Page 103 of My Instant Karma

“They are now,” I say. “And the back gate.”

“We’re so screwed.” Dante’s hands release me to rub his face.

“She wanted to make sure we would be here tonight.” Evan’s voice is hollow. “Not that she couldn’t just hunt us down easily enough.”

“But she’s sending us a message. She owns our fates,” I say.

Kurtis shuffles despondently into the kitchen. “The code isn’t working, and the fences are electrified.” He is dirty, and his hands are burnt.

I glance down at my clenched hands and see they are burnt too. I’m also disheveled.

Dante immediately tries to heal my hands now that he sees their condition. After a minute of trying, he shouts, “Damn her! She’s withholding her powers.”

Evan tries to heal Kurtis and concurs, “Mine too.”

Then I have a thought. My powers seem to work outside of the normal parameters. I focus on healing my hands. The sensation of energy swirls inside me, and my hands mend.

“How?” Dante’s jaw drops open.

I shake my head. I don’t know for certain, but I believe I am drawing on my own natural powers.

Once I finish healing my palms, I walk up to Kurtis. “May I?”

He nods his consent for me to touch him, and I pour my healing energy into his hands. When I’m done, we lock eyes.

Kurtis breaks down and forgives me for the doom I’ve brought with me. “I appreciate knowing why I’ve been so messed up. I felt the emptiness for a while, but I thought it was my imagination. If it weren’t for you, I would have just slowly been drained, never knowing why I felt so horrible.”

Kurtis pulls me into an embrace. I resist for a second, but then he pulls me closer to his chest.

I can’t believe we have been through so much in just a few weeks. I feel so close to him after our rocky start. I won’t let any more bad things happen to Kurtis if I can prevent it.

Will I be able to stop a goddess?

29

KARMAS

As we stand in the kitchen, stunned into silence over being trapped, we all receive a text from our boss.

Karma: I expect you to be prompt and presentable for our dinner tonight.

A chill runs down my spine. She wants us to dress up and play nice for the barracks.

After we read the text, I grimace at the guys. “Perhaps she might even make an example of us as a dessert.”

Kurtis attempts to lighten the mood. “I’d rather have pie.”

“I’d rather escape,” Dante says.

“Deathsounds better by the minute.” Evan raises an eyebrow at me.

We keep our comments vague since we still don’t want to have our conversation leaked to Karma or the other residents. We don’t know how much Karma actually knows or why exactly she’s coming to see us, but disciplining us is probably the correct guess. Instant Karma knows enough to check up on us and block our escape.

* * *

Alone in my room, I slide on my new dress. I smile when I think of how Dante undressed me and our lovemaking that followed, but it’s the sleepy way we snuggled into bed that makes the warm fuzzies invade my consciousness.

I put my hair up in a classy updo and apply some spare but strategic makeup—eyeliner and lipstick. No mascara for me since I don’t know if I’m going to be crying. I won’t give Karma the pleasure of seeing it running down my cheeks.

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