Page 2 of Shadow Weaver
Carlo winced and looked at his watch. “I say you have around twenty minutes before the pigment in the critter blood seeps into your skin.”
I backed away. “Brady?”
He shrugged. “It’s a thing.”
We were fifteen minutes away from the barracks. They could have fucking warned me before. With a final death glare that swept over them all, I turned and ran for base.
* * *
I trailedgreen gunk across the barracks.
“What the fuck is that stench?” Harmon snapped as I rushed past him.
“Oh, damn, Justice.” Thomas’s laughter followed me as I ran for the shower room. Armor dropped to the ground with athunk. Shit, the gunk had found its way under the breastplate and was plastered to the skin. A skin that was designed to be permeable but impregnable.
Oh, God, I couldn’t look. I peeled off the feytech armor to find that, yes, the gunk had reached my flesh. Please, don’t let it be too late. I stepped into the warm spray and turned it up to hot. It hammered against my naked body, and I began to scrub. The eggy smell surrounded me, choking me. More raspberry shower gel needed.
I slathered it on and scrubbed at my skin, at my hair, at my face until the rotten smell was smothered by fruity tones. Twenty minutes of scrubbing later, the green tinge to my skin had almost faded. Wrapping up in a towel, I stood staring at my messed-up armor.
Dammit, it was the only set that fit. Vince had made it specially, and now it was ruined. I skirted the pile and headed to the door. I’d come back wearing gloves and a mask to dispose of the armor.
I opened the door to find Vince standing in the corridor. He glared at me, then into the bathroom, his attention dropping to the floor.
“I’m sorry.” I met his gaze levelly. “I didn’t know it would stain. I’ll make do with whatever armor we—”
He cut me off with a slash of his hand. “It stains human skin, lass, not feytech. Just leave the armor overnight, and it’ll clean itself.”
My theory from a few weeks ago about the feytech being self-cleaning was obviously right.
“Get dressed,” Vince ordered. “Hyde’ll be here any minute. He’s called a meeting.”
Hyde … as in the man who’d been dodging me for weeks, ever since that night in my room. Ever since he’d told me there could never be anus. That Hyde?
Vince’s expression softened. “You look pale. Are you feeling all right?”
I swallowed the lump of nerves in my throat. “I’m fine.”
“Good. We meet in five.” He walked away but paused at the top of the corridor. “Oh, and next time, use the protection spray before going up against critters.”
“Protection spray?”
His brows shot up. “They didn’t tell you about it? Figures. The bastards love to play pranks on the first years. And considering you ain’t gonna be first years for much longer …” He sighed. “S’pose I should fill you in. It’s relatively new feytech. The spray acts as a shield and makes foreign secretions dissolve on contact.”
And they’d sprayed themselves with it, which was why they’d been clean.
Got movesmy fucking ass.
Anger flared hot in my chest. I stormed past Master Vince and into the main lounge. The guys looked up from their poker game at the sight of my towel-covered form.
“I thought we were past this.” I stood hands on hips, chest heaving.
“Uh-huh,” Carlo said. “Looks like Master Vince spilled the beans.”
Aidan bit back a smile, but Brady looked confused.
“What’re you talking about?” he asked.
“The protection spray? The one these two had on to dissolve the critter gunk.”
