Chapter 8: Getting Bad-Touched by Grandma

 

 

“SO,” RANDALL said. “You decided to stop being a chickenshit and face your destiny like a real man?”

I looked at Ryan. “Is it too late to go back into our sex den?”

He made a face at me. “Yes, because you called it a sex den.”

“That’s what it is,” I muttered.

It was the next day after the shirtless pull-up contest, and Ryan had forced me out of the room, with no amount of promises of unlimited blowjays dissuading him from dragging me back out into the real world to face all the problems I would rather ignore. He had training to go to, and I had people to studiously avoid while I made my way down to the labs.

The problem with that was Randall loitering outside of the throne room. He had feigned surprise at running into us (“Oh, well, isn’t this positively fortuitous!”), which led me to believe he’d been waiting for us, like some old crazed stalker wanting to drag us to his basement where he’d dug a hole to keep us in. Knowing Randall, that wasn’t probably too far from the truth. I was convinced that one day, we would either finally understand each other or one of us would murder the other. I was leaning toward the murder side.

“Both of you need to follow me,” Randall said.

“That’s ominous,” Ryan said. “Please don’t hex me.”

“He’s going to put us in his hole,” I hissed at Ryan.

“He’s going to put us where?”

“No, not like that. Gross! Get your mind of the gutter.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about that until you said it!”

“Oh, so now you’re blaming me for your depraved mind? I’ll have you know I was innocent until I met you!”

“You’re friends with Gary,” Ryan said. “There’s nothing innocent about you.”

“Rude,” I said. “Also the truth. I’ll allow it.”

“Please,” Randall said. “Continue to waste my time. This will only better my mood.”

“Sorry, Randall,” Ryan said, bowing low. “I know your time is valuable.”

“I know your time is valuable,” I mocked under my breath.

“At least one of you respects me enough to say so,” Randall said. “Thank you, Knight Commander.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I must have not gotten the invitation to the Randall and Ryan Mutual Jerkoff Society.”

Ryan stared at me, horrified.

Randall’s ancient liver lips twitched briefly.

“He’s not going to hex you,” I told Ryan. “He would have to face my wrath.”

“Wailed the tiny, insignificant speck of dust,” Randall said.

“Please forgive Sam,” Ryan said. “He’s had a… troubling couple of days.”

“Really,” Randall said. “And how do you explain everything else?”

“Um,” Ryan said. “He’s had a… troubling life?”

“I really have,” I said. “Though, I blame a lot of other people rather than myself. It’s easier that way.”

“As enlightening as this has been,” Randall said, “and it truly has been in ways I did not anticipate, we have places to be.”

“See?” Ryan whispered to me. “Ominous.”

I was in complete agreement. “And where are we going?”

“Why,” Randall said, “to face your destiny, of course.”

“You’re doing that on purpose,” I accused.

“Probably,” Randall said. “But then, I’ve never met someone with a destiny before. Gods only know what this is going to do to your ego. I shiver at such a thought.”

“And I have to go too?” Ryan asked nervously. “Surely Sam will be just fine on his own.”

“Traitor!” I gasped, outraged. “Thrown me to the wolves already? What happened to all the promises of love and fealty after I fucked your butt?”

“Randall scares me,” Ryan said.

“This makes me happy,” Randall said.

“I also have knights to train. It’s Wednesday. On Wednesdays, we attach seventy-five-pound packs to our backs and run around an obstacle course in full armor. It’s actually a lot of fun. It boosts morale when we make it a contest.”

“Right,” I said. “Ryan has to go do that thing that just sounds terrible, and I’m sure Morgan needs me to work on my Grimoire in silence without anyone else around talking about things like fate and destiny and blah, blah, blah.”

“Pete’s overseeing the knights,” Randall said. “And Morgan’s waiting for us.”

“Oh,” Ryan said. “Crap. Okay, but. Why do I have to go?”

“You’re Sam’s cornerstone, are you not?” Randall asked. “Though, I suppose if you’re too busy, we can always ask Ruv to stand in on your behalf. I’m sure he and Sam won’t gaze into each other’s eyes at all.”

