Page 251 of Fangs
I told him about Menace, the horrible part he’d played in my life with Dune, and what he’d told me about the god of the Voiceless and himself. I hadn’t been sure if he’d placed the string, but I got my answer when I tried to tell Mac about it. My mouth didn’t move. I opened my mouth and closed it again. My jaw worked just fine. I tried again to speak, but my jaw refused to move.
“You okay?” Mac asked, his brow furrowing.
The sensation of something foreign controlling my body made my skin crawl. I tried to do it mentally, but again, it was like the words were locked in my brain.
“Em?” Mac was studying me closer, looking concerned.
“Sorry,” I got out. “Sometimes it hits me that all of that was… wasreal, and it’s…”
“A fuckin’ nightmare?”
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“So Menace just told you all that as a gesture of trust?” Mac asked.
“I think so.”
“What was he gonna do afterward?”
“I have no idea.” I tried not to feel guilty about the slight lie. If Icouldtell him, Iwould.
“Well, I don’t trust him,” he muttered.
“I don’t fully, either, but if I’m bein’ forced to choose between him and the Voiceless, I’m gonna choose him.”
Mac’s hands clenched in his lap, and his jaw worked, but he didn’t speak.
“We have to make sure neither of them finds out that you, Clarity, and anyone else have powers now,” I whispered.
“Why?” he asked, his voice tense.
“Because who knows what horrible plans they’d make for the rest of you!”
“Em,” he sounded frustrated, “you don’t have to do this alone. If they know other powered people exist, maybe they’d think twice about trying to take you again.”
Fear made my stomach churn. “No. They can’t know.”
“Em—”
“Idid this somehow,” I whispered, desperate. “I don’t know how, but I think I gave you powers, and that means I’m responsible for what happens to you because of it.”
“That is bullshit,” Mac snapped. “Ember, you can’t take all that on yourself.”
“I have to protect all of you,” I insisted, setting my jaw.
“No, you don’t,” Mac glared at me. “We’re ateam.We worktogether.”
“Mac, I can’t let any of you get hurt. I can’t.” My voice broke, and his glare softened slightly.
“That’s not somethin’ you can control, Em.”
“But I have to try!”
“No, you have to let us in. Let us help you. We’re so much stronger together.”
I pressed my lips into a flat line, sucking in a deep breath through my nose.
“You’ve got a big leg up on us for having dealt with this magic for so long, but you have no idea how to work as a team.” He held up a hand, halting me as I sucked in an angry breath to go off. “That’s not a judgment on you; it’s just a fact. This ismystrength. I know how to work as a team. I know how to teach you to work as a team. You can teach us about magic. We play to our strengths.”
