11. XI
XI
Spencer
“ C an I go now?” I asked.
Emerson clucked. “You’re still recovering, so no.” She knelt beside me, hands hovering over my supine position on the fighting mats, Fran sitting next to her like the good puppy he was.
“It’s been nearly a week,” I whined. “Being locked up here is killing me.”
Micah chuckled from the kitchen island. “Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you slept with… Who was it again?”
I still hadn’t given them his name, and my sisters anguished over my protecting his anonymity because it prevented them from hunting him down themselves. Although they’d never admit it, the lack of information was grating against their every instinct. The demand came with the bloodline. Kings weren’t used to being denied.
Nevertheless, Echo was mine , and I was extremely possessive over his identity since it irrevocably belonged to me. He’d find out about his new ownership soon enough… As soon as I escaped that decrepit tomb of a home.
Micah continued to swipe through her phone, giving us an update of the city. “Amp outbursts are increasing. The government has it firmly under wraps at the moment, but the public are becoming suspicious. Any whispers in Hangman’s Block, Meek?”
Emerson leant back, taking a rest from healing my wound. “Much of the same. Although, some kids have gone missing. Of course, authorities won’t do anything about it. A couple of scrawny street rats disappear from the streets of Hangman’s Block, and it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.” Her voice was strained, despite the effort of keeping it level, that one statement alone telling us more than she wanted us to believe. My hunch was confirmed by Micah’s pursed lips as she processed Emerson’s emotions.
“I can come down to Hangman’s Clinic with you. Help investigate,” I offered. Both sisters chuckled, and I shoved upward. “I can be a great help, I’ll have you know.”
Emerson pushed against my shoulder. “That’s not it. I’m just surprised that you’d offer to come to the lowly neighbourhoods of Junction City. I thought poverty was contagious?”
Have I said that? Definitely sounds like me. I huffed and collapsed back down. “I’ve really hit rock bottom.”
Micah snickered. “I’ll go. I wanted to see Chai anyway. You have to concentrate on healing, Spence. We need you to infiltrate Vice so we can build an alliance with Aster against the Ludus and Khaos.”
“What about your boyfriend?” I snarked. “Isn’t that the whole reason we broke him out of Oakview?”
“After the Ludus’ failed assassination attempt on Aster, they’ve holed themselves away. No one in and no one out. Psycho can’t even get in contact with G.”
“Well, sounds like he’s virtually useless…like most men. Is it too late to return him?” I asked. Fran barked in agreement as I blindly lifted a hand to stroke his back.
“Just concentrate on yourself. You can’t do much without your Variant.”
That did it. She should have known I’d do anything to prove her wrong. “Fucking watch me.” I let the familiar spark of my ability skitter over my flesh, bloodstream thumping with anticipation as my cells began to transform.
Then, blistering pain stabbed into my chest and Emerson called in panic, “Stop, Spence. For fuck’s sake, stop. ”
My rib cage was heaving as the ache from my wound gradually subsided. Fresh blood stained my bandages and Emerson cursed.
She had forbidden me from using my Variant as any physical transformation would exacerbate my injury—which was further proven when that weak attempt failed.
Emerson’s clinical hands layered over the affected area as her soothing energy poured into my system, the gentle touch in contradiction to her waspish tirade.
“Why can’t you listen for once in your fucking life? I don’t think you understand how serious this is… When he stabbed you, his knife pierced the apex of your heart. You know, that measly organ that pumps blood through your body, keeping you alive? Yeah, that one. It’s going to take more than a fucking week to heal an injury like that! ”
Micah looked on with sympathy, no doubt reading the raging fucking inferno writhing beneath my skin. My Variant was a part of my psyche, my very being, a sixth sense I couldn’t live without. And that bitch boy had ripped that away from me.
I felt vulnerable, not my damn self, and I fucking hated it.
Swiping Emerson away, I tentatively raised to my feet. I wasn’t born to be bound by a leash. No one and nothing could tame Spencer King—yet, that fucker found a way to imprison me with a failing body.
“I have to get out of here.”
Micah approached. “Do you feel comfortable leaving without an altered mask?”
