Page 276 of Psycho Gods

“Jinx, tell the story.” I pointed my pipe at her. “You owe me that much.”

The youngest-looking twenty-five-year-old in history narrowed her eyes at me, but agreed with a curt nod.

Chest rattling with each shallow breath, she said, “Ten years ago, the High Court found a purpose for me.”

She stared down at her mangled hand and avoided eye contact.

My stomach twisted with knots.

Back at Elite Academy, when the Kings had unleashed their powers, Orion told Jinx her soul was irredeemable because she’d committed a heinous crime against people she loved.

I shivered.

It was all so obvious.

“I don’t know the entire story.” Jinx’s voice was barely a whisper. “I only have small tidbits from what I’ve overheard and the things I’ve pieced together. What I know for sure is there are two key leaders, and their plans involve manipulating certain individuals, whom they call players. They’ve been doing it for decades—maybe even generations.”

“Manipulate what people? Who are these players?” Sadie asked.

I dug my nail into my lower lip.

Jinx didn’t look up.

I ripped off a chunk of skin and inhaled smoke until my lungs ached. Copper flooded my mouth.

Jinx continued like Sadie hadn’t spoken, “Over the years, I overheard them worrying that one of the most important players that they’d planted, wasn’t cunning enough to wield the power they’d given them. Their methods of fixing the problem didn’t seem to be yielding results. They were getting frustrated and desperate.”

The knots in my stomach turned to razors.

Sadie’s eyes widened.

“Then, ten years ago, they said they’d found a perfect solution. I was fifteen at the time,” Jinx said slowly, then fell silent.

I did the math.

The numbers added up horribly.

I looked around the room, barely seeing the dismembered corpses as my thoughts blanked.

Dread stretched among the three of us.

“Just say it,” Sadie broke the silence with a whispery rasp.

I shivered as I wiped sweat off my forehead with a trembling hand. I wanted to tell Jinx not to speak, but I couldn’t find the strength to say the words aloud.

Jinx looked up, and her too wide dark eyes held mine. “There was a side player, a fourteen-year-old, who’d just received record high scores on an analytics test. She was rumored to be brilliant. But that wasn’t the best part.” She kept eye contact. “She was the daughter of a woman who was infamous for her cruelty. As a result, they theorized that the player’s brilliance was likely dangerous—it was exactly what the leaders needed.”

I didn’t breathe.

In my periphery, Sadie looked back and forth between our locked gazes with horror.

Jinx’s lips moved.

I heard her speak as if she was talking from far away, down a long tunnel.

“The High Court took me to the fae palace in chains.”

Her voice warped.