Tatum felt strongly about the importance of life. She didn’t eat meat, or even milk or eggs, and she didn’t like using dead dragons for magic, even though all magic came from dragons except our primal power.
In the end, we’d already made so many sacrifices in that fight that none of us were willing to sacrifice Tatum too. We knew that there was a way to heal her, so we took it. We weren’t sure exactly why dragon blood helped us heal, but we figured it had something to do with the magic within it and something to do with the makeup of our primal bodies. We were primals because we were a mix of humans and the scribbly things from the other world.
Now, there were even more like us in the world, because the scribbly things had been mating. That was the whole reason they came to our world in the first place. Their women had all died, and they needed humans to bring more children into the world. At first—with my mother and Reid’s and Estelle’s—it had been a violation. The scribbly things had implanted us to grow within our mothers and had left something within the women that had driven them insane. But we’d discovered a way to remove that and the men who came to the world now were sworn to only form consensual bonds.
There was an official treaty between their kind and the leaders of the mage community in our world. They had to honor it, or we would retaliate.
Thus far, it had been smooth sailing, and the first group of newborn primals had just been born recently. We were in contact with those women, some of whom we’d rescued from the other world, and we were helping them to work through the process of raising these children. I had made some home visits and held babies, and it had been fun. I liked babies. They were so tiny. Their fingers and toes were especially delightful.
But I knew I wasn’t ready to have a baby. I wanted to go to toga parties and drink champagne. I was only twenty-two.
So, why was Logan already chomping at the bit? He was only twenty-five.
As if summoned by my thoughts, I looked up to see that Logan was walking down the street. He was wearing his typical black leather trench coat over a t-shirt and jeans. Not a toga. But then, he’d expressed dismay at the idea of dressing up. He waved. “What are you doing out here?” he called.
I started to yell back a response, but it was too complicated to do at full volume. Instead, I waited until he got closer. “I was trying to talk to Tatum,” I said.
“Oh, yeah, I saw her. She rushed past me and wouldn’t even say hi,” said Logan. “She all right?”
“Not really,” I said. “Reid opened his fat mouth and told her we saved her life with dragon blood last fall.”
Logan cringed. “Oops.”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Well, I hope she gets over it,” he said. “It’s not as if we used blood from a dead shifter or something. We source all our dragon parts, and they come from reputable sources, mostly rogues.” Rogue dragons were different than shifters. They were violet beasts who did nothing but destroy.
“That doesn’t matter to her, and you know it,” I said. But I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I decided to change the subject. “No toga?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets self-consciously. “You’re lucky I’m even here. Now that I work for the school again, it’s a little weird to be socializing with the students.”
“You always socialize with us,” I said. “Come on, let’s get a beer.” I took his hand and started to lead him down the sidewalk.
“Yeah, okay, but if it’s really loud and really obnoxious—”
“Of course it is,” I said. “It’s a party that Reid threw. What else would you expect?”
“Ugh,” he said. “I think I’m getting too old for parties like that.”
“Right,” I said. “You’re an old man who wants to settle down and start a family, something you never bothered to tell your girlfriend.”
He groaned. “Oh, God, we’re not going to do this right now, are we?”
I dropped his hand. “There’s a ‘this’? Is this a big deal?”
“No,” he said. “When I said that to Fox, I didn’t mean that I was in a rush. It was more like a statement that I had, you know, gotten to a point in my life where I could be ready for that. But it doesn’t have to be for a while. For years.”
I hugged myself. “Logan… I’m dead.”
He stopped moving. He went completely still, and he looked even more like a statue than usual.
“I don’t know if I even can have children.” So, last fall, I drained all my blood to close breaches between our world and the scribbly thing’s world. I had closed them off from us entirely. It’s actually how we discovered that dragon blood healed us. I thought I’d drink it and turn into a vampire, which is what would have happened to a regular human, but instead, it seemed like I was healed. Only problem was that I had killed my human side and only my scribbly thing side was still alive anymore.
It had perks. I was basically invulnerable, and I couldn’t die. I mean, except for the fact that I was sort of dead already. And mostly, my body seemed to function as if it was alive, but that was probably just because scribbly things are shapeshifters and I’d assumed my old human shape, which I made function normally so that it didn’t feel weird. Mostly, I didn’t think about it.
Logan still wasn’t moving.
“I guess you didn’t think of that,” I said.
He sucked in a breath. “No. I should have. Why didn’t I?” he murmured.
We were both quiet.
He twisted, looking back the way he’d come. “You know I’m not really in the mood for this party tonight.”
“Yeah,” I said. I didn’t much feel like partying either. “Maybe we could go back to your place and—”
“Actually, I think I might want to be alone.” He glanced back at me and then down at the sidewalk.
“Really?” I said. “So, um, this is a big deal, then, isn’t it?”
“I…” Logan scuffed his foot against the ground. “I need to think.”
Shit.
