Page 36 of Awry
I crush the impulse to sweep her into my arms.
Zaya looks genuinely surprised.Not that every emotion — as fake as they all must be — doesn’t look genuine on her expressive face.She takes the brew with a smile, murmuring, “Thank you, Doc.”
Right.Not even properly introduced and she can remember Doc’s fucking name.Well, her club name.
Now I crush the impulse to stomp out of the room and start destroying shit.I haven’t felt this sort of rage in years.Since I gave up hope, really.But what had I actually been hoping for?A fucking miracle?That it was all some shared nightmare?
Zaya uncorks the bottle and tips it into her mouth without even questioning it.Doc could have handed her poison or something to knock her out.
I watch her drink it.Swallow it.I fucking feel her relieved sigh.
“Tasty,” she says.
Tasty.The word and its light, teasing tone — an echo of the past — sears through me, burning worse than the festering bullet wound in my shoulder.I nearly crush my phone in my hand.
Doc is talking.She’s in a middle of a sentence, and I’ve missed the beginning while I struggle to recover from a single fucking word as if it’s a mortal wound.
I need to get out of here before I do something stupid.
“… should kick in quickly,” Doc says.She’s got her diagnostic scanner in hand now, running it over Presh.It’s tech, but mage crafted.“Though I’ve never treated an awry.”
“We’re all different, I suppose,” Zaya murmurs, settling her gaze on Presh again.
My sister smiles back at her, then says quietly, “I was … wondering …”
“Yes.”Zaya answers as if she already knows the question.
Presh’s face lights up.“Really?Are you … I mean, do you live around here?”
“For the next while, at least.The property … ah, my place, is just a few minutes past Lincoln City, so about two hours down the coast.The grounds would be the best place for any testing or training.”
Presh is grinning so hard now that she radiates energy I can feel.That feel is a lot like how the real Zaya felt when she was around my sister’s age.It’s impossible to forget the feeling of her essence gently tingling against my skin.No matter how young we were, no matter how much time has passed.
No matter how hard I try.
“That isn’t very far from the Outcast clubhouse and my uncle’s property.The pack house,” Presh says, taking another stoppered pink brew from Doc and cradling it in her hands for a moment.
“I, ah, wasn’t planning on staying …” Zaya touches something under her tank top.A necklace?Or pendant?Worrying at it unconsciously.But also with a touch of anxiety?I can’t smell anything of her emotional state, though.Not under that vanilla scent she doused herself and my sister in.“I … just … I have something to look into … and I need to deal with … an estate.My aunt’s estate.”
I’m feeling disembodied now, and no matter that I’m trying to tell myself this is a con, it feels way too fucking real, toonow.
“You’ll … we can set up a time?”
“Something regular would be best,” Zaya says.
Nope.I’m going to lose my shit all over the place, because this can’t be a regular thing.I can’t be driving Presh to and from Zaya’s aunt’s estate.And not just because I can’t physically set foot on it myself.I’ve been barred from entry since that fucking night.
I won’t do it.
“Presh!”I snap.
My sister nearly leaps out of her skin.
Still crouched by the bed, Doc pivots on her toes and throws me a look over her shoulder so scathing that I’m momentarily taken aback.The impostor narrows her eyes on me as well.
I soften my tone, hating that I feel as though I have to justify my reactions.That I feel like screaming like a confused and overwhelmed toddler when I need to be coolheaded.“Time to go.”
I need Presh off-site before I can grill the impostor.
