“When the time comes, don’t wait up, boys.” I tick my head to the side as I look to Gage. “Oh, that’s right. You have no one to wait up for. What a lonely existence you’ve carved out for yourself, Oliver.”
Rory giggles like a schoolgirl while nuzzling up against Logan. I’m not sure who I’m more annoyed with. Her for attacking Logan so blatantly, or him for not fighting her off with a stick. But, then again, it’s best to let her think we’re clueless. Maybe I can see what she’s up to this way.
“Oh, Gage,” Rory drags his name out like some perverted flirtatious move. “Remember when you waited up for me? I bet you still long for me in that way.” She bats her lashes at him.
Bleh. Ugh. Gah.
All of the above.
Thank God, Gage is well apprised that I’m no longer at home in my body.
Of course, he’s apprised, Chloe hums. He gave you the old heave-ho. I bet he got a boner from it, too.
Gage winces at me as if he heard.
“It’s probably true,” I say under my breath.
Jaxson begins to fuss, and it pains me to look at him. He’s so perfectly precious, with this feather soft hair and his curious eyes taking in the environment. His arms reach for Rory, but she’s too much of a beast to care one way or another.
“Come here, big guy.” Logan pulls him close and lands a kiss to his forehead. “I’d better get him a bottle before things take a turn for no man’s land. Be right back.” He takes off, and Rory drifts over to Bree and immediately begins to coo about her party.
I can’t wait to show her a damn good time. If that weren’t my body she was parading around in, I’d shove a party horn right up her ass.
Gage takes a deep breath. “What is it?”
“What’s what?” I snip.
Don’t fall for his charms, Chloe bleats. He’s the devil in disguise.
A thump of a laugh rolls through me. And I bet that’s exactly what drew you to him in the first place.
Chloe chortles. You do know me well.
Gage nods. “What are you thinking about?”
I step away from this brooding version of the man I once loved as if he were about to deck me.
“What the hell do you care?” I bite the air with my words. “And furthermore, I don’t need to vomit out my thoughts at your feet. You lost certain privileges once you began to slaughter my people. And once you offed me, you lost the rest. My only mission in life is to send you back to paradise where you belong. And I’m not even sure I want to see you once I get there myself.”
He winces as if I struck him.
“Oh please,” I groan, sounding decidedly like Chloe in every capacity. “Don’t act as if you care. Once I eradicate you from the planet, I’ll see about sending the rest of your kind to hell or wherever it is the powers that be see fit to shove you. I really don’t care at this point. We’re irretrievably broken in every capacity. There aren’t enough eternities for me to forgive what you’ve done.”
His lips part, and there’s a pain in his eyes deeper than any I’ve seen before.
Gage exhales as if admitting defeat. “Enjoy your new reality. I have no qualms about mine.”
He tries to step past me, but I block his path.
My chest palpitates with anger. “That you can say it with a straight face is the most frightening thing of all. Look me in the eye, Gage, and tell me you hate me. You hate my people. That you were so looking forward to booting me off the planet. I want to hear the words. I dare you to say them.”
Oh, please, Chloe moans. Dude, the guy killed you. Isn’t that enough proof he hates your guts? It was all an act, and yet you refuse to believe it. Why do you hang onto your delusions so tightly? Spoiler alert: the guy is going to off your kids one day, too. And do you want to know why? Because they’re part Celestra—worse yet, they have Caelestis venom coursing through their veins. All three of them. They’re dead men walking, Skyla. And if you believe otherwise, I was a fool for lending you my body. You’re not fit to reign over the Factions. When are you going to learn that your personal emotions take a back seat to whatever hell Gage wants to impose on you? The best thing you can do is cut ties with this monster. Yes, he’s hot. Yes, he’s hung like a freaking horse. And yes, he’s charming. But on this planet, while you still have my breath and my lungs, he’s untouchable. He is a Fem, Skyla. A lower cast than yourself. He is fire, and not in any good way. Merely spending time in his presence chokes your ability to think straight. Agree or disagree, I’ve never been more right in my life.
