Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sidney followed her sister down the aisle, doing her best to ignore the literal monster who had just threatened her life. Vile was becoming more and more terrifying, each time she saw him.
And each time she saw him, her sister was slipping farther and farther away.
Virtue had warned her this would happen, and sure enough, it was playing out before her eyes.
Vile was a manipulative liar—he knew how to twist people to whatever narratives he wanted them to believe.
And he was the very best there was at doing it. And that much was painfully clear.
Because Sasha was brilliant. Nobody in the world was smarter than her sister. Yet there she was, falling for it, hook line and sinker. Sidney knew that if Sasha had been born with half of Sidney’s social skills, their roles in the world would have been very different. But Sasha was just…
Well?
There was no way around it.
She was awkward as fuck.
Never knew what to say. Never knew when to say it. Never knew how to say it. She had all the tact and charisma of their dad’s favorite fart joke. Brains? Yeah. Sure. Brains in spades.
But apparently all of it was useless when it came to seeing through what the actual, literal monster was doing to her.
Sidney found her sister leaning with her back against the last bookcase by the far wall, underneath a stained-glass depiction of Dracula. At least they weren’t going into that story. Yet.
Sasha had a hand over her eyes, and her shoulders were shaking with the telltale behavior of someone trying to hide the fact that they were crying. But it was the red scratches on her arm that drew Sidney’s attention.
She remembered the marks on Sasha’s arms, when she’d helped her sister through her drug issues early in college. She hadn’t asked about them. She knew they’d been from her nails. Maybe she should have asked for more details at the time.
Taking up a position across from her, she waited. She wouldn’t make her sister talk. There wasn’t a point. Sasha would explain if she wanted to, and only when she was ready.
It took a minute, but her sister finally rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, pulled in a hard sniff, and let out a shuddering breath. “I used to listen to that fucking book on loop to fall asleep…back when. Back when I was abusing.”
That was a slap to the face. “Oh fuck, Sash—”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t—I didn’t know.”
Quietly laughing, Sasha shot her a half-hearted smile. “Neither did he.”
“Or so he claims.” Sidney shook her head, starting to pace back and forth in front of her. “Don’t you see? He’s lying to you. He knew! He knew and he’s using you—”
“How could he have known, Sid?” Sasha leaned her head back against the bookshelf. “He’s trapped in these stupid books, he doesn’t know us.” She gestured at the cases around them, and the rows and rows of fiction. “He doesn’t know the damndest thing about us. Does Virtue know anything about you?”
“No, but—” Sidney frowned. “That doesn’t change anything. He had to have known, somehow. Informants. People in the real world, doing digging. He knew. He did it on purpose.”
“Why? What’d it get him? He hated it, just as much as I did.”
“For that reason. Don’t you see? He’s convincing you to—to like him.
Or something. You’re falling for it. You’re siding with him.
I can see it.” Walking up to her, she took her sister’s hands in hers and clutched them tight.
“I can’t lose you, Sash, I can’t. We have to stick together in this, or we don’t stand a chance of getting out alive! ”
“Do we anyway?” She watched her sister’s shoulders deflate. It was clear her mood, if it had any levity left in it, deflated the rest of the way. “One of us is doomed. We can’t tell a ‘unique story,’ we never stood a chance.”
“Don’t talk like that.” Marching up to her, she took Sasha in her arms and held her tight.
“Wonderland did a number on you. I get it. I totally do. I didn’t know that—that story was so awful for you, I had no clue.
But it’s gone now. It’s behind us. We’re tied, one-to-one.
We still have more chances ahead of us. And—”
“And Virtue has picked a genre that you two can’t possibly lose,” Sasha muttered into her shoulder. “Hasn’t he?”
It was Sidney’s turn to feel like her heart had fallen off a ledge.
Sasha was the smart one, after all. Sidney took a step back from her. “Well…I mean, it is his turn to pick, Vile got to choose.”
Sasha’s laugh was empty. The sound of someone who already knew they were going to die. “Superheroes or High Fantasy?”
Sidney kept her obscenities quiet to keep from drawing the attention of the two supernatural twins, even though she was pretty sure they were “reading along” with the whole conversation anyway. Pacing away from her sister, she put her hands on her hips. “Am I that predictable?”
“No, I figured those were the two genres he’d pick, because those are the two where the hero always wins. Always. Well, okay, not always in superheroes? But definitely in the golden age era ones he’d pick from.” Sasha made a noise. “I hope you like being stuck in the forties.”
“We aren’t going to the forties.” Sidney turned back to face her sister.
“Fuck.” Sasha smacked her head backwards against the row of books behind her. “I lost.”
“You lost what?” Yet again, she felt like she was chasing at the back end of a bus whenever she was around her sister. “What did you do?”
