Page 14 of Shadow & Stars
He stiffened, his jaw tense.
“How are you holding up?” I tried.
“Still counting, Shadow,” Margarite interjected. “Soon I will do whatever you like again.” She sounded more robotic each time she opened her mouth. “I look forward to serving you.”
I gaped at her, unsure of what to say. She really was dead, this woman before me a million miles away from the real her.
“Let’s keep moving,” Xavier said. So cold, so weary.
I can’t find you to lose you…
I shook off the wobble of pain. This wasn’t the time for any of this.
Please don’t hate me…
Why would he hate me, though? I was overthinking this.
Shut it down. Be the one they call The Shadow.
But that version of me was kind of dead. Another Roman wanted his turn in the spotlight now. To taste pleasure and romance and be something completely new, facing the world with the silky demon before me.
Later…
Xavier gestured for Darcy to climb on his back.
My friend didn’t need convincing with the offer of more warmth.
I bottled my feelings, following Xavier across the room. Butterfly hurried behind me, Margarite keeping pace with me. A real fever dream, my favorite and least favorite people all in one place at the same time.
Life really could be twisted sometimes.
Xavier touched the blue patch of tiles. They slid away, revealing a grubby white metal door. Eight buttons sat at its center, each one numbered. Xavier pressed them quickly, out of sequence. Seconds later, the white door dropped away, a blue door replacing it with a fresh set of buttons.
Erm, okay.
Xavier punched in a different sequence. Machinery whirred to life, humming behind the door.
“What just happened here?” I asked.
“Some of us know the right buttons to press,” Xavier answered, not looking back.
Yeah. He really did know what buttons to press, especially mine.
I hated that he didn’t look back.
“Level 88 next,” Xavier added.
“I look forward to studying and thinking in safety,” Butterfly said. “If it is as safe as you say.”
Xavier didn’t answer him.
Why did this sound too easy? The unease in my belly intensified, sprouting barbs to remind me that when things seemed too easy, they usually were.
A heavy boom from behind us confirmed it.
Ugh.
I spun, watching the white door of the previous elevator rattle. The tiles around it cracked and bulged.
