Page 54 of Scars Like Wings

Quinn furrowed her brows, but she pulled her phone out and complied. Then she showed the picture to me.

I only saw my scars.

No tattoo.

“You really don’t see your tattoo there?”

I shook my head.

“How is that—?” she began.

I gripped my necklace hard enough for it to feel like it was cutting into my hand. “Quinn? Can I meet you by the games or something? I-I need to go to the bathroom.”

Quinn’s furrowed brows deepened. “Byrd, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I-I just need to use the bathroom really fast. So much orange juice from earlier, you know?” I tried to joke, but even I could hear how hollow it sounded.

Quinn looked at me for a moment, but soon she nodded. She gave me a quick kiss on my cheek with a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “I will meet you at the go-karts, okay?”

I nodded.

I watched her walk past me and toward the go-karts. I pulled my shacket back over my shoulders and wrapped my arms around myself. I told myself it was to keep Quinn’s warmth inside to fight the cold of Chill’s rather than face the idea that maybe I was fighting to hold myself together.

I shot a text to Maisie and Simone, asking if they could meet me in the food court. Maisie was quick to reply that they were on the way. They were there by the time I arrived.

Simone and Maisie took in my appearance, and they immediately became worried. I loved how well my friends knew me.

“Byrdie, what’s wrong?” Simone asked.

I sighed and quickly caught them up on what had just happened. Simone’s jaw dropped for the umpteenth time today.

“Holy shit, Byrdie, I’m—” Simone started when I was done, ever the sympathy queen.

“Turn around,” Maisie interrupted, her eyes determined.

I listened to her and turned around. I lowered my shacket to reveal what I could of my back without taking off my bodysuit. I knew without seeing her that Maisie was using her magic to look at my back with what me and Simone called her “witch eyes.” Her dark brown eyes took on a neon purple hue that easily glowed in any dark room. Sparkles would sometimes flow from her eyes like her magic was overflowing. But I didn’t feel anything as she completed her examination.

After a few moments, Maisie turned me around. Her eyes were back to normal already when she stared at me, but her face was etched with concern that made my heart sink. “I don’t see any tattoos. But there isdefinitelymagic—a scientific metric shit ton of it. It’s swirling all around your back and out of it like a smoking cauldron at Halloween. But I have no idea what it is or anything about it. We will have to research it.”

A shiver went through me.

“Bee? Are you okay? Do you want to leave and go home now? This is crazy and a lot, so I totally understand if you want to head out.”

I sighed again, fixing my shacket to cover my shoulders and fight another chill coursing through me. What did any of this mean? What?—?

No, no,no. There was nothing we could do right now. It was out of our control. It was out ofmycontrol. I could worry about my questions and anxieties about all of this…

Or—

I shook my head. I took a beat, stuffed my hands in my jacket pockets, swallowed, and finally plastered a smile on my face. “No, let’s just go out and have fun, babes. We’ll figure all of this out later.”

“Bee—”

“Go back to the boys, girls. I will be fine. I promise. Let’s just have a great time right now.”

Simone’s lips set into a line, but Maisie put her hand on Simone’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Let’s have fun, please. We’ll have fun today. Then tomorrow, we’ll figure it out. But today, I will be fine. Let’s just have fun,” I repeated, wishing for my smile to reach my eyes and convince all of us.