“Nothing. Nothing important. Vile just wanted to play a stupid game and make a bet and I lost.” Sasha waved her hand. “It was just over which genre Virtue would pick, and it just—it didn’t impact anything serious.”
“Now you’re playing casual games with him?” Sidney threw her hands up in the air. “You see? He’s the enemy, Sasha! You’re entertaining him!”
“I have to! I’m stuck with him! You’re not!” she shouted back.
“No, it’s because you want to fuck him. And don’t give me that ‘it’s because he was Moriarty’ bullshit, you’ve made out with the real Vile twice now—” Sidney stormed back up to her. “He’s the reason we’re here. He’s the reason one of us is going to die, Sasha!”
“I’m doing the best that I can!”
“It isn’t good enough!”
“That’s easy for you to say.” Sasha was crying again, tears running down her cheeks, unchecked. “Having Virtue on your side. Always being loved. Being Mom and Dad’s fucking favorite.”
“Do not bring them into this.” Sidney shook her head.
“This isn’t about them. This is about you desperately needing to get laid and deciding that the man who is trying to, and has—murdered us—is for some reason your best choice!
” Now she was mad. “Tell me something. During any of the hours you spent not talking to real humans and talking to your friends online or getting lost in any of your books, did you ever come across the concept of Stockholm Syndrome, or did you think that was a fucking instruction manual?”
Her head was snapped to the side before she realized that she’d even been slapped. It was only then, that her face stung.
Holy shit.
Her sister had just slapped her.
“Wow.” Sidney laughed. “I honestly didn’t fucking think you had that in you, Sash. I’m actually impressed.” She looked back at her. “You wanna do that again, or are you actually going to say something? Because you just admitted that I’m right.”
Sasha was shaking. Positively shaking with rage.
“I wish you could understand what it’s like to feel alone, Sidney.
Really, truly alone. I don’t think you have ever known that feeling once in your life.
You’ve always had me. Our parents. Your many, many girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, coworkers…
you’ve never had to spend a second alone with your own thoughts in your entire fucking life, Sid. ”
“Fuck. You.”
“You haven’t. And when the thoughts might catch up with you, and the guilt might catch up, you know what you do?
You hit the bars. You hit”—Sasha air quoted sarcastically as she drew out the word—“the ‘sceeene’ and fill your life with expensive booze and cheap sex. You want to mock me for being lonely? Fine. At least I know what loneliness is. I wonder what you’ll do if you ever have to look into that empty cavern in your soul.
It might eat you the ever-loving fuck alive! ”
“At least I won’t die alone as some seventy-year-old, ancient bog witch with like… eighty fucking cats!” Sidney couldn’t take it anymore. Storming away from her sister, she headed out of the aisle of books back to where Vile and Virtue were standing.
The two of them were quietly arguing, looking like they weren’t having a much more pleasant conversation than the one she and her sister were in the middle of, to be fair.
But at least they were dignified enough not to be screaming or at each other’s throats. Practice. Many, many more years of practice, she reminded herself.
Stomping over to Virtue, she took his white, suit-covered sleeve and tugged him away from Vile. She didn’t want to be anywhere near that bastard, but she wanted to make sure that Virtue was between her and that purple-eyed fuck as much as possible.
Virtue obliged, taking a good five steps back and ensured that Sidney was tucked behind his arm.
Vile rolled his eyes dramatically. “I only threatened her a little.”
“Uh-huh,” Sidney shot back. “As a horrible eye-monster.”
“I repeat, I threatened you a little.” His grin was slow. It sent a shiver up Sidney’s spine. “I can do far worse than that.”
She had no doubt. And no interest in finding out.
It took a few moments before Sasha walked out of the aisle. Her cheeks were dry, but her eyes were red. Vile looked at her, and if Sidney wasn’t mistaken, his jaw twitched.
Was he pissed that she was upset?
The look he gave Sidney was withering.
Oh, he was pissed. Or at least, he was pretending to be. It was all part of the damn show, she was sure. All part of the act he was playing for Sasha’s benefit. To trick her into thinking he somehow “cared” about her.
Somehow, she needed to get through to her sister.
Somehow, she needed to convince her that it was all bullshit.
Regret washed over her.
She’d done a shitty job.
Sasha moved to stand next to Vile. “You won the bet. High Fantasy.”
“Hah! I knew it.” Vile grinned. “It’s always High Fantasy. But your guess was a good one, my dear.” He brushed his hands down his lapels. “Well. Since I won, I shall choose my role. I shall be the evil and terrible Dark King attempting to take over the world, of course. And who shall you be?”
Sasha locked eyes with Sidney. “The local Bog Witch.”
Vile’s laugh would linger in Sidney’s mind for a long, long time.
Yeah.
She’d fucked things up.
Vile snapped his fingers. “Granted!”
Sasha screamed as the floor opened up beneath her and the world dropped out from under her.
Yeah.
She’d fucked things up big time.