The blatant observation made me pause. Tanner was right. I did rely on my Variant too much. When was the last time I’d ventured anywhere without changing my face?
Well, fuck.
Echo had stripped me back to a normal, boring person. A basic human—and basic I was not.
I launched towards the exit, and when Emerson went to follow, Micah pulled on her shoulder. “Let her go.”
I had to escape, knowing that if I stayed, I would lash out and hurt one of them. The few remaining people in the world I actually loved and respected.
The loss of Chase had left a potent mark like no other. The overwhelming grief and hopelessness helped shape an unpredictable, rabid animal who was willing to do anything— be anything—to gain the bitter vengeance we were owed. I didn’t know who I was without it.
As I reached the doorway, Psycho and Ava entered, their advance stalled by the tense environment.
“What now?” he asked.
“NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS!” I screamed before escaping the claustrophobic hold from the sudden clarity of my weaknesses.
I barged into Remi’s room at Playhouse, halting in the entryway as the door clicked shut behind me. Lights were dimmed, replaced by a blue, ambient glow, accompanied by airy, alien music.
“Welcome to the genie’s lamp, where all your wishes will be fulfilled,” Remi’s voice boomed, ethereal and weird as fuck.
“Cut the shit, Remi, and come out from the divider.”
Bright illumination flickered to life as the man himself came out of hiding.
My jaw dropped, completely gobsmacked. Remi was entirely covered in baby blue paint, a black wig tied in a high ponytail atop his head that had the striking resemblance of hay.
“Do I know you?” he asked, his stance aggressive.
“It’s me, idiot,” I managed to splutter. He pitched an eyebrow, and I waved a hand over my face. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognise your best friend?”
His gaze roamed over my frame, clocking the red hair, green eyes and changed face. My body was the same, though. Surely, he remembers that.
“Spencer?”
“In the flesh. Now, can you put something on? Your get-up is distracting me.”
He coughed, then coughed again—the only reaction he gave to my true appearance. I was sure he’d seen far more sinister than my Variant. “You booked me? Requesting the genie?”
Sitting on the edge of his bed, I leant back on my hands, smirking. “It was a joke.”
“Not a funny one,” he said, ripping off his atrocious wig and flinging it at me. “Why are you here?”
“I’m going to kill Echo.” My eyes blazed with seriousness.
Remi ran a hand through his blonde adonis hair. “I need a smoke for this.” Pulling out his pipe, he lit the end.
“Phenomenal performance, by the way. I was proud to call you a friend that night. If I wasn’t in hiding, I’d definitely have screamed your name from the rooftops.”
“You could have fooled me. I haven’t seen you since.”
I raised a clear bag full of candy. “I come bearing gifts.”
He snatched it out of my hands and upended the contents in an empty bowl, stuffing his face and groaning at the various treats.
“Why’d it take you so long to see me?” Remi asked with a pout.
“Echo and I fucked… Then, he stuck a knife in my chest,” I blurted, unable to keep it a secret anymore. I had to tell someone.
His face remained impassive, though I could see the wheels churning in his head. Then, his features shifted into concern. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“When am I not?”
He rubbed his jaw. “I told you you’d get dickmatised. He has a magic cock no woman can move past.”
I shook my head at the ridiculous notion. “I’ve had better.” Remi spared me a sceptical glance. “Okay…that was a lie. But he’s not the primary reason I’m here. I need to get in contact with your mistress.”
“I’m confused. Do you want to kill Echo or see Mistress?”
“Both. But more pressing, I have to have a meeting with Aster, and she’s been in hiding. Pleasssseeee ?”
“I don’t want you to die, Spencer. If you threaten her, you won’t come back from that.”
“I don’t want to kill her. I want to ask for her help.”
Silence stretched between us.
Remi shuffled his feet for another minute, then relented. “She’s been scarce since the Ludus attack. But there is one event she would not miss for anything.” I perked up at his charged tone. “Without a doubt, Mistress will visit her sister for the Eternal Nights Festival.”
“Where is her sister buried?”
“Nightingale Cemetery.”
I grinned. This will be easier than I thought .