I couldn’t help but be impressed at Randall’s blatant manipulation of the bastard standing next to me. It was really rather devious, and he knew exactly what buttons to press.

“Ruv’s going to be there?” Ryan growled.

“Absolutely,” Randall said. “Probably wearing less than he did yesterday too. You know, when he won the pull-up contest.”

“He didn’t win—”

“I hope you realize you can’t control me that easily,” I told Randall. “I will never fall for your schemes.”

“I’m the only person standing in the way of you becoming a full-fledged wizard,” Randall said.

“Yep,” I said. “Do you want us to follow you now or…?”

 

 

AND OF course Vadoma was waiting for us in the labs. Because that’s how my life worked. She barely even looked up at me as we passed through the door. Randall shut it behind us and clicked the lock, an action wholly unnecessary but probably done on purpose to make the situation that much more awkward.

And it didn’t make the situation any easier to see Ruv standing at her side. He wore a pair of loose-fitting pants cinched at the waist and a vest open at the chest with no shirt underneath.

“Doesn’t he own full sets of clothing?” Ryan muttered. “No one wants to see any of that.”

Far be it from me to argue with him, even if Ruv was of an attractive sort. I felt that old familiar tug at the sight of him, my magic recognizing him as the potential for something more. But it was muted, distant in comparison with the man standing next to me. It felt almost like an afterthought, the pang of something that could have been and nothing more.

Morgan stood at the opposite end of the labs, looking as tired as I’d ever seen him. Vadoma was standing at his side, hunched over the counter, flipping through—

“Hey!” I snapped, rushing forward. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? That’s my Grimoire!”

She didn’t even try and stop me as I pulled it away from her, slammed it closed, and cradled it against my chest. It wasn’t that I was ashamed about anything in there, but it was private. A wizard’s Grimoire was his legacy to the world, all his accomplishments and triumphs and mistakes written down into one tome for future generations to study when the time came. That didn’t mean I wanted anyone to read it now, especially since I tended to be a bit… descriptive about certain… things.

“That’s not a Grimoire, chava,” she said, sounding disgusted. “That is your diary. You write in pretty pink pen in your diary, little girl?”

“I told you,” Morgan said, an edge to his voice. “Every Grimoire is different. And it’s nothing you would understand, seeing as how you’re not a wizard. Sam is young, and his Grimoire reflects that. But it is still his. Not yours.”

It was almost enough to make me forgive him for being a liar and keeping shit from me for years. Close, but not quite.

“I’m not a wizard,” she agreed. “But I’ve known these books. I know what they hold. That is not the book of a man with a calling. That is the meanderings of a child.”

“I’m not a child.”

“In a corner on one page, you wrote Mrs. Sam Foxheart,” Vadoma said.

“Yes, well, I just wanted to see how it sounded—”

“Seven times.”

“I had to practice my signature, obviously—”

“And surrounded it with hearts.”

“It was romantic!”

“And then you did it on ten more pages.”

“Yeah, I might have gotten a little carried away. I can admit that. I have a problem, okay? But I can change. I’m not addicted to it! I swear!”

“You hear that?” Ryan said to Ruv. “He wants to be my wife. Not yours. Mine. Ryan Foxheart for the win!” He stopped just short of fist-pumping when he started to frown. “Wait a minute. My wife?”

“I trust Sam,” Morgan said, “to do what he’s supposed to do. Yes, he is young. And yes, he is sometimes prone to distraction. But he is still my apprentice. And I will stand by him until the end of my days.”

“Wow,” I said. “That was pretty close to getting you off my shit list. Well played, Morgan. It almost was enough to make up for the fact that you’ve lied to me since you’ve known me.”

“He can also be a vindictive little bastard,” Randall said. “Turned my nose into a penis once, can you believe that? All because I had the temerity to criticize him the barest amounts.”

I scowled at him. “You told me I was a waste of space and that Morgan would be better off with a doorknob as an apprentice.”

“The barest amounts,” Randall repeated.

“It’s a work in progress,” Morgan said to Vadoma. “And if you have as much experience as you claim, then you’ll know that’s how it goes. My own still isn’t completed, and I doubt it ever will be. It’s a living document, something that grows with every life experience.”

