Page 35 of Shadow & Stars
Awesome idea but completely impractical.
Okay. Time to consider the next idea. There were a lot of demons in there, and I just spotted Tanith’s big snake body amongst them. Great. She was always super fun to deal with.
A shit situation indeed, but not impossible. We were all without magic tricks, my device aside. Some of those demons possessed weapons, so the fight wasn’t equal. Yet. Also, some of them would be stronger and faster than us. It was a shame I couldn’t observe them in action first, make some mental notes, adjust the fight accordingly.
“What happens now?” Butterfly asked.
Ismael kept his eyes on me. “You are the enemy. You must die.”
The using-the-crown idea wasn’t a bad one. It could help disarm a few other demons, allow us to get chopping or smashing. I spotted one demon holding a spiky mace, which would work wonders.
I’ll have that one, please.
“Shit!” I cried, realizing my mistake.
“Roman?”
I spun to see Darcy blinking with unnatural speed, his body twitching.
Oh. My. God. Please don’t let this?—
His head snapped to the right, neck twisting like a wrung-out dish cloth, every bone cracking with sickening volume. The movement looked fake, like shoddy CGI.
My best friend fell down, his complexion paling with death.
I ran to him, landing heavily by his side, barely noticing the pain in my kneecaps.
“Darcy?” His pupils dilated, his mouth slack. “No, no, no. Darcy! Please! No!”
The mace appeared beside me.
“Darcy!” I screamed, shaking him. “No! I didn’t mean it.”
Not my best friend. Not my best friend. Oh, God. What was I supposed to do now? This wasn’t his time. He deserved better, to see things settle back down. Even if it meant him being a rat again, he should live out the rest of his days with me. Stuffinghimself with his favorite snacks, his whiskers tickling my neck when he sat on my shoulder. Him scolding me, giving me advice, being the best friend anyone could ever ask for.
Not this. Not this corpse because of my fucking wishes.
A tight grip on my arm, Xavier’s heat seeping into my skin. “Don’t say anything else. Don’t?—”
“I want him back,” I wished through my tears.
Something went pop and Darcy shot up, gasping for breath, his eyes wide.
“Oh my God!” I yelled. “I’m so sorry. I’m so?—”
It was then I noticed Xavier’s dead body, the side of his head blown away like he’d taken a bullet.
Everything came to a grinding halt. The world around me blurred, my lungs forgetting to work. Cold iron replaced the blood in my veins, my sense of reality a mess.
“Xavier?”
This wasn’t real. I didn’t just wish for my best friend back only to kill the guy I’d called my boyfriend. We should be getting out of here to discussthatstatus.
No, no, no. I was better than this. I’d been trying so hard to be careful. I know I made a mistake with the mace, but…but…but…
Nothing I could tell myself justified this. Nothing changed the reality I had to face.
“I killed him,” I said. “I killed him.”
