marc looked shocked.
“Yeah, can’t you all?”
Cash and Marc exchanged a look and Marc shrugged. “That’s an unusual skill to have, love. Not many of us can do that. But you usually learn all of this from your mentor and after registration.”
“What if I don’t want any part in this game?” I asked.
“There’s no if. You are. But you need to be registered or Players will target you. They’ll try to kill you anyway, but at least you’ll have some education. Because you aren’t registered or allied to a house, you’re a sitting duck. You need to know what and who you’re up against.”
“So it’s kill or be killed?” I didn’t want to kill other Players, especially Cash. He’d saved my life.
“There’s no need to set our chins wagging now. First, let’s make sure you’re one of us.” Marc snapped his fingers. “C’mon, love. People to see and places to go, yeah?”
I stood to join him. “I don’t have any marks.”
“Well, we won’t know unless you show me now will we? Besides, I have a way of bringing things to the surface if you know what I mean.” He made a face at Cash, probably hoping to get a little boys club joke happening.
Cash didn’t blink.
“Just because you like to walk around nude, doesn’t mean I do.” I jerked a thumb at Cash. “His markings are pretty big, so I think it’s obvious I don’t have any.”
I wore a summer singlet so there was enough skin showing at my shoulders, and my arms were completely bare. My legs were naked up to my thighs.
He pursed his lips. “Lose the top, lovely.”
I looked at Cash. “You can look the other way, please.”
“Why?”
“Seriously?”
He shrugged.
Marc held up his hand. “I got this, love. He has a condition, you know.” He turned to Cash and spoke loudly, enunciating every syllable. “Women get shy when men ogle them. So…” he motioned for Cash to turn around.
“I’m not ogling. I’m making sure you remain professional.”
“Oh for the love of…” I pulled my singlet over my head, leaving my purple bra exposed. “That’s where it stops,” I said. “I’m not pulling off my pants, or my bra.”
“I need to see all of it, love.”
He dodged the scrunched up singlet I threw and inched closer. He circled around behind me and gathered my hair in his hands, lifting it off my neck. “Hold this,” he stated. I did. “So you’ve never had the Mentor-Progeny ritual with your father?”
“I don’t even know what that is.” He continued to circle me, scrutinizing my skin with heavy lids. His energy flared and dizzied me. I closed my eyes to concentrate on staying upright and jumped when his cool fingers trailed the bare skin over my shoulders and dipped at my collarbone. I shivered at his feathery touch.
Marc’s breath hitched, and the fireplace erupted into flames. I glanced over my shoulder. He coughed. “Sorry about that, sweet, my bad.” He waved his hand in the direction of the flames and they died down to a cinder. Manipulating fire? Of course he could.
“You done?” Cash said in clipped tone.
Marc sighed, “Just one more—”
“You bastard!” I yelped as he pulled the waistband of my shorts and had a peek inside.
“—place to look.”
I skipped away from him.
“Nice bum, love, but no markings.” He dropped the arrogance. “With the intensity of your aura, your markings should cover a large surface area, so…” He glanced at Cash. “Yes, I’m done.”
He stood back to rest his hands on his hips and swept his gaze over me one last time.
“I don’t understand why he left you, but it’s easy to see the confusion. You have no markings, and you appear to be a witch with your black eye business. He was mistaken.”
“So that’s it—I’m one of you?” I asked as I fished the singlet off the floor and pulled it over my head. I collapsed back into the couch.
“Despite not having a single mark, your commanding aura is one hundred percent a Player’s. Take into account your healing ability and lack of actually being a witch. Also, your new abilities tell us you are more than human. Then of course, knowing who your father is, my verdict is that you should be registered as soon as possible.”
A stone settled in my stomach. So I was one of these Players. I shook my head. “Why don’t I remember who I was before—” I swallowed hard, unsure if I wanted to say the next bit out loud “—downloading into this body?”
“It’s not fair if you remember how you played last time. Besides, inferior human bodies can’t hold all the knowledge in our brains. That’s why we interbreed so they can heal fast to accommodate our supercharged souls. Who you were is a mystery that will only be solved when you die and return to our world. Yes, I am the god-of-th
e-in-between and it’s my duty to escort souls to and from Purgatory, but I can’t possibly catch every single Player who missteps. There are thousands you know. I dare say the Queen will reprimand you when you return, but as long as you are here, you’re free to play however you want.”
