Page 93 of Bizarre Bonds
Jonah meets my eyes from across our shining ring. “There was nothing else you could have done,” he says, speaking to the guilt that’s started to creep in. “I wish we could’ve snapped her out of her madness too.”
I dip my head, and just then a whole crowd of shadowkind materialize around us in tandem with the familiar screech of a van’s wheels.
While the shadowbloods pile out of the van, Rollick strolls over to my glowing ring. I pull the energy back inside myself, a flicker of embarrassment passing over my face and my hair.
The demon clicks his tongue. His tone is all dry amusement. “I wonder if you’re ever going to stop surprising us, Periwinkle.”
“I hope not,” Mirage says, throwing his arms around me in an emphatic hug.
As my other men hurry over to surround me, Rollick takes in the rest of the scene. “I gather our rogue shadowkind is no longer a concern. You have left me with another large mess to clean up, though.”
I can’t tell if he’s actually upset. “Sorry?”
The demon aims a crooked grin my way. “At least it should be the last mess—in this city anyway.”
32
Periwinkle
After my marked men and I have given a full account of our confrontation with Viscera, Rollick stands in the trailer meeting room for a while tapping his fingers together, his face set in an expression I can only call bemused.
“So you subdued her with the power of love and acceptance,” he says finally. “Should we expect you to start farting stardust and rainbows next?”
I can’t stop myself from glancing over my shoulder as if such a deluge might already have started without my noticing. “Um, I think maybe… maybe this is what my power was always supposed to be. The way I can send out energy, at least. It feltright. I just needed to find the right people to bring it out of me.”
The people who could make me see how multi-faceted love really is—not just happiness but every other fraught emotion that comes into play when you care that much. And accepting all of it as a valid part of the whole.
Accepting all thatIam.
I’m sure I’ve seen this sentiment on an inspirational poster some human made, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong: I had to love myself before I could be what I needed to be.
Mirage grins. “She doesn’t need tofartrainbows when she can already shine one out of her hair.”
I give him a playful kick under the table, but my thoughts have veered to more serious matters.
“Viscera is gone, but there could be more warped higher shadowkind like her who’ll come through the new rifts. The lesser creatures are still a problem. They can do so much damage… and it isn’t fair to them that they don’t have a chance at a real life before they break apart. From some of the things Viscera said, it sounded almost like they’re being compelled here, which would make it even less their fault.”
Rollick frowns. “What did she say compelled her?”
“She wasn’t really specific,” I have to admit. “She just kept talking about being pulled and pushed, about how there was supposed to be a place for her but it was a lie.”
As his frown deepens with concentration, Sorsha cocks her head where she’s leaning against the wall. “I wonder if you could close up these rifts. Your lovey-dovey power contained Viscera better than anything else we’ve seen. If there’s some way to apply it to the portals…”
My heart leaps. “I’ll try anything. I just want everything to go back to normal.”
Whatever normal will look like now that I have my powers under control and four men I adore who are just as devoted to me.
I can’t imagine yet exactly how that will be… but it should definitely be a juicier version of life than any I’ve experienced so far.
Rollick seems to shake off his apprehension and nods. “We’ll start experimenting right away. I’ve also established contact with another sorcerer who’s on her way and may be able to help Jonah rein the creatures in better while they’re still coming. And?—"
One of his assistants pops out of the shadows with a gasp of ragged breath. “The rift!” she cries out. “I don’t know—it’s doingsomething—you have to see.”
We all scramble to our feet. As we rush out into the makeshift film set’s yard, my stomach lurches like I’m on a teeter-totter.
We don’t need to hustle over to the factory the rift was floating by. Even from here, half a mile away, I can see the portal now.
The wavering swath of air has stretched up and out, distorting several factory buildings beyond it and the more distant skyline of the city. The artificial lights that gleam brighter as evening starts to fall are quavering when seen through its surface.
