Page 175 of The Wishing Game

He blinks in surprise.

"Asshole," I mutter under my breath, turning my back and heading to the aperture in the rock. I lie down on my side, pulling my knees to my chest and forcing myself to sleep. Tears burn behind my lids, but I won't give him the satisfaction of hearing me cry. Not when it would only make him see me as weaker.

"Do not turn your back to me, human," he calls out.

I don't answer, tuning out his words.

"You are not allowed to ignore me," he continues, coming closer.

I feel him lie down next to me, heat radiating from his body.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I will myself to sleep.

"Human! Luce," he drones on, calling my name and trying in vain to get my attention. It's too late, however. Words have been spoken, and my heart is still raw from his behavior.

God, but I am dumb, aren't I?

I really thought he was my friend, but how could he be when he has such a low opinion of me? Not only am I still a little shaken by the visions of Nikki I got in that realm, but now I have to deal with a mean Ze, too.

I'm still confused about what his deal is. If he's so concerned that I'm bringing the team down, then he shouldn't have offered to be paired with me in the first place.

Swallowing my sobs and sorrows, I force myself to go to sleep. There's little I can do by dwelling on this, especially when every time I replay our conversation, I hurt myself even more.

It's not worth it.

But as I drift off to sleep, I find that my heart hurts more at being on bad terms with him than at him... I am foolish, indeed.

I get up at the first sign of sunlight. Ze is already awake and ready to go and, giving him a silent nod, I march ahead. He tries to speak to me a few times, but when all he receives is the silent treatment, he mutters a few words and decides to give up.

We walk continuously until nightfall, and we manage to cover a great distance. Despite the pain in my legs or the fatigue that soon overtakes my body, I refuse to give him another reason to call me weak. We take a small break until dawn, and then we're back on the road.

All this time, I don't speak to him. No matter how much he's trying to get my attention, I pretend he's not there. Even when he offers me food, I refuse it if it comes from his hand. Instead, I wait until he puts it down before picking it up. Of course, that elicits more words from him about how foolish I am, but it's safe to say I'm long used to that word by now.

It's on the second day that we finally see the complex in sight. My body is already on the verge of giving up, keenly feeling the effects of the long journey and the lack of assistance from Ze. But as the image of him carrying me on his back from before appears in my mind, I scowl.

Not worth it, remember?

As we arrive at the complex, I note the presence of other teams on the sidelines, all staring at us as we head to our apartment building. I keep my head high, ignoring the jibes I hear, the wordhumanbeing spat around as if it were the worst condition in existence.

I guess Ze is not the only one who has a certain distaste forhumans.

Ze trails at my back, always a few paces behind me.

Luckily, just as my legs are about to give up on me, we reach our suite. Opening the door and stepping inside the apartment, my eyebrows go up in question as we spot Thea and Cer in the living room, looking mighty cozy together on the couch.

"You're finally back!" Thea exclaims when she spots us, jumping up and hurrying to me.

"We are," I strain a smile. "How was your quest? Did you get the plants?"

"Of course. We killed some competition on the way too." She flashes me a smile. "Well, Cer did. I just told him who to kill." She chuckles.

"We got our plant too. I don't think we have much longer, so we should get the brew ready," I mention, but Thea doesn't hear me as she stops in front of Ze, her eyes going wide with shock.

"What happened toyou?" she asks, pointing at his eyes. "Why are they purple?"

Cer moves stealthily, his expression worried as he stops by Ze's side.

They share a look, almost as if they're communicating without words. I wonder if it has anything to do with the demons we spotted in the forest.

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