Page 74 of Solar Shadows

“What else could it be?” she threw in.

“I don’t know, maybe you lying out of your arse?” I tossed back.

She sighed, the sound like a death rattle. “Foolish, Isaac. After everything I have done to help you.”

“Like attacking me?” I countered. “That was helpful.”

“Like saving The Moon.”

I flinched under the flash of memory, my eyes pulsing. Shaking it off, I approached her, skin crawling with fear.

Yes, she did frighten me, the mysteries around her disturbing.

I licked my lips, unsure of saying this next part. Riley and Drake came up to flank me.

“What do you suggest?” Drake asked her, as if reading the question lingering on the tip of my tongue.

“I suggest you stay with me and use that wonderful voice every minute of every hour.”

Pass me a sick bucket.

“But there are things to do,” she said. “You are not in the restaurant anymore, Sunshine One.”

I bristled, fists clenched. “Taken? By who?”

“Taken, taken, taken. But Sweetvoice will find you. When he can.”

“Where have I gone?” I asked.

“When I can?” Drake chimed in.

“You must go, Isaac. You must stop these rebels and stay alive for me to taste and destroy later. Do not bow out of the game yet, my celestial wonders. For we are only just beginning.”

“Isaac,” Riley said. “What the?—”

I left the orchard, eyes slowly peeling open to face a white ceiling, an anemic orange light spilling over the cracks in the plaster.

“What…” I tried, mouth full of sawdust, realizing I was lying on a bed.

I could smell the faint trace of damp and sandalwood cologne, sensing a presence nearby.

“Hello?” I managed, rubbing at my eyes.

“Hi,” Tony’s voice answered.

A shot of surprise got me sitting up. Pain lanced through my head in retaliation, but I stayed vertical.

Just.

“Tony?” Scratching tore at my throat with every word I spoke, and my skull felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool.

Ugh. This sucked.

My ex sat on a chair beside the bed in the light of a lamp with no shade on a bedside table. I rubbed my eyes again, inspecting him. His white clothes were grubby and covered in blood, his hair fluffier than earlier.

I winced, pain hot in my side, a wave of dizziness passing over me. “Fuck…”

“Take it easy,” he said, getting up. “You’ve been through a lot.” He helped me adjust my position to rest my back on a huge pillow.