“Not the same,” Vadoma said, pointing a finger at Morgan. “You know this. The both of you do. He is not like you. He is not like the others. He is different. And your complacency will either end in his death or all of ours.”

“That certainly sucked the fun out of the room,” I muttered. “We can’t possibly be related.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “I assure you we are. Even if I couldn’t see the gypsy in your skin, I would know it from the magic that leaks from you with every step you take. The dook you have in your blood is not mine. I have sight. I see the shapes of things to come. Yours is zor. Strength. In the earth. In the heart. But you lack these things. The focus. You are careless. A budjo. A showman, not a shaman. But we are the same, regardless. You have come from Dika. And Dika comes from me. Which means you come from me. And I have known you for a long, long time.”

“I still don’t see what that has to do with—”

“What will you do?” Vadoma asked me. “When your cornerstone dies and you still walk amongst your people? Will you still believe the path you took was of the righteous?”

And that—

That was not okay.

That was never okay.

I took a step forward. “Are you threatening me or Ryan? Because if it was me, I could stand for that. I could deal… with that. But if you’re threatening him, then we’re about to have a fucking problem.”

Her dark eyes flashed with something I didn’t recognize. “You care for him,” she said.

“More than anything.”

“Because he’s yours.”

“And I’m his.”

“For how long?”

I blinked. Because I didn’t— “What do you mean?”

“Yes, Vadoma,” Morgan said, sounding bitchier than I’d ever heard him before. It was really rather remarkable for a man of his age and stature to sound like he was ready to scratch a motherfucker’s eyes out. “What exactly do you mean?”

She didn’t even flinch. Steel balls, that one. I gave her a little more credit than I had at first. If Morgan had used that tone on me, I probably would have been running in the opposite direction.

“I have seen the stars,” she said. “I have followed the bones where they’ve fallen. Unless Sam of Wilds gathers the dragons of Verania, the world will fall into darkness and all will be lost.”

I laughed. “Get the fuck outta here.”

She wasn’t laughing.

Neither was anyone else. Even Ryan looked a little spooked.

“Guys,” I tried. “Look. She’s a fortune-teller. I don’t care what she’s known for. I don’t care where she came from. I don’t care who she is to me. She’s an old kook, and this is bullshit. All of this is bullshit.”

“What did he say to you?” she asked, cocking her head. “When you appeared before him?”

“Who?” I was so done with this shit. Maybe I could get the King to banish her from the City of Lockes and I could go back to living my life the way I wanted it to be. The way I wanted—

“The Great White,” she said softly. “The Father of Dragons. The oldest in all of creation. He who created the world on his back. What did he say to you when you stood before him?”

I have awoken, O human child. In this forest deep, in the dark of the wild. And I have seen what is in your heart. Take heed of my warning: you are not ready.

“Nothing,” I said. “He didn’t say anything because it wasn’t real. None of it was real. You tricked me. Somehow. Poisoned me. Made me hallucinate. I don’t know what you’re planning. I don’t know why you’re here. But it’s not going to work. The dragon said nothing. He said nothing because it wasn’t real. No one has seen the Great White in centuries. He’s long dead. His bones are somewhere that will never be found.”

“Not a word?”

I didn’t look away. “Not a word.”

“Morgan,” she said.

“I’ve told you, Sam,” Morgan said. “About the rumors. About a dark man rising.”

“Have they been substantiated? By anything?”

“No,” he said. “Nothing that can be considered concrete. But if there is a threat against the Crown, if there’s the smallest chance that she’s right, we owe it to Verania to investigate. Sam, we are the hands of the King, and sometimes the hand must make a fist even if the threat is hidden in shadow.”

“So we’re supposed to take her word on it?” I asked angrily. “This woman who banished my mother as if she was nothing? She took away everything because who she fell in love with didn’t have the same skin color.”

“Dika made her choice—”

“Only because you didn’t give her anything else to choose!”

“Your ire comes quickly,” Vadoma said. “Is this because you are frightened, or is this how you are? Does your fury flow through you at the slightest of provocations?”

“No,” I said.

