Page 96 of Bones

All of that was somehow encompassed in a liquid.

“I’ve been practicing,” she said as she tapped her glass with mine. “Now answer the question.”

“Honestly? He said stuff about his brothers and mates, so I thought it was a sex cult.”

Lilith burst out laughing and raised her drink. “Same, girl. Same.”

“And once you found out he was Famine?” Juno asked.

The sharp way she watched me set off little bells in my head. Not warnings, per se.

“He told you I cried,” I surmised.

“He may or may not have mentioned it. But I’m just making conversation.”

And giving me the perfect opening.

It went against everything I’d done for six years, but for the second time in as many days, I shared about my accident. Waking up in those woods without my memories. And my curse.

Once I was done, I asked, “So… Do you think you can help?”

Juno bobbed her head side to side, her pink and blue bun flopping, too. “Memories are tricky. More subjective than what you might think. Messing with them could result in instillingwhat you wished would happen. Or what you fear happened. And once they become implanted as fact, it’s harder to correct the error.”

“No, not help with my memories.”

At least not now that I know it could go so wrong.

“Can you help get rid of my curse?” I asked.

“I’m still lost on that,” Denny said. “Which part is the curse?”

I reared back.

I got that they had their own stuff going on, but she must not have listened to a word I’d said.

Speaking slowly, I tried to jog her memory without letting my irritation show—much. “I get visions of the future.”

“I got that part. But not why you think it’s a curse.”

I would’ve understood why Juno felt that way. She was a powerful being. But the mates were human. That was what Deke had said. Denny and Lilith should’ve been horrified—or at least confused—by my ability.

“Because it’s made my life a nightmare,” I said.

“The visions or the people in your life?”

“The visions. And the people. Both.”

“Why?” she pushed.

“Because when I paid attention to the curse, it got me in trouble. It made peoplehateme. Pastor Gideon said it was a punishment from God because the devil created me, and nothing I said or saw could be trusted. He said if it was a gift like the visions given to Paul, Peter, or the others, He would protect me.” I lifted my shirt to show them the upside-down cross that marred my chest, made of puckered flesh.

I could almost feel the fire.

Smell the burned flesh that clung in my nose for days after.

Hear the sizzle as it scorched into my skin.

My voice was weak as I unnecessarily pointed out, “But He didn’t.”

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