Page 16 of Psycho Gods

Lothaire materialized, grabbed me, and in one motion, jumped off the cliff and landed beside my injured twin. Before I could process what was happening, we RJE’d to another realm.

Lothaire told me the energy I’d emitted was so high that he’d been sent by the High Court to recruit me.

I ignored him and focused on John.

It took three weeks in a witch-induced coma for John to come back to me.

During that time, I didn’t care that vampyres existed and there were multiple worlds. I didn’t care that Lothaire recognized our darkness and knew who our biological parents were.

None of it mattered.

I had sworn on my life that I would never fail John again.

The past blended with the present.

“Give us the prophecy, oracle,” the king demanded harshly. “Stop speaking in riddles. You’re scaring them, and they’ve been through enough.” I gripped John’s hand with so much force my fingers cramped.

In the present, we arrived at a building hidden by snowy trees. “Cafeteria” was written above the green door.

John tried to pull away to open the door, and my throat closed with panic. Itchiness exploded across my skin, so I tightened my hold on him and Aran. He stopped reaching as he recognized what was wrong.

I couldn’t stand to part from him.

Not after we’d been separated for so long.

Never again.

I breathed shallowly.

“Of course, my King, let me be clearer.” The oracle giggled and swirled her hands in the air. “I speak through the mouth of the stars as I proclaim this fate.” I shoved John further behind me, heart pounding with fear as I protected him with my scrawny frame.

The three of us sat down together at the table as food was passed out by workers.

I slid my chair closer to John, and he slid his closer to Aran. We sat pressed against one another.

Breathing deeply, I searched for calm.

Voices spoke around me, but I didn’t hear a word they said, because I didn’t care about them.

I didn’t make friends.

I ignored everyone.

I didn’t talk or interact.

No one existed but John—and now Aran. Two people were the center of my world.

They were my world.

The fateful day on the cliff had solidified my attachment to my twin into something that defined my being.

Codependency consumed every moment of my life.

It was me.

We were two halves of a whole, and even though John could put on a mask and socialize, he suffered from the same dependency.

Memories swirled around me.