“No to which? Chava, we are governed by thousands of years of tradition. You may think it archaic. You may think it unfair. But this is the way it has always been. Just because she is my daughter did not give me the right to ignore what my ancestors had given me.”

“She didn’t need you,” I said. “Look where she is. She’s happy. She’s healthy. She has a family. She is loved. If she had stayed with you, if she had forsaken my father, could she have said the same?”

“Her path split,” Vadoma said simply. “Because she chose to follow her heart. Like yours. I have seen the path you are taking, Sam of Wilds. I have seen the possibilities that lie before you. He will come for you and take all that you hold dear.”

A hand fell on my shoulder. I thought it’d be Ryan or Morgan, offering the smallest of comforts the way they did best. Imagine my surprise, then, when I glanced over and saw it was Randall. “Sam,” he said. “We wouldn’t ask you this if we didn’t think it was important.”

I swallowed back the sharp retort. “You haven’t asked me anything yet.”

“And I’m not going to,” Vadoma said.

Randall’s hand tightened on my shoulder.

The phuro began to smile. “I’m going to show you.”

 

 

“ARE YOU sure about this?” Gary asked me. “I mean, the last time you were mostly nude, covered in ancient symbols, and about to have weird powder blown in your face, you woke up after having been randomly adopted by cave trolls in the middle of the Dark Woods.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, wincing as Vadoma slathered more green paste on my back, muttering in an ancient tongue as she drew on my bare skin. The only thing keeping me from a public indecency charge was a thin cotton wrap around my hips, but even that almost wasn’t enough. I was pretty sure if anyone looked hard enough, they’d be able to see my balls. “I’d forgotten about that. Sometimes I wish our adventures weren’t so zany. Why can’t we have normal adventures?”

“I can see your balls,” Gary said, looking hard enough.

“Godsdammit,” I said.

Gary looked away from my testicles like a true friend. “And we do have normal adventures. It’s everyone else that’s weird and boring and stupid. Also, don’t use the word zany. It sounds stupid, and you should be ashamed of yourself.”

“Last month we went to the Port,” I reminded him. “And somehow found a magic mirror that wanted to imprison us forever in a realm where everything was some kind of opposite.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“I was a butch lesbian! You were a heterosexual virgin pigeon. Tiggy was a flower. A flower, Gary.”

“About that,” Gary said. “I still haven’t figured out how that was an opposite of what we already were.”

“It was a talking mirror,” I said. “It wasn’t supposed to make sense.”

“I mean, your opposite being a bull dyke makes sense, but the rest? Not so much.”

“How does the opposite of me being a bull dyke make sense?”

Gary looked at me with a blank expression.

“You’re insulting me, aren’t you.”

“Well I’m certainly not insulting bull dykes. I love them too much. They give me things like self-esteem and fancy woodwork.”

“Hey,” I snapped at Vadoma. “I don’t care if I don’t know you. You are still my grandmother. Get your hands out from my inner thigh. I swear to the gods. You don’t need to draw symbols there, you pervert.”

“I can still see your balls,” Gary whispered.

“Today is terrible,” I grumbled. “Absolutely terrible.”

“He never shuts up, does he?” Randall asked Morgan.

“Not even when he’s sleeping,” Morgan said.

I glared over at them, using my hand to shield my eyes from the warm sunlight. We were outside in the middle of the fields to the east of the City of Lockes. We stood inside the fenced grounds that the knights used for training. The wooden dummies were anchored into the earth, slashed and chipped from repeated sword strikes.

Kevin was currently standing over by a rebuilt shed, laughing with Justin as they reenacted the time that Kevin had kidnapped the Prince and knocked me through the weapons’ storage. I glared at the both of them as Kevin gave a whiny shriek I was sure was supposed to be me as he flailed backward toward the shed. Justin roared with laughter until they caught me watching them. Then they pointed at me and started all over again, because they were assholes and I hated the both of them.

Tiggy sat on the ground, my parents in his lap, petting each of them in turn as they lay against his chest. Mom looked a little tense, watching Vadoma as she moved around me, trying to cover my skin with the disgusting concoction that she wouldn’t tell me the ingredients of. (“It’s best if you don’t know—I don’t want to see a grown man cry. Again.”)

