Chapter Ten
PISCES
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?
” I ask Evan, eyeing him over the top edge of the book I’m flipping through.
I came into the library seeking somewhere peaceful to try to write other than my room but found Evan in here, next to a pile of books on potions and earth magic.
Neither of which he is particularly skilled at.
“I didn’t ask you to help, you know,” he mumbles as he skims a page of whatever he’s reading. He’s seated at a large table near the fire. The crackle of the flames and pages turning every few moments have been the only sounds for the last several minutes. “Why are you in here anyways?”
I toss the book I’d grabbed off the table to the ground, next to a few others I’ve already flipped through.
None contained any mention of a temporary invisibility potion.
I swing my legs up over the arm of the comfy loveseat I’m occupying and lean my head back on the other armrest, careful not to rest the back of my neck directly on it.
I’ve gotten a few additions to my existing tattoo that spans from behind my right ear, across my neck, and wraps around to my left collarbone.
Evan offered to heal it right after, but part of me wanted to feel human, even if just for a little bit.
“I have this chord progression I can’t get out of my head, but I can’t seem to find the words to go along with it. I thought a change of scenery would help.”
I hear Evan close a book and open another one. “I’d offer to listen to it and help out, but I know how you are.”
I huff out a laugh, closing my eyes. My bandmates know exactly how personal my writing process is.
I never share anything with them until it’s time for Shaun to add the drums. Then we make tweaks from there.
I’ve always been like that. When I write, I pour my heart onto the page, so I can’t just let someone hear the music before it’s complete.
“About earlier,” Evan starts to say, then trails off. I can feel his uncanny green eyes on me.
“Which part? Me attacking Austin, or the party?”
I open my eyes, meeting his gaze. He looks at me with concern, which is pretty rare for Evan. He’s not usually an emotional guy.
“I was maybe a bit harsh to you, about Austin,” he clarifies. “He attacked Benny and you reacted. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
I shrug, getting up and taking a seat next to him, pulling another book off the pile. “Don’t worry about it. I wish I could say I attacked him because he was hurting my friend, but honestly it was Benny’s blood that caused my siren to come out so fervently.”
Evan claps me on the shoulder. “He’s that tasty?”
I grin. “Oh definitely,” I respond, winking at Evan. He just shakes his head.
He glances sideways at me. “Do we need to talk about the party?”
My grin falls, and I replace it with a fixed smile. “Nah, we don’t need to go there.”
“I guess I’m probably not the person to talk to about it. I’ll never know what it’s like for you and Benny.”
I open the book in front of me, absently turning the pages, though I’m not really reading them.
It’s hard knowing my friends will find soulmates and get to grow old with them, while my aging has already started to slow.
I’ll look thirty for the rest of my years, but I’d trade that in a heartbeat for a mate.
“I don’t even know if I can blame Born fae for being so prejudiced.
The stars bless you all with mates, and now with what’s happening with the warlocks… I mean, I get it.”
“What’s going on with warlocks?” a familiar voice says from the doorway to the library. I jump out of my seat, striding forward and wrapping my cousin up in a huge hug. Simon squeezes me back and pokes his head around me to look at Evan. “You two getting overly gushy again?”
Evan huffs, ignoring Simon and going back to his reading.
I follow Simon back to the table, grinning.
I take in his familiar features, the thick mop of wavy black hair, his wide boyish brown eyes and easy smile.
He gets his coloring from his mother’s side of his family, but he and I share the same nose.
He’s been gone visiting his grandmother in Seoul for a couple weeks and then stopped by to visit his dad’s side—my side—of the family on the way home. I’ve missed him.
“So warlocks?” Simon prompts. I fill him in on the details, how the fae council have put out an advisory about warlocks in particular.
Witnesses report multiple instances of warlocks seemingly going crazy and attacking other fae and humans, kindreds especially.
“You need to be careful, and don’t go wandering off by yourself too long during the festival,” I tell him seriously.
My cousin recently got his kindred rune, but I don’t think I’ll ever stop being overprotective of him.
I brought him into the whole mess; the least I can do is keep him safe.
“Well, as my sponsor, I guess Evan will have to keep me company,” Simon responds, grinning.
Evan groans. “You’d be much better off with Shaun in the event of a warlock attack.”
“Fine by me.” Simon’s grin grows even wider.