He lurched forward and grabbed me suddenly, pressing his lips against my forehead. “Love you,” he whispered. He pulled back. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
I was speechless.
He didn’t wait for a response. He turned and started back up the sidewalk.
I watched him go. Suddenly, I felt very, very cold and very alone.
When Logan disappeared around the corner, I weighed my options. I could go back to my dorm, where Tatum was, extremely pissed. I could try to get Logan to let me hang out with him, even though he didn’t want me to. Or I could go back to the party.
Well. Hell. I was wearing a toga.
When I got back upstairs, Reid was sitting outside the front door of the apartment. His laurel crown was askew and he had a bottle of whiskey between his legs. He raised his eyebrows when he saw me. “She didn’t forgive you, huh?”
I shook my head. I plopped down next to him.
He handed me the whiskey. “You look like something worse than Tatum happened to you.”
“Logan,” I said, taking a swig of the bitter liquid. I grimaced as it burned its way down my esophagus. “I think he might want me to have a functioning womb.”
Reid made a face like something smelled bad. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Let’s get wasted.”
He snatched the whiskey bottle back. “Excellent plan.”
*
I was awakened by the sound of happy pop music filtering through the stereo. I smelled coffee. Opening one eye, I realized that I was lying on Reid’s couch next to Reid. He had one of those big ottomans, and we were sprawled out half on the couch and half on the ottoman.
My head hurt.
Reid sister Estelle, also a primal, was bopping around to the music, going through the room with a big black garbage bag. She was dancing as she tossed bottles and plastic cups into it.
I groaned.
Fucking Estelle. She was such a morning person.
Next to me, Reid stir
red. He rolled over and his toga rode up.
I caught an eyeful of his boxers. “Reid, geez,” I muttered. My voice was a croak. Ugh. My head was pounding.
Reid opened his eyes. “What the hell is that awful sound?”
Estelle leaned over the back of the couch and peered down at the two of us. “Morning!” she said cheerfully.
“I hate you,” I told her. “You are the devil.”
“Whiskey is the devil,” said Reid, rolling over onto his stomach, so that I could now see all of his boxers. They were light blue.
“Reid!” I picked up a pillow and placed it on his butt.
“What?” he said. “Nothing you haven’t seen before.”
I struggled to sit up. “That is history. Archaic history. Antediluvian history.” Ouch. Moving was a bad, bad thing.
“Antediluvian?” said Reid. “Man, you send a girl to Latin classes, and her vocabulary gets obnoxious.”
Estelle grinned at me. “I’m glad you’re here, actually, Petra. There’s a bunch of new messages on the new primal mamas website. You think you can answer some of them? It’s silly stuff, like asking if it’s normal for the primal babies to sleep all the time.”
“All babies sleep,” I said. This was something I had just learned recently. I had learned everything that was normal for babies to do, because I was constantly fielding questions from new mothers of baby primals, wondering if their little ones were abnormal since they were only half human. So far, the primal babies were pretty much exactly like human babies. No abnormalities here.
“Exactly, so could you send a few messages back?”
“Right now?” I blinked at her.
She shrugged. “Well, you’re not doing anything, are you?”
I shut my eyes. Estelle really was the devil.
“You could help me clean,” she said.
I grunted.
“Leave Petra alone,” said Reid. He sat up on the couch, sending the pillow I’d used to cover him tumbling. He rubbed his face and yawned. His hair was sticking up in the back.
“It’s not like I’m bothering her,” said Estelle. She eyed me. “You’re not bothered, are you?”
I just glared at her.
She shrugged and went back to tossing bottles in her garbage bag.
Reid stumbled off the couch and staggered across the room. “I’m going back to sleep in my bedroom,” he said without looking back. “You’re welcome to crash in the guest room, Petra.” And then he disappeared into the hallway.
I sat up on the couch and gave my toga a rueful look. Great. I was walk-of-shaming it back home in this. And usually a walk of shame came after getting laid, instead of just passing out on a friend’s couch. This truly sucked. “Look, Estelle, I will log onto the website later today, all right?”
“All right,” she said, smiling.
My cell phone started to ring. But it was far away.
Huh.
Oh, man, my head was really pounding.
My phone was in my purse. Which was…
I got off the couch and began stumbling in the direction of the sound. There. I had stashed it next to the TV before crashing on the couch. I now vaguely remembered that. I crouched down and dug my phone out of my purse.
Logan calling.
I answered it. “Morning.”
“It’s noon,” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “Your point?”
“Where are you? I’m at your dorm room, and you’re not here.”
I plopped down onto the floor. “I’m at Reid’s.”
“Wait. What? Did you sleep there?”
“Yeah, but just… I mean, I passed out on his couch. It’s not like…” I took the phone away from my ear and glared at it. Then I put it back to my ear. “Okay, look, I’m way too hungover for this conversation.”
“Great,” he said.
“Nothing happened with Reid,” I said. “You believe me, right?”
He was quiet on the other end of the phone.
“It didn’t,” I protested. “I would never do that.”