Gage leans in. “You didn’t hear a word I said, did you?”
I glance up at those blue orbs he sees the world through.
“No, I didn’t. I was listening to someone far more important.”
Tad barks out an odd sound, calling the room to order once again. Nathan and Barron run past me, and I drink in their adorable squeals, drink down the energy and love they exude without even trying.
“It’s time for me to confess the true nature of my visit,” Tad grunts.
“Visit?” Mom ogles him with fright.
“It’s true. I’m still a ward of the Paragon Police Department.”
I glance to Logan, and he shakes his head as if he doesn’t see where this is headed.
With Demetri steering the ship, it’s hard to tell. And I truly do believe this life event Tad is experiencing is very much being steered by Demetri.
Tad lifts his chin as he looks to my mother. “I’ve got to go back to where I came from. While I’m away from this house, I charge my good friend, Demeet, to take care of you all. Lizbeth, he’ll be stepping into my shoes. So any manly stuff that needs to be done around here will sit squarely on his shoulders.”
I scoff at the lunacy. “Don’t you have sons for that?”
Chloe chortles. Oh, come on, Skyla, he’s talking about screwing your mother. Drake and Ethan have strong stomachs, but they’re not made out of steel.
Tad lifts a brow my way. “My sons have their own lives to lead.”
“They sleep until two in the afternoon and then play video games all day,” I point out without hesitation.
Ethan grunts, “Why are you giving me heck, woman? Are you trying to turn me on?”
Careful, Messenger, Chloe says. He’s been known to wake me up by way of his—
“Okay, okay,” I hiss. “I get it.”
Drake gives me the finger—and honestly, it feels like old times.
Tad nods over to my mother. “I’ll be in and out of the big house until my lawyers untangle me from this snake pit—that or they lock me up and throw away the key. But the good news is, Demeet here has pulled a few strings and they’ve agreed to house me right here on the island. You can visit any time you like.”
Demetri sheds his signature laugh as he slaps a hand over Tad’s back. “And I’ve arranged for Tad to have a handful of day passes—so birthdays, holidays, select weekdays, he won’t miss a thing.”
Oh my God. I shake my head as Demetri’s scheme becomes evident. He’s going to integrate himself into this household, into my mother’s life, back into her bed under the guise of Tad’s blessing. As long as Tad isn’t dead, his Femtastic hands are clean.
“You’re not really falling for this, are you, Lizbeth?” I belt it out like a threat as I look my mother square in the eye.
Good going, Messenger, Chloe snorts. At this rate, you’ll out yourself before dinner.
“Chloe is right.” Mom narrows her gaze over at Tad. “I’m not buying this. You, Tad Landon, are going to be found innocent. Nobody is locking you up and throwing away the key. But in the meantime…” Her features soften, her lips curve with naughty delight as she zips over to Demetri and wraps her arms around him. “We can’t thank you enough for stepping into my husband’s shoes.”
“Mee-maw! Mee-maw!” Beau gives the back of my mother’s sweater a tug. “Is—is Defeetri going to be the new Tampon?”
“Yes,” I say, and Logan shoots me a look that says clam up right t
his freaking minute.
Em belts out a laugh. “Tampon 2.0.”
Wow, Em has a death wish. Who knew?
Bree does her best to scoop Beau Geste into her arms. “No, honey, no one will ever take your Tampon’s place. Tampon is special, but you can bet your little tush, Demetri will make sure you have all of the toys you want under that Christmas tree.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. She’s not wrong.
Demetri lifts a finger. “This is true, but first, there is a wedding to be had.” He looks over at Rory and sheds his signature greasy grin. “Whatever you need, Skyla, to make your big day special, consider it done.”
I can think of a few things.
Hey? I wonder if I could get Demetri to expel Rory and land me in my rightful place?
Logan shakes his head over at me as if he knows just where my mind went.