I quirk a brow at him. I’m pretty sure my cousin has a small thing for Shaun, but other times I’m not sure if he’s just joking to annoy the wolf shifter. Maybe it’s both.
I notice Evan grin out of the corner of my eye.
“Okay, so stay away from warlocks. Got it. What is all this?” Simon asks, picking up a few books and reading the titles.
“Evan’s going to attempt to make the potion for the sardines game,” I tease.
“Why do I remember something about that not going so well last time?” Simon muses.
Evan bares his teeth, a growl emanating from deep in his throat. “It didn’t go that badly.”
“You set the kitchen on fire,” I remind him.
“Hardly. Besides, this is a much easier potion.” He flips the page of his book over so quickly I expect it to tear right out of the book. “Oh!”
Simon and I crane our necks to look at what he’s reading.
“I think this is it. It’s got a lot of ingredients, though. And—” he groans, “—it then needs to be amplified by earth magic.”
“Well, you can do that, can’t you?” Simon asks.
“Yeah, but I’m pretty shit at the other elements,” Evan says. “I’ve gotten down the skill to clean blood and dirt out of things pretty easily, and I finally used my earth magic offensively when we caught Austin, but this earth spell isn’t something I’m familiar with.”
“Know any earth elementals or earth nymphs?” I ask.
“Some,” he responds, but it’s pretty clear his thoughts are focused on the potion and spell.
I nod towards the hallway and Simon follows me out. “Figure he needs to concentrate,” I tell him, and Simon hums in agreement.
We walk along the hallway and find ourselves inside the nave, the part of the church mass would be held in, if this were still an actual Catholic church.
I walk down one of the aisles, along a pew, and take a seat.
Simon slides along it and lies down flat on his back, head near me, eyes looking up at me.
“The family really misses you,” he says softly, watching my reaction closely.
I look down at him and then up towards the altar, at the cross still hanging on the wall, in the center. I swallow thickly. My gaze travels up to the ceiling, as if I can see the stars through it.
“It’s better this way,” is all I say.
Simon doesn’t respond. I think he disagrees with me, but I know my decision to stay away keeps them all safer.
And not just because of my siren teeth. I’m walking a thin line, and I can’t allow anyone else I love to get involved.
It’s already bad enough Simon was pulled into this, but no matter how many times I urged him to stay away, he didn’t.
And part of me is so grateful for that, because I don’t know what I’d do without him.
The other part of me recognizes what a selfish prick I am.
He sits upright, resting his elbows on his knees. “I also got some bad news on the way back here,” he says after the silence has stretched on for quite a while.
I glance at him, startled. “Is it—?”
“Nothing about our family, no,” he rushes to assure me. “Presley—he got injured, falling off a ladder.”
“What? Is he okay?” I pull out my phone, not finding any messages or calls from our band manager.
“He’ll be okay. I told him I’d take care of letting you all know. But he’s gonna be out of commission for a while. Broke a lot of bones. He’s gonna have to skip the Alchemy Festival.”
I raise my head again towards the sky, wondering what the fuck the stars are playing at.
“Fuck,” I breathe out. This definitely is not ideal, but mostly I just feel bad for Presley.
While Simon is kindred and we can heal him with magic easily—well, Evan can anyways—Presley isn’t.
It’d be illegal for us to interfere. More bullshit Born fae laws to supposedly make sure fae continue to fly under the radar.
“It’s gonna be weird without him there.”
Simon nods, clasping his hands together. “I know I don’t have much experience,” Simon says slowly. “But I think I can take over for him, at least until he’s feeling better.”
I bump my shoulder into his. “We’d be lucky to have you. Though I’m not sure we can get another drum tech this quickly. Think you can handle both roles?”
Simon grins, nodding. “At least in the meantime, yeah.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll do great,” I say, clapping him on the back.
He smiles softly at me, and then both our heads turn towards the doorway behind us as Marcus, our front-of-house engineer, and a few other of our crew including Niamh, my backup vocalist, enter.
“Simon! You’re back,” Lily, one of our lighting techs, says, coming over and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.
“Hey guys,” Simon greets. Marcus, Gwen—our stage manager—and Niamh all find seats in the surrounding pews, handing around a bottle of something.
“Want any?” Marcus asks, holding out the bottle.