Page 80 of Destined Dawn

“Their lost princess.”

He shakes his head. “I don’t think that’s it. But she’s sohappy to be here, to find her dad. I don’t think I can go and destroy that for her just because I have a ‘feeling’.” He starts tapping all over again and I consider him.

“Can you readmymind? All those voices.”

“Yes.”

“Then why’d you make me say all that shit, man?”

“I was curious.” He scratches at his beard, considering me in return.

“You … you changed that dude’s thoughts before, right?” I ask. He nods. “You think you could stop the voices in my head?”

“Would you want me to?”

I think about it, all those voices rattling on as I try to anyway. “Nah,” I say. “It’s just who I am.”

The prof nods again and then stands to his feet.

“I’m going back to bed. You should try and get some sleep too.”

“Sure,” I say, but I stay where I am and watch him go. There’s no point. I’m not sleeping tonight.

After a while I pace the room a bit, then I play with the knife. Flicking the blade up and down, and finally I retreat back to the chair.

Morning arrives, but the room doesn’t get a whole lot brighter, the window’s darkened. Some dude knocks at the door and then proceeds to place all kinds of breakfast food out on the giant table without saying one word to me.

The smell of all that food wakes all the other dudes up until they appear one by one. First the prof again, then the Kennedy boy, followed by the enforcer, and finally the were and little rabbit together. Instantly those voices in my head go quiet. Like someone slammed off the radio.

Her hair’s all tangled and her skin has that flush which tells me he’s already made her come this morning.

I’m chewing some pastry shit with a ton load of chocolate and I watch them tiptoe over together, hands linked, little rabbit wearing his shirt.

“Morning,” the were says, looking exactly like a dude who just got laid.

He pulls a chair out from the table for her and she sits down.

He takes the chair next to her and as his backside hits the seat, a magic sweeps through me.

“Shit,” the Kennedy boy says. “You feel that?”

“Yeah,” the were-boy says, “like electricity is passing through my body. What is that?”

“The bond,” the prof says. He has dark circles under his eyes and I guess he didn’t get that sleep he wanted after all. “All the bonds are sealed now.”

“You fucked?” I ask them.

“You know they did,” the enforcer hisses. I shrug. I wanted to hear them say it.

“What does it mean?” little rabbit asks.

“It’s our magic, linked and entwined together now. The circle complete,” the prof answers. I dart my gaze around the table. He’s right. A goddamn circle. He rests his hand on the tabletop. “I reckon there’s a good chance it’ll be even stronger if we link hands.”

“I’m not holding hands,” the were snorts.

“You were just holding her hand,” I point out.

“She’s a girl.”