Soon, everyone is back to their natural states of being—Drake and Ethan belching in front of the oversized television set, the kids sitting at attention and watching the two of them as if they trumped whatever that one-eyed monster had to show them. Bree, Rory, and Em are plotting the bachelorette disaster, and Logan is busy feeding Jaxson.
I watch as Gage and Demetri walk down to the foyer together, murmuring their wicked intentions to one another. Demetri becomes animated, and Gage looks as if he’s being put in his place. Demetri storms out the door but Gage—he turns my way and his eyes latch onto mine.
“Goodbye, Skyla,” he says it brazenly before ducking out the door.
Whatever the two of them were talking about seems to have ruffled both of their feathers.
And I’m left to wonder exactly what it is they’re up to.
Whatever it is, it’s not good.
Much like my sister, it’s wicked.
Brody calls and texts Chloe nonstop, and I love him even more because of it. Laken has called, texted, and dropped by to speak to me, but Rory keeps brushing her off. I know the bit about the phone because apparently Rory doesn’t know how to use it—password or not, she’s not dealing with technology. I’ve swiped the phone a few times since she’s left it to rot in the living room. I thought about texting Laken, but seeing that I’m wearing different skin these days, I’d rather be honest and speak to her in person.
That’s exactly why I’m seated at that round table down in Ezrina’s lair, in the Wonderground at Whitehorse.
Logan, Wes, Ezrina, and Nev are in the next room installing the new glass tubes—tall enough and wide enough to qualify as a casket—that just arrived. We needed to replace them all because Gage or his goons took a baseball bat to them all the same night he saw fit to kill me.
Marshall is seated directly across from me and between us is Gage Oliver’s head, right back in one of Ezrina’s glass boxes filled with baby blue keeping solution.
He’s become a pet of sorts down here. Ezrina’s favorite mascot.
I thought Gage would amount to so much in this life. I had no idea the one thing I would treasure about him one day would be his severed head.
Life is funny that way. One day the love of your life is professing his undying affection for you. One day he’s slaughtering you.
Of all the people who could have lived out that story, I would have never fathomed it would be Gage and me. In the least I would have assumed I’d do the killing.
That’s where I went wrong.
I should have smothered him first.
Marshall looks over at me with a look of disdain. “So you consider it prudent to out yourself any more than you have, my love?”
“I don’t see why not. I mean, Chloe knows by default, not that she could do anything nefarious now that I’m in charge of the control panel.”
Watch it, Messenger. I can figure out a way to bite, she snips, and I have no doubt she can.
“Yes, well, not at the moment.” I nod to Marshall who undoubtedly heard her comment. “I rather do enjoy a well-contained Bishop. But back to the list, there’s Logan, and Gage, and Wes. If anything, Gage would have been the one to keep it from, but I like the idea of keeping him on his toes.”
Chloe huffs, And you enjoyed beating his ass.
“And that,” I say. “There really aren’t enough cruel things I can do to him to make up for what he’s done to my people and me.”
Marshall tips his head. “Land yourself back in the seat of control. We need to stomp out the Fem fire that’s threatening to take down the planet.”
“Gage has almost no one left siding with him. All of the Nephilim have come to me for the serum. Gage has no serum to distribute now that Wes is gone. I should be the Faction leader. The Sectors should be on top again. So what needs to be done to make it official? He might be a king, but he’s lost his ability to lead.”
“Not true,” Marshall counters. “The people you believe have wandered toward Celestra are only there for the inoculation. They haven’t sided with you just yet. And they may not do so.”
“Then I’ll withhold the next round of serums until they pledge to Celestra.”
They have pledged to Celestra, Messenger. Don’t you get it? That means nothing. Gage does one brilliant move and they can all run back to him. And once you give everyone the permanent serum, you won’t have anything to threaten them with to keep them on your side. The enemy can and will use your own serum against you.
I look to Marshall, my heart thumping wildly. “Chloe is right. We can never give these people a serum that will erase their genetic markers forever. Oh, how I hate this. If only Gage would bow to Celestra again, to me. The Factions could truly live in perfect harmony.”
