Chapter 31 #2
They quickly crossed the street and headed down the concrete steps into the Rose Garden, looking for a spot where they could watch the street while still being hidden from view.
After finding a nice, darkly lit area behind the pink rose bushes, Jesmine collapsed on the grass, the pack still strapped to her back. Soraya settled down next to her, keeping one eye out toward the street in case any suspicious figures headed their way.
The garden itself was laid out in a rectangular grid. The towering rose bushes were spaced evenly apart like silent sentinels guarding the park from any unwanted intruders.
Past the garden, if they’d kept going straight, the path leads to the grand fountain that was in between the garden and the Science Center.
She could hear it run as the water splashed down in multiple steady rivulets.
She could smell the water mingled with the scent of warm, floral undertones of the roses, as well as the mossy earth of the grass and soil.
For once, she wasn’t choking on the exhaust or the general trash smell in the inner city.
It relaxed her a fraction—a tiny, minuscule fraction.
“Okay, Soraya,” Jesmine said after she caught her breath, “you officially win the ‘Attracting Craziest Men’ award,” she declared.
“And honey, you need to set your standards way higher than whatever the fuck that thing was back there. You can do way better—” A hint of mockery entered her voice.
“Did you close your eyes the whole time you guys were doing it?”
“What?!” Soraya squawked. She whipped away from the street to stare at her friend, who lay sprawled on the grass with her eyes closed and a wicked grin splitting her face.
“Do you really believe I slept with—with that thing?” She was absolutely perplexed that Jesmine would ever think she would sleep with a decaying corpse!
Jesmine shrugged her shoulders. “Every woman has that one uggo on their roster, and since you were practically glued to your vibrator this past month, I thought maybe you had gotten desperate toward the end there. The first guy was a knockout, if that makes you feel better.”
Soraya smacked Jesmine’s leg, unaware that she saw Tariq.
“No, weirdo. That thing almost killed me before! And before you ask, no, I don’t have a clue what it is or how it found—us— but it did take a chunk out of me, and I guess it was coming back for seconds,” Soraya spat with indignation.
“And I have no clue what those frog demons are either, all I know is that for the past week, crazy shit has been happening to me ever since I hooked up with that man back at Midnight Jungle. Most of it doesn’t make sense and the rest of it is just plain impossible to explain and we have been through some crazy shit…
but nothing like this and, and I feel weird—different and, and—” she cut herself off to blow out a long, steadying breath.
An awkward kind of quietness settled over them after her outburst. The fountain’s rhythmic splashing wrapped the rose garden in a deceptive calm, the water’s steady cadence at odds with the tension thrumming through Soraya’s veins.
“Those dead people in the stairwell…” Jesmine’s voice barely rose above the fountain’s murmur. “Did you know them? I hadn’t seen them around before.”
A flash of silver hair beneath an embroidered hood flickered through Soraya’s mind. “No…The woman had the same hair color as one of the guys you hooked up with. White…like snow…” Soraya trailed off as she pictured Raziel and, strangely enough, Alkimos.
“I—I think that’s their real hair color,” Jesmine said softly, like she couldn’t believe it herself. “Like the Targaryens but better looking.”
Soraya didn’t say anything about that, lost in her thoughts.
“You said you feel…different, and the thing with your ears…are you—” Jasmine blew out a breath of her own before continuing, “Are you turning into an elf?”
Startled, Soraya snapped her gaze back toward Jesmine. “An…elf? Did you just ask if I’m an elf?”
“Turning into an elf,” Jesmine corrected.
“That’s not funny, Jesmine,” Soraya’s voice came out sharper than intended.
Jesmine met her gaze. “I’m not trying to be,” she responded, dead serious.
“Why even ask me that? There is no such thing as a, as a…” Soraya couldn’t finish the sentence, not because of how ridiculous it sounded—but because the terrifying possibility rang with a truth she couldn’t voice.
“Do you know what a changeling is?” Jesmine continued. “Like in those old fairytales.”
Soraya’s face drained of color. Every ounce of logic inside her screamed to shut this conversation down, yet she heard herself correcting her friend, “Changelings aren’t elves…
they’re fae.” Jesmine’s slow nod sent ice through her veins—until another memory surfaced.
That unfinished sentence from the apartment, just before Jesmine had pinched her pointed ear…
“Jesmine…” Soraya’s voice came out in a whisper. “What were you going to say about Ahvi?”
Jesmine met her gaze squarely, “You. Ahvi. Those winged men I slept with.” Her fingers dug into the soil. “You’ve all got pointed ears and this…freakish glow about you.”
Confused, Soraya furrowed her brow. “A freakish glow?”
“And Ahvi’s been lying, Soraya.” Jesmine’s hands trembled as she clenched fistfuls of earth. “She’s not—they’re not—from our world. She’s—they’re not human.”
Her words pelted Soraya. Fragmented memories erupted behind her eyes—oceans glowing beneath unfamiliar stars, savage yet beautiful-looking men, a jade fountain larger than a city block, and glowing violet-blue eyes. Places and people that shouldn’t exist played like a film in her head.
“Soraya…” Jesmine’s voice cracked. “I…I don’t think you’re human, either. I’m starting to remember stuff—from when we were kids…I think you’re one of them.” Her eyes shone with terrified certainty. “I think you’re fae.”