The King stood with Morgan and Randall, all of them muttering to each other, probably telling more secrets that I would find out later and be super pissed about. I had decided as I was being dragged out of the city that I didn’t like any of them anymore, especially when they wouldn’t tell me what they were talking about. I didn’t have time for maturity after hearing my grandmother tell me that she was going to need me to get mostly naked so she could rub me with her paste. It wasn’t what I had expected anytime I had envisioned a family reunion. So I let the old farts mutter amongst each other, probably discussing destinies that I wanted nothing to do with, and that would probably end up with me getting killed or, at the very least, mildly aggravated.

Ryan, of course, stood near Ruv, who watched me passively, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Ryan was posturing, because that’s just who he was. He had his sword drawn and was hacking away at one of the dummies. There were unnecessary sword flourishes that looked like he was trying to twirl a baton, manly grunts that would not have been out of place at an all-male bordello, and posing so perfectly that the sun fell on the sweat on his exposed biceps, making him glisten as if he were being kissed by the gods. If it were anyone else, I would have thought it was slightly dashing and immaculate. But now that I knew him as well as I did, I thought something entirely different.

“My boyfriend’s a douchebag,” I said, sounding resigned. “He’s hot, but still a douchebag.”

“Pretty much,” Gary said. “Mine’s a dragon who we once tried to kill, and then he tongue-fucked my butt, and now we’re married or something.”

“You win,” I said, because it was pointless to try and get one up on a unicorn.

“I usually do. Are you done getting bad-touched by your grandma?”

“That sentence vexes me,” I said. “If I’m being honest.”

“It should. I’m vexed, and I’m not being bad-touched, nor am I related to you. Though I suppose if there is inbreeding in your family history, it would make sense that you are the finished product of such.”

“I would murder you if I wasn’t almost covered in slime.”

“Your balls are still hanging out.”

“Yeah.”

“I see you took my advice and started manscaping.”

“Yeah.”

“It looks nice.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m done,” Vadoma said.

“Oh thank the gods,” I said, taking a step away from her, trying to put as much distance between us as possible. “I’m pretty sure that I’m going to need therapy after this.”

“Are you always this dramatic?” she asked me, wiping her hands with an embroidered towel.

“Mostly,” Gary said. “That would be my doing.”

“I still don’t like you,” Vadoma said.

“Ow,” Gary said, dry as dust. “My heart. Whatever shall I do. If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn’t put my smooth and youthful skin next to your craggy old face anyway.”

“Unicorns,” she growled. “Never has there been more useless creatures. Be gone with you, horse.”

“Uh-oh,” I said.

“Horse?” Gary snapped. “Horse? Oh, girl, you gone and done it now. Watch this! Watch what’s gonna happen! You watching? Are you watching?” He started prancing in place, working himself up into a fine glitter rage, jerking his head back and forth. “You see that pretty sparkle? That pretty sparkle is coming for you, you old bag. Gary’s gonna bring the pain down on you like you wouldn’t even believe.”

“It’s true,” Vadoma insisted. “You are a horse with a horn. Oops. Not even that, are you?”

“GAAAAAH!” Gary screamed.

“Fear not, my love!” Kevin bellowed, the ground shaking beneath our feet as he barreled toward us. “For it is I, Kevin! And I shall save you from whatever it is that causes you pain!”

Ruv moved then, quicker than a human had any right to. One moment he was standing near Ryan, who continued beating the shit out of the wooden statue, and the next, he was in front of Vadoma, a long knife with a wicked curve pulled from somewhere. His teeth were bared, and he was crouched in front of Vadoma, shielding her. Her hand was on his shoulder, holding him in place.

Not to be outdone, Ryan ran over and tried to crowd in front of me, sword at the ready, as if he were expecting Ruv to attack at any moment.

So I smacked him on the back of the head.

“Ow,” he said, glaring back at me.

“Stop it,” I scolded him.

“Stop what?”

“You’re trying to protect me.”

“Well, yeah. This guy just pulled a knife on you!”

“And you don’t think I can protect myself?”

“It’s not about that. It’s about making sure you’re safe. I’m doing my job, Sam. And the sooner you remember that, the better off we’ll both be.”

