Page 111 of Shadow & Stars
Everything for your life,they confirmed.
Translation: If they hadn’t gone inside me, I’d be dead now.
I… Thanks so much. What happens to you?
No need to worry…Those words echoed in my head, fading into the distance just like my energy.
Bye…
The power left me, gone like ashes on the wind. Over way too soon. I kind of wanted to test it out on a few more dickheads.
Oh, well. At least I was alive.
But what about Xavier?
When the dust cleared, I got to my feet. Still full of energy, but the regular kind I was used to. No problem. My arse-kicking skills were ready for action.
I turned to the ruined Horse Guards Parade, a lump in my throat. Oh, shit. What if?—
“Stop it,” I told myself out loud. “Don’t even go there.”
“Xa—”
“There you are,” a voice cut off my call, gluing me to the spot.
Butterfly now joined the party, clutching the time jar in his left hand, a scalpel in his right.
What the hell?
“Interesting,” he said. “The right time has come, it seems.”
God, I hated this demon. “Yeah, for me to take that off your hands and get down to business.”
He shook his head, not one spec of dirt on him, no strand of purple hair out of place.
Where had he been hiding?
His eyes narrowed into angry slits. “I want my device back.” He made a point of making the scalpel blade glint.
“What happened to your big war?” I countered.
“Are you blind to the destruction going on around you?”
Oh, hell no. He did not get to sass me. “Fuck off. This is your fault. Now I’m taking the jar, cleaning it up, and you’re going to face your death like a good little insect. Problem solved.”
“No, Roman. I’m taking my device.”
I placed a protective hand over my chest. “I thought it wasn’t yours to use.”
“Things have changed.” He flipped his hair. “Come here. Let me set you free.”
“You come here first.”
He smiled his pretty, irritating smile. “I…” His head tilted to the side. “I sense beauty.”
Huh?
“He is here,” he whispered. “The rat. So close…”