“So what’s the purpose of this Game? What do you win?” I asked. “I should make it worth it, right? I mean, I’m in the shit here and, apparently, I’ll be in the shit when I get back to wherever, so I may as well make the best of it.”
“There you go, love, that’s the spirit. What do you win? Well, it’s not really a prize but a leap forward in evolution. You do well, and you get more powerful and move up the ranks of the Empire. You do poorly, you get weaker and move down. The Universe judges the Game. It listens and allots you evolutionary progression or regression once you have finished. The better you listen back, the better you will do.”
“Listen? What does that even mean?”
“Trust your instincts, love. You’ll do well.”
“Is the Queen the biggest winner then, if she’s the head of your Empire?”
Marc snorted; even Cash seemed to smirk.
“What?” I asked.
“The Queen didn’t invent the Game. It was her son. He took the planet from her and ruined it. The Queen was devastated when her little science experiment became a travesty and she disappeared behind closed doors. The Game was the only way she could keep the traitors on this planet contained until she decided what to do with them. That was thousands of years ago. She still rules, of course. But she’s never played a game. She is far too evolved for anyone to even think about toppling her.”
“What about me?” Cash interjected. “You haven’t found anyone else missing from your line-up? Anyone I might be?”
“Where the two of you are concerned, I’m gobsmacked. What’s that?” Marc pointed to Cash’s arm.
Cash moved between Marc and me. “My markings are growing. Each time a memory surfaced, and she touches me, they got bigger. It’s happened twice in the last few days.” He lifted his shirt, muscles bunching and abs contracting as he peeled it off, then folded it neatly and handed it to me. He was built like a machine. A well oiled, dangerous and tightly coiled machine. I pretended to look at the stars on his skin, but I really studied the way it pulled tight over his biceps to reveal the threading beneath when he clenched his fists.
Marc prodded the markings. “They grew when she touched you during an episode?”
“Yes, or maybe even just because she was in the same room. I don’t know. It sounds implausible, but”—he licked his lips and glanced at me—“we’re linked.”
“Implausible, but not impossible. Can you do it again?” Marc asked me. “I don’t think his markings are complete. Inducing another episode would help the cause.”
“Seriously?” Cash said.
Marc displayed his palms. “I can’t read your aura, hunter, I need all the help I can get.”
Huh. That was interesting, Cash was invisible to Marc too.
Cash sat next to me. I now had a face full of pectorals and abs, just the thing I was trying to avoid. He draped his arm over the back of the couch and watched me. I was vaguely aware of Marc coming to stand at my side.
“Um, so what am I supposed to do?” I asked them.
“Buggered if I know. Try touching him.” Marc actually looked like he was enjoying himself.
I put my fingers on Cash’s forehead. Nothing happened. I laughed through my nose. “This is absurd.” But when Cash looked offended, I apologized and looked down.
“Not a single change. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Marc sat back down. “In the meantime, I’ll check with home base. Since your father gave you up for a pittance, you can have your friend here step in as mentor until you complete your trials. He will educate you and train you.”
“So that was all for nothing?” Cash put his shirt back on.
“On the contrary, we’re getting closer to finding out who you are and, so far, what I see confirms our original supposition. We carry on with our plan. Get that book we spoke about.” He looked at me and leaned forward. “You on the other hand… You could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, attractive sheep’s clothing, but a wolf nevertheless.”
I said the first thing that came to my head. “You like shagging sheep then?”
Marc burst out laughing. “Oh, you have no idea do you, love?” He reclined along the couch and his clothing flickered to reveal his nude, buff body. When heat flooded my face, he broke into more laughter, a deep resonating sound that made his Adam’s apple bob and brought my attention to his manly neck.
I let my eyes do a slow burn in his direction. “I don’t want to know. That’s gross.”
“Oooh.” He gave me a sultry look and kissed the air in my direction. “We’ll have to work on that. We’ve got plenty of time before your registration and I can be very convincing.”
I took the empty tray to the kitchen and dropped it loudly on the counter. As I returned to stand behind Cash’s couch, headlights filled the room. Tommy was back. Marc rose and so did Cash.
Mark spoke quickly. “There’s not much else we can do until your lineage is one hundred percent confirmed. So for you, Mr. Party Pooper—we wait for your missing soul tripartite to return and you, Little Red, will complete your mentorship ritual within forty-eight hours and I’ll let you go a couple of weeks before registering. Samson will explain the details.”
