Page 22

"Hey," I choked out, after several moments of awkward silence.

She didn't reply and just continued to glare.

"Did... did you sleep well?" I asked, not sure what else to say.

"No," she snapped. "The Beast screamed in the middle of the night and woke me up. And then, with all the other noise, it was impossible to get back to sleep." Her eyes narrowed further, and I noticed that there were dark shadows encircling them.

"R-Right," was the only thing I could muster; my cheeks suddenly felt very hot. Last night, in the moment, I hadn't even considered the thinness of the walls.

An awkward silence hung between us for a moment, before Polly spit out a snarl that rivalled any noise the Beast had made; it sent the same shivers up my spine. "What the fuck were you thinking, Rachel?!" she growled. "Sleeping with him? Are you fucking serious?"

"I... I was... I was testing a theory!"

Polly squeezed her eyes shut, and her mouth opened and closed several times like she was at a loss for what to say or how to react. But she eventually found her words... "A theory? What the fuck are you on about?"

I sighed and steeled myself, mentally preparing for infuriating her further. "Yesterday, when I went into his room, we didn't just... talk."

Expecting another torrent of curses, I cringed again, but Polly just looked like she had been struck dumb. "What? You weren't even in there long enough to fuck him!"

My brow folded in. "That's because we didn't fuck—" I spat the word back; it felt like a gross mischaracterization of what had happened between Luc and me, "—but we did kiss. And after, when some of his powers returned, I wondered if, maybe, our kiss had something to do with it."

"So, of course, your first instinct was to sleep with him?" she retorted, one of her eyebrows rising.

My frown deepened. "It wasn't like that. He said that we needed to trust him again, remember? And being, uh, intimate... with someone requires a lot of trust, and—"

She cut me off with a wave of her hand, her nose scrunching up at the bridge. "Whatever, I don't need the details," she said. "Did your little 'experiment' even work?"

The memory of the dresser drawers shooting out all at once flashed through my mind. "I think it did. I mean, not all of his powers are back, because he needs you to—"

Her gaze sharpened. "What? Do I have to fuck him now too?"

"No!" I shot back, horrified. "That's not what I mean!"

But she just ignored me and continued, "Because I can tell you right now that will never happen. I won't stoop to that level."

My eyes stung as tears began to form.

I tried to remind myself that she was just lashing out because she was upset; I swallowed hard, trying to choose my response carefully so I didn't say something I'd regret.

.

.

But before I could say anything else, the door to Luc's bedroom popped open behind me; Polly and I whipped around to look.

Luc staggered out into the living room, rubbing at his eyes and stifling a yawn.

As soon his eyes fell on me, a smile broke across his handsome face.

"There you are. I was wondering where you went—" he stopped short as soon as he saw the tight expression on my face; then he glanced past me and caught sight of Polly.

His face blanched as he took in her withering glare.

"Oh."

Polly cracked her knuckles undoubtedly as a warning. "Get lost, you sick fuck. Don't you dare come near us—"

"Us?" I echoed, incredulously. "That's not for you to decide."

"Maybe it should be! It's not like you've been making great decisions lately!" She jerked her hand towards Luc.

Luc looked like he didn't understand why Polly was back to viciously hating him. "What'd I do?"

Polly raised her eyebrow and aimed a pointed look at me. "Not what, but who..."

Luc's face flushed red. "But it... it helped... I mean, not that—"

"Oh, shut up!" Polly snapped. "Either way, you're not going to get so 'lucky' with me. Don't think that I'm stupid enough to fall for that bullshit. I'd rather be eaten by the Beast, thank you very much!"

Luc just stood there, his eyes wide, his brows sloped sadly above.

Polly didn't seem to care; she bowled right over him. "I can't believe that, after everything that's happened, your first instinct was to stick it in Rach—"

"Stop!" I shouted, shooting a significant glance at Polly. "Attacking each other isn't really helping our cause."

Polly rolled her eyes but held her tongue.

"I don't know if you've realized, but we're not exactly overrun with allies at the moment," I continued, motioning around the room. "We only have each other. So enough already!"

Rather than rounding on me, she just sent another scathing glare in my direction. "Fine! Fine. There's no use in trying to rationalize with idiots anyway," she grumbled. She stalked back over to the futon and turned away again.

Luc sighed and glanced at me, looking thankful. I gave him a slight smile. At least he understood that we were in this together... if only I could get Polly to realize that, too.

He came over and took me by the shoulders, drawing me into his chest, resting his chin on my head. I pressed myself against him, savouring the warmth and comfort of his touch. I hadn't realized until last night how starved I had been for human contact.

"So much for our little victory..." I sighed, my voice slightly muffled by his body.

He chuckled, and I felt the rumble against my cheek. "Indeed."

"Hey, I was wondering... Does having your powers back mean we can go out and actually do something?" I asked, angling my head so I could see his face. "Like, could we actually fight this thing now? Or escape?"

"No," Luc said, sounding apologetic. "My powers have only partially returned, so I'm still too weak to do much. I couldn't face that thing without my full powers. I've never seen anything like it."

I groaned.

It was the same thing, over and over; we found out more, but never anything we could use.

We were always running away, never towards something.

.

.

It was wearing me out.

I couldn't decide what was worse: facing that thing or being trapped forever. But if I was here, with him... I burrowed my face deeper into his embrace, wishing for time to stop, so I could rest there forever.

"But," he said, taking me by the shoulders and pulling me back; I grimaced a little at having our moment interrupted. Crouching so he could see directly into my eyes, he spoke again. "Now that I have my powers back, there is something we can try..."

"What?" I asked, my nerves awakening, sending tingles of excitement through me.

"We can consult the cards again. I might be able to get a reading out of them, now. It might give us a clue of where to start,"

My eyes widened with comprehension. Of course, the cards! If they were accurate enough to predict the romance between Luc and me—enough so to attract the attention of the curse—then there had to be a chance they could tell us more.

Luc left the room again, heading into his bedroom and returning with the same old cards he had used on the night I first came to his apartment. I shot another glance at Polly, but she seemed content not to be involved, her back still turned to us.

Taking me by the hand, Luc led me over to the little table in the front of the room.

.

.

Exactly where I had sat when we first, truly met.

It was an eerie echo, like déjà vu.

Except this time I wasn't so sceptical, and the worries I'd had then seemed superficial now, eclipsed by our far direr situation.

Like before, Luc carefully laid the cards out on the table, arranging them face down in another elaborate pattern. After he had finished, he cast an evaluating glance over them before he began to flip them up. Once again, I admired the strange drawings and words that decorated each card face.

His eyes rapidly flicked over the pattern, trying to make the connection between the series of cards. After a moment, his brow tightened and he scowled. I watched him on tenterhooks, fearful of what the message might be.

"I worried this might happen," he mumbled, his face now softening to a look of disappointment. "The reading isn't clear. It doesn't tell me anything we don't already know."

I glanced from his face to the cards and back to him. "What do they say?"

"That you're the target of a sinister supernatural force, cursed because of your closeness to me. But there's no word on who or why... or even what."

"Still nothing," I sighed, relaxing—defeated—in the chair.

Luc shook his head. "We can try again. There's always the chance that the cards will change tomorrow, tell us something new. You just need to have hope."

What made him think I didn't have that already? It was all I had, really; a wish that tomorrow would bring new information, the key to our survival. I had been surviving on it...

But it truly was all we had, all that we could cling to: hope.

??

Oh, Polly... ??

What do you think Luc will need to do to earn her trust?