I bristled at that. “I’m not—”

“Are they fighting?” Kevin whispered quite loudly.

“I think so,” Gary whisper-shouted back. “Do you think we should tell them that now is not the time?”

“Why are we yelling quietly!” Tiggy yelled quietly.

I bit back whatever retort I had when Ryan took a deep breath. Because Gary was right, not that I would ever say that out loud to him ever. “Why don’t we all just take a step back,” I said, keeping my voice even. “In case you didn’t notice, I’m mostly naked after being manhandled by my grandma. I would like today to be over so I can go get drunk and repress all the feelings I’m having right now.”

There was a moment when I thought they wouldn’t, that we were just going to square off right here and now, but then Vadoma squeezed Ruv’s shoulder and he stood up slowly, bringing his knife down to his side.

It took Ryan just a beat longer to stand down, but he did. I noticed he didn’t sheathe his sword, nor did he step away from me. I don’t know where any of this was coming from, seeing as how we’d talked about him and me and how Ruv didn’t mean a thing. Apparently I needed to bash it into his thick skull more than I already had.

I didn’t have time for that now. The symbols she’d drawn on my skin were starting to buzz unpleasantly, not because of the paste itself, but deeper, underneath my skin. It felt like it was crawling inside of me, and I was practically vibrating because of it. It wasn’t like any magic I’d ever felt before. Everything I’d known came from the earth. All those golds and greens were inherent in the air around me, in the ground beneath my feet.

This felt different. Cerebral. Like it was in my head, a thought that I couldn’t shake. I wanted it off me as soon as possible.

I hadn’t let her do this on a whim. She’d talked with Morgan and Randall first, explaining the runes she was to draw. I knew both of them had kept an eye on her while they whispered to each other, making sure she did exactly what she’d said. But I didn’t know how much they knew of gypsy magic, though I had to trust their knowledge was far more extensive than my own.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked.

I hadn’t even realized I’d closed my eyes. I opened them, only to find Ryan standing in front of me, sword sheathed, a worried look on his face. I blinked at him, trying to clear my vision of the brighter colors that had begun to swirl around him.

“Whoa,” I said. “That’s fucking weird. You’re so colorful.”

His brow wrinkled. “Huh? Sam, your pupils are really blown out.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Sometimes I want to blow you out.”

There was a choking sound right next to me. I turned and looked and saw what was possibly the most amazing creature in all of existence.

“Oh my gods,” Gary said. “He’s tripping balls.”

“I’m not tripping balls,” I said, wondering when my voice had gotten so deep. “You’re tripping balls. I love you. You have no idea how much.”

A gigantic head came into my vision, a nose almost pressed against mine. “Sam really high?” the gigantic head asked.

“Tiggy,” I breathed. “Your very name is like a balm on my beleaguered soul. We should do a choreographed dance every time we enter a room so everyone will know how wonderful we are.”

“I will remember this forever,” Gary said. “I have been given no greater gift than this. Make him do funny shit so we can make fun of him forever! Sam, what do you think of Ryan?”

“His face,” I said. “I like that shit.” I bopped him on the nose.

“Yassss,” Gary hissed.

“Enough,” another voice said. I didn’t like that voice at all. “We do not have much time. It has already started.”

“Someone needs to take a chill pill,” I said. “We’re all just hanging out, man. You know? Just hanging out and chilling. My balls are cold, but it ain’t no thing. Ryan likes them a lot. He puts them in his—”

Ryan slapped a hand over my mouth, and my eyes widened at the contrails it left behind, like his fingers were leaking every color possible. “That’s probably enough of that.”

“I love you so hard,” I said, but it came out mghmghshhgh.

“I know,” he said, eyes crinkling because he could understand me like no one else did.

“Step back,” the voice I didn’t like said. “We must hurry.”

Ryan’s hand tensed on my face before it dropped away. “You said this wouldn’t hurt him.”

“And it won’t. Physically. But the longer we wait, the less of a chance I have to show him what he needs to see. Now step away.”