I wasn’t fully listening because I was stuck on the Cash missing part of his soul bit. As we made our way to the door, I grabbed his sleeve and whispered, “Does Tommy know about your soul thingy?”
Cash’s face darkened. “No, and I want to keep it that way.” He shouldered past me and followed Marc out the door, turning at the last minute. “He doesn’t know about any of this. He’s an innocent.”
We reached the foot of the porch the same time as Tommy. “Y’all finished? But I found honey cakes. Do you know how many places I had to go to?”
Marc snatched the bag out of Tommy’s hand and fished out a sugared cake. He downed it in one mouthful and dipped his head back to stare at the stars, humming and making pleasure sounds until he swallowed. He took a step towards the beach path, then turned to grin at me.
“I almost forgot to give you something.” He skipped back to me, grabbed my face between his palms and planted a sugary kiss on my lips.
My head spun and my eyes flew wide as an electrical torrent of invisible energy flowed into me. I staggered, vaguely aware of Tommy slamming the door behind me. On reflex, I yanked on Marc’s energy, trying to throw him off balance. He grunted and tried to pull away but I grabbed his hands and held on, sucking in more of his energy. He stuck his tongue in my mouth. Gah! I pulled away to see his eyes dark with lust. Not quite the effect I was hoping for.
“Tsk, tsk.” He waggled his finger in my face. “You bit off more than you can chew there, love. There’s plenty of time for that later.” He slapped me on the butt and swaggered away. “Parting gift to remember me by.”
As he walked, his clothing disintegrated, falling off his body like grains of sand and dispersing into mist.
“Cheerio,” he called and vanished into the night.
I steadied myself on the doorframe, but was shocked by the barrier alarm. I shook my head, dizzy and exhausted. What had his energy done to me? My lids drooped and burned. I mumbled to someone in the living room and ambled down the hall to my room.
“Roo.” Tommy trotted after me. “You okay?”
My knees buckled, and I sat on my bed. “Yeah. Just tired.”
“What’s in the package?”
Package? I blinked at the brown shoe box sitting beside me. A soft breeze touched my face, and the curtains billowed gently. Lethargy fled in an instant as my instincts went on high alert.
My windows had been closed when I left.
Tommy called for Cash.
I picked up the box. Alarm jangled my nerves. But surely I was over
reacting. Maybe I had opened the window.
I lifted the lid and screamed.
Chapter 15
A dead crow stared at me. It was crammed into the box and had feathers falling from its skin. The head twisted awkwardly and a pungent, sweet smell assaulted my nose. The crows at The Cauldron had nothing on this stiff, rotting corpse staring at me through one cloudy eye.
I seemed to be underwater, listening to Cash’s pounding feet get closer.
“Ugh,” Tommy said. “That smells bad enough to gag a maggot. Let me take that off your hands, Probie.” His voice trembled as he tried to remove the box but my fingers wouldn’t budge. They were as stiff as the animal in front of me.
“The window is open.” Cash moved to the curtains, his feet crunched on broken shards of glass. He put his head through the hole to look outside. “How did I not hear this?”
My fingers cramped from clutching the box. The evil had found me. It had followed me and now my new innocent friends were in danger too. Tremors set in and the box shook.
Tommy tugged at it but I tugged back. I dropped the box to the bed and pushed Tommy away. “No! I don’t want it to touch you,” I said then turned to Cash. “Get away from the window, quick.”
I skirted the bed and pulled him stumbling back.
“It’s my fault.” I palmed my forehead and eyed the box.
“Roo, we can handle ourselves,” Tommy scoffed.
“He’s right—” Cash started.
“No! If I hadn’t come here you’d all be—don’t touch it Tommy!” I launched myself at Tommy who had leaned toward the box. But I was too late.
“There’s a picture in here.” He pulled a white square from under the feathers. He turned it over. Leila and Aunt Lucy at the last food festival. They squinted into the sun and sweat glistened their brows, but they looked happy. I’d taken the shot—always on the outside looking in.
“Petra’s been at the Manor,” I mumbled. “That photo is from our gallery wall.”
“It could’ve been removed by anyone but, as your aunt is missing and Petra seems to have an affinity with crows, you’re probably right,” Cash said.
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