Page 274 of Psycho Gods

My fingers trailed through something fleshy, and I pretended it was a rock covered in wet sand (I was 100 percent aware that it was someone’s detached spine).

I couldn’t find my pipe.

Despair settled in my bones that all was lost.

“No,” I whispered dejectedly into the darkness.

There was only so much a woman could take before she broke.

I touched my face—my pipe was still in my mouth.

I breathed in enchanted smoke greedily.

I held both Sadie’s and Jinx’s limp hands in mine, and my chuckle turned into a broken plea. “Please wake up.”

I waited in silence.

It felt like an eternity passed.

Hope was fading.

Sadie suddenly woke up with a scream. She lunged forward and wrapped her hands around my neck. “Who took my bread roll?” she bellowed groggily.

It was too much.

I burst into tears and wrapped my arms around her in an awkward hug as she choked me.

“Aran?” she asked with confusion as he stopped choking me. “What happened?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it as I thought about what exactly had happened.

In all my melancholic despair, I’d forgotten to plan an explanation for how the handle of my sword had slammed into her forehead and knocked her unconscious.

“Wait a second,” she growled, and her fists pummeled against me. “Arabella Alis Egan, how dare you!”

I squealed and protected my fleshy bits.

“It isn’t what you’re thinking,” I yelled in defense.

She stopped punching me. “So you didn’t knock me out because I wasn’t listening to you?”

I pursed my lips. “It’s exactly what you’re thinking.”

She whacked me across the top of the head, but the blow was glancing and filled with love.

“What’s going on?” Jinx asked groggily, and I froze midwrestle.

Sadie gasped, “What’s Jinx doing here?”

Why had I wanted them to wake up?

“You have some explaining to do.” My voice cracked and it felt like I was falling.

The pieces were already clicking together in my mind, but I needed to hear her say it aloud.

Jinx grimaced as she stared at her mangled fingers and nodded curtly. Sadie’s eyes cast a red glow and illuminated the three of us.

We sat in uncomfortable silence.