Marshall shakes his head as those boiling red cauldrons he calls eyes feast over my flesh.
“Skyla”—he says it low, suppressed—“it’s not just Gage who would have to concede to grant your people the peace they deserve.”
“It’s the Fems.” I sigh. “My God, Marshall, what did you do to them to make them hate the Sectors so?”
He lifts a brow. “Nothing. We were merely rivals from the beginning. You’ve read the verse iron sharpens iron? This is rivals sharpen rivals. It’s a motivation of sorts to succeed.”
“Sounds like some silly college rivalry that celestial beings are willing to slaughter the masses over. And I get it on the human level. Crosstown school rivalries are what make the engine turn in small towns. But in the heavenlies? Aren’t all created beings supposed to work together for the good of mankind?”
“Though it would be beneficial, the truth is, some of His creations are objects of wrath, wrought forth to bring out the best in His people. Like sandpaper to wood, people need to have their rough edges smoothed off. It doesn’t come with comfort, it comes with friction.”
“The frictional Fems. Now there’s a nickname.”
Knock, knock? Chloe says it flatly with her traditional brand of mocking and sarcasm. What do you think dear old Rory will do once she finds out about your soul’s new placement? Or better yet, what do you think she’ll do once she gets the big heave-ho from your body? The girl is one power-hungry witch.
“She likes men as much as she does power,” I add. “My men in particular.”
Marshall leans back and twists his lips as he considers this. “She’s not leaving. She senses you’re one finger from the throne, and she’s determined to sit in it for you, wear your crown. Aurora has always believed the shoes you walk in were rightfully hers. Should you have come from a humble lineage, she would have been content in paradise. But such majesty is difficult to ignore. It can take even the meekest heart and singe it with greed.”
“Like Gage.” It comes out in a whisper as I look to his floating head. “So beautiful and peaceful. Who knew I never should have cheered his resurrection? For so long I thought death was a plague, and the older I get, the more I believe God really does know what He’s doing.”
Marshall’s chest thumps. “Of course, the Master knows what is best. Most people, ignorant of the way they should live their lives, have their eyes c
overed with scales, thus great pain is often a necessary means of removal. And yet, there are random tragedies that have no meaning to go along with them. In those cases, the only comfort is found for the righteous who get to enjoy the paradise of God. But in this case, where celestial fortunes are at play, there is no move, no breath, no death that has not been measured and approved for higher purposes. I can assure you there is nothing random happening here.” His eyes bear into mine and I nod.
“Like my death. You’re confirming what I’ve suspected all along. My mother is very much in the know, and this strange move has very much received her celestial stamp of approval.” I drop my face in my hands a moment. “Marshall, just say it. I am nothing more than a piece to some celestial puzzle—a celestial game of chess. My next move is not my own. Gage, Logan, Chloe, and I have been pieces on the chessboard from the beginning. That’s what you were trying to tell me all those years ago when you gave me that haunted toy. You were showing me the truth. Candace and Demetri are the puppet masters.”
He winces. “Perhaps in some ways you are correct, but the truth is, this is a living chessboard. The players must have free will. The puppet masters, as you have dubbed them, have control—but no control over your own actions.”
Thank God, Chloe groans. That means there’s still hope for me.
I glance to Marshall.
Chloe’s curious remark worries me. But right now, I have bigger celestial fish to fry.
Oh please, Chloe groans. We’re on the same side. You’re in my body, for God’s sake. What more do I have to do to earn your trust? On second thought, don’t answer that. I don’t care about your trust, Messenger. You either, Marshall. I care about me. I care about Celestra. I care about Gage Oliver’s painful downfall. Exactly in that order. And before you start boo-hooing for Tobie and Mally, it’s not like I locked them in a car and pretended to forget about them. They’re with their father. That’s my way of caring for them. They’re better off with Wes. You might think he’s a demon even if he is siding with us, but he’s a good man. Who knew he’d be the better Edinger brother? Life never ceases to surprise me. And considering the fact you’re the one wiping my ass these days, life has shocked me to hell.
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