Chapter 22
945 Words
Chapter 22
“Earth to Edie,” Cassie says. “Where is your head at?”
“Oh…nowhere. Here. I guess.”
I’m bunking in Cassie’s room despite not getting permission. I’ve had enough of Tina and her little shop of horrors. Her vamp roommate is still shacking up with her boyfriend so her bed is free. Cassie is beyond delighted. She’s in full sleepover mode, talking non-stop about Darcy, and the dance, and dancing with Darcy. It’s hard to focus when I have so many questions and not nearly enough answers.
“Hey, is your roommate worried about getting pregnant?” I ask.
“Super random, but no. There’s a spell for that.”
“Does it work one hundred percent of the time? I mean, I don’t know how much you know about birth control in the real world, but it’s not a fail safe.”
“Are you thinking about…you’re not going to have s*x with Greg, are you?”
“Oh, gods no! I’m just curious.”
“Well, it’s pretty effective…just not if you’re boinking an actual god. God sperm is like—” She does jazz hands. “You and Greg should be fine.”
“I’m not boinking Greg!” I yell, throwing a pillow at her. “But what about you and Darcy? Have you gotten the magical birth control spell put on you?”
“Darcy?” She blushes bright red. “No, we’re not there yet. I do like him, though.”
“Yeah, I can tell.”
“He dropped one of his scales for me. I think it was one of those accidentally on purpose things.” She reaches inside her drawer and pulls out a gigantic shiny aqua fish scale.
“Wait, Cassie,” I say, a smile brewing on my lips. “When he goes into the water and turns into a merman, does he have his pants on?”
“Um…” She bites her lip. “No.”
“And you’re there?” I push.
“I…” She blushes. “I don’t look. That would be rude. Not that they care, really. I swear the merfolk are the most immodest of all the shifters.” She goes a deeper shade of red.
I laugh and she throws a pillow at me, but only lightly, still holding fast to the iridescent scale in her hand.
“That, like, came from his body?” I ask, a bit grossed out.
“Yeah but…” She stops, and her eyes roll back in her head. I expect her to see what will be for breakfast tomorrow or tell me something about the weather. What she does say chills me to my core.
“The water born boy will lose his head on the night of the spring celebration. A child of the gods will take flight and destroy one she loves. Flames shall rain from the heavens and the monsters shall cry in fear.”
Cassie comes back to herself. “Holy shit.”
“Cassie,” I ask, my goosebumps settling, “are you okay?”
“No, I…” She shakes her head. “Oh my gods, Edie…that didn’t feel good.”
“Yeah.” I smile at her, trying to calm her down. “It’s always a little weird when you go into a trance.”
“No, I mean, the whole thing felt different. Like, what I said wasn’t about tuna, or foot fungus, or cheating on a test. That one felt important. That one felt real.”
“Is this the first one that felt like that?”
“Yes,” she nods. “But ever since I touched that Seer Stone I’ve felt a little different, a little off. Like something was building up inside me. And now this?”
She hiccups. “I just tried to ignore it. I think so many people have told me my abilities are lame that I started to believe it. I never thought I’d ever really see something important, Seer Stone or not.”
“Oh, Cassie.” I reach over and rub her back while also feeling guilty as hell. I definitely never thought she’d see something important either. But saying that isn’t going to help, so instead I concentrate on the prophecy.
“Okay. You said a water born boy would lose his head at the Spring Fling.”
Her brow furrows, thinking. “I touched Darcy’s scale and then…oh no. Edie! He’s going to die at the dance!”
I tighten my arm around her. “You don’t know that,” I say. “You said the water born boy, not specifically him. It could be any merman…it could be the Leviathan, that awful thing that killed my dad. He definitely looked water born.”
She shakes her head. “No, it was Darcy’s scale that made me go into a trance. The vision is connected to him. But how do I tell him? Everyone thinks my visions are a total joke.”
“Cassie…” I don’t know how to put it without being offensive. “How sure are you about this? You can lose your head in a lot of different ways. Maybe he just gets angry at something. You really don’t want to start your relationship off by telling Darcy he’s going to die and then have it not happen, right?”
“Uh, so it’s better to tell him he’s going to die and actually have him die, so he goes to the afterlife knowing I’m not a fraud?” Cassie asks, and we both burst out laughing.
“Okay, okay, no. Scratch that,” I agree. “What I mean is, what if you tell him he’s going to die and he doesn’t?”
No longer laughing, Cassie says, “But what if I don’t warn him, and he does?”
“Wow,” I say, processing her problem. “Well, just try to find a good time to tell him? I mean, you’ve got to find a nice way to let him know that he might die…nicely. Like, not over breakfast.”
“You’re so right,” Cassie quickly agrees. “Lunch would be better, right?”
“No. Not at lunch. And definitely don’t compare this prophecy to the tuna noodle casserole vision either.” Surely that’s more offensive to the merfolk than a regular person.
“Not lunch, not breakfast…what about dinner? Good time, you think? Maybe?”
I turn out the light. “Good night, Cassie.”
“So not during meal time at all?”
- Writer