“Ryan,” another voice said. That voice I knew, even if I was a little mad at it right now. “I know you don’t trust her. But you can trust me. I wouldn’t let this happen if I thought it was going to harm him in any way.”

Ryan didn’t look very appeased at that. “And I’m supposed to believe you, Morgan? You’ve kept things from him all his life. What else haven’t you told us? Told him? Do you know what it means to grow up in the slums? What it does to a person? You could have saved him. You could have helped him.”

“It’s not as easy as you think.”

“It’s easier than you—”

“Knight Commander.”

“My King.”

“I give you my word. No harm will come to him.”

And even then, Ryan hesitated. Then he bowed. “My King.” It was said begrudgingly, as if it came at great expense. But before I could follow it, before I could chide the man I loved for being his usual self (and possibly fawn over him disgustingly for having my back as he did), I became distracted by these bright and shining threads that burst from my chest.

“Sweet molasses,” I managed to say. “This is some fucked-up shit right here. I’m made of glowing strings.”

“Yeah,” Gary said. “Really fucking tripping balls. Everyone watch out for pirate ships.”

The first strings were white and shining, thick and strong. There were a couple of them, and they curved through the air until they latched on to two different people.

My mother and father. There was a love to them, a bond that I didn’t think could ever be broken.

The next set of strings was red and powerful. There was a sense of duty in them, of loyalty that came from responsibility. There was love in them too, but it was of a different sort. It latched on to the King and the Prince. The King’s thread was like that of my parents in that I knew it would hold. The one with Justin was more tenuous, but I knew it would get stronger if we let it.

Randall’s string was yellowed, like the pages in an old book. It was stiffer than the others, but it held.

Morgan’s was a swirling green, and it came from just below my throat. It shook with magic that curled with my own, slow and familiar. It almost felt like my parents’, but there were minute differences to it, differences that I couldn’t quite parse out. For a moment, I thought I felt his sadness, his hurt over a perceived betrayal, but before I could follow it, it was gone.

Three more strings came forth, centered around my heart. They were blue, like the sky in the height of summer. Each one was firmly anchored within me, and they led to Gary and Tiggy and Kevin. It was friendship and brotherhood, the sense that I would die for these fools, if there was need for it. Gary’s and Tiggy’s were stronger than Kevin’s, the years between us binding us together in ways it couldn’t with the dragon. But the dragon’s had something else mixed into it that no other string had, a shot of heterochromia, the colors shifting so quickly that I couldn’t name a single one. It was at the core of his thread, and I felt it call to me, saying here, here, here, this is why you are here, this is providence, this is the future.

I didn’t like that part very much.

Nor did I like the threads, weak as they were, that reached toward Vadoma and Ruv. Vadoma’s was sickly in color, a pale orange that pulsed faintly. The thread to Ruv was a little stronger, a little healthier, though not by much, yellow like a muted sun. My magic reached for it tentatively but shied away before the connection could be made.

But it was the last thread that commanded my attention. It came from the center of my heart, bright gold and fibrous. I felt the pull of it, the way it tugged against the bonds in my chest. It had fastened itself securely in me, and even as I watched, little arcs of electricity shot through the thread like lightning in a storm. It crackled down the length of the thread until it reached Ryan Foxheart. My magic was not shy here. It didn’t pull away. No, it sang as the runes on my skin burned, as the world began to melt around me, the colors all bleeding together.

And even though my mind was a blurry place, where specific thoughts eluded me, I knew one thing to be fact above all others: that if these were the threads that tied us together, then Ryan was the tether that held me earthbound. This was the cornerstone, the building block, and I marveled how bright it was.

“It’s so much,” I whispered in awe. “It’s all so much, oh my gods, if you could only see how much this is—”

But everything else faded when Vadoma stepped in front of me, hand raised in front of her, palm up. Her eyes were dark and deep, and when she spoke, it came in crisp and clear, as if we were the only people left in the world.

She said, “I’m sorry for what it is I am about to show you.”

Then she pursed her lips and exhaled sharply. Her breath hit a pile of lavender powder in the palm of her hand. It covered my face, and I inhaled in surprise, a low gasp. The granules hit my nose and mouth and tongue, and I was breathing, I was breathing, I was—