Page 35 of How To Survive This Fairytale

Clever, you think.So clever.

“We’re safe, we’re happy, our lives are lovely,” he says.“Nothing more to it than that.”

Eighteen

“Who wouldyou be if you weren’t who you are?”Cyrus asks.“This is a game Gertie and I play sometimes.”

You peek one eye open from the mass of blankets Cyrusinsistedyou rest upon.He scurries about the kitchen, holding a cabinet door open with his wing while fetching two mugs with his hand.The kettle whistles.He grabs a jar, places it in an open drawer, and then closes the drawer so the jar is held stuck between it and the countertop.With his hand, he unscrews the lid.Clever.You close your eye and nestle into the blankets, soothed by the domestic clatter.

He sets down a tray and settles against your legs.

Despite everything, a weak smile tugs at your mouth.“Surprised you didn’t sit on my chest,” you say, your voice rasping from the magic’s chokehold.

“Sorry—shall I move?”

“You’re fine.”You sit up.“Just remembering how it used to be.”

“Then I’ll consider it an invitation for the future.”

He hands you a mug that smells like lemon and honey and something floral.Which is strange, because you shouldn’t be able to smell it at all.And then you remember the potion, neglected in this morning’s rush to warn Cyrus in time.

Shit.

Two mornings in a row without it.Shit, shit, shit.

“What is the game you play with Gertie?,” you ask.

“Fairly self-explanatory,” says Cyrus.“You just answer the question.”

You stare at him.

You don’t know what to say, and not only because your head feels like cotton and your throat still burns.All the choices you’ve made… No, they weren’t choices.They never felt like choices.Who would you have become if no one had ever forced your hand?What kind of life would you have led if you’d had any say in it whatsoever?What kind of life would you have led if you’d wrenched control of it back into your own hands years and years ago?

Cyrus’s smile softens.

“Make it up,” he says.“Tell me a story.”

“I’d be a… I am… I train dogs,” you say.

His eyes glint.“Do you now?To do what?”

“… Tricks?”

“Lovely.Really, people must love that.”

“The dogs I train can… talk.”

“No kidding.That’s brilliant.”

“My customers are… They seem to like it.”

“Who wouldn’t?Talking dogs.Marvelous.Is it magic?”

“I won’t disclose my secrets.”

“Not even to me?”

“Especiallynot to you.”