“I never made any accusations, Petra.” His voice was even, though.
I sighed. “I need coffee. I need coffee, and something greasy to eat, and possibly a shower. And after that, maybe then I could consider hashing this out with you.”
“Whatever,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you at my place once you sort that out?”
I winced. “You’re mad.”
“Petra…”
“You’re the one who walked out on me last night, you know.”
“I thought you needed coffee before we talked this out.”
“I do.”
“Fine. Then to be continued.” He hung up.
I slowly set the phone down on the floor. Damn it. This was basically the worst morning I’d had in months.
“Petra?” Estelle was behind me.
I turned.
She had a feather duster in one hand. “Did I hear you say something about coffee?”
*
I twirled on a barstool in Estelle’s and Reid’s kitchen while Estelle set a microwaved pre-packaged egg and bacon sandwich in front of me.
“I take back everything I thought about you being the devil,” I said.
“What?” She raised her eyebrows.
“Nothing.” I took a drink of the coffee she’d gotten me and then picked up the sandwich. I took a bite. “Mmm. Good,” I said around my mouthful.
“Yeah, they’re not bad,” she said.
I chewed and swallowed. “Thanks. You’re being really awesome taking care of me.”
“Not a problem. It’s what I do for Reid every morning,” she said. “Without me, he never makes it to class.”
I laughed. “True. Last year, when you were in that magical coma or whatever, I don’t think he went to a single class.”
“Well, you guys were pretty distracted back then.”
“We were,” I said, nodding. I ate some more of my sandwich. Ah, food and caffeine were gradually making me feel human again.
Estelle turned her back to me and began spraying down the counter across from the breakfast bar, where I was sitting. She scrubbed the surface with a paper towel. The place was pretty messy after the party. She had to have dedication to tackle cleaning it first thing in the morning.
“Hey, Estelle?”
She turned to me. “You need more coffee?”
“No, I’m fine.” I said. “If I do, I’ll get it myself.”
She smiled and started to go back to scrubbing.
“Uh, I wanted to ask you a question.”
“Sure,” she said.
“It’s about my being dead,” I said.
She set down the paper towel. “Yeah?”
“Well, um, I guess since I’m dead, that would mean that, like, my reproductive system doesn’t work anymore?”
She considered. “I don’t know. That would seem likely, wouldn’t it?” She cocked her head. “Do you still have, like, a cycle?”
“Well, yeah, but I still eat food and digest it and stuff. I think it’s just that my body is really good at simulating being alive.” I had another thought. If I was dead, was it possible that my hangover was all in my head? Damn, if so, I really needed to figure out a way to turn that off.
“Right,” she said. She came around the breakfast bar and reached out a hand. “Let me check something.”
“Sure.”
She put her fingertips against my forehead and closed her eyes.
I felt a strange shiver go through my body.
She stepped back. “I think you’re right. It’s all a simulation. Intricate and complicated, though. I’m not sure if you can stop any of it without destroying all of it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I kind of thought that.” I went back to my coffee.
“Why are you asking?” she said. “You didn’t have unprotected sex with my brother last night, did you?”
“No.” I slammed my coffee cup down. “Why does everyone think I
would sleep with Reid again?”
“Sorry,” said Estelle. “I just—”
“I’m with Logan,” I said. “Reid’s with Tatum. And I don’t even think of him that way. He’s like my brother.”
“Okay, okay.” Estelle held up both hands. “Well, whatever, whoever, you don’t have to worry about unwanted pregnancy, okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Great.”
*
When I got back to my dorm, Tatum was shut up in her room. Our dorm had a living area with a couch and TV and then two small bedrooms off either side of it. We also shared a bathroom.
I thought about going and knocking on her door, but I still felt like death warmed over, despite the coffee and food, so I decided I would hop in the shower instead.
After the shower, I got dressed and combed my wet hair. Then I stared at her closed door for nearly five minutes, trying to work up the courage to knock.
Eventually, I talked myself out of it. I had to go argue with Logan and convince him that I wasn’t sleeping with Reid, and maybe I only had enough energy for that. It had been a long time since Logan was insecure about Reid, but at one point, he had been. It was one of the reasons he wouldn’t get serious with me at first. He had a complicated past with an ex-girlfriend named Clarke who had tried to have a polyamorous relationship with both Logan and another man. It had messed with Logan’s head, and he had decided that I wanted Reid and not him.
But there was nothing between Reid and me, and there never had been. We’d hooked up once, meaninglessly, when we first met. I used to be a lot more casual about sex, but it was something that I’d grown out of. I had more respect for myself now, and I had nothing to prove. Besides, there was no way on earth I could ever be unfaithful to Logan.
I was just going to go and convince him of that.
But Tatum’s door opened.
She saw me standing there. “Oh. I thought you’d left.”
“I was actually going to.” I gestured toward the door.
“But you thought you’d stand outside my door instead?”
Life's a Witch Page 2
