Page 157 of Shades of Silver City

It’s a relief to be my true self, without stuffing parts of me down and pretending I’m normal. It’s like taking off a bra after a long day—I can breathe, relax.

I’m not alone anymore.

“So, like, magic,” Zeke says once Archer has finished explaining things. His eyes burn bright with curiosity. “Can you make joints roll themselves and shit like that?”

“For fuck’s sake,” Godric mutters, squeezing his eyes shut. When he reopens them, he turns to Pixel. “What about you? How do you feel about all this, Pixie?”

She shrugs, looking from him to Archer. “I’m really not surprised. It makes sense, all things considered.” Without another word, she turns back to her computer.

I laugh, realizing just how much I like her.

We quickly shift topics, nailing down our plan to fix the dreamdust problem.

“Godric and I need to glamour the lower-level Crawlers to clean up the streets…again.” Archer exhales slowly. “But this dust isn’t like the old batch. The formula is different now. It’s deadlier. People don’t even have time to develop an addiction, considering they seem to die the first time using it.”

This morning, when Archer and I woke up, we talked about my idea to protect the city from dreamdust. I remembered something my dad wrote in his journal, about potentially distributing magic through the water supply systems, and it spurred an idea.

I clear my throat, drawing everyone’s attention to me. “We think, since my blood seems to be an antidote, if we can figure out exactly how much is needed to counteract the effects of the drug, we can add just enough to the public water supply to prevent people from dying.” I pause, letting them absorb the information. “We don’t have the time or resources to pinpoint who will use the dust, and because death happens so fast, we need to be preventative rather than reactive. But hopefully, if we can keep the antidote in the water, it will protect people if they choose to use, until we get the drug fully off the streets.”

“Zeke,” Archer says. “Since you still have access to your lab, we need you to take a sample of Tasia’s blood and ensure she’s clean—that there’s nothing else there that might cause harm.”

My cheeks heat at the implication, but we already talked about this. We need to make sure this is as safe as possible, that the benefits outweigh the risks, or it’s all for naught.

“We need to move fast,” Archer continues. “Get this done as soon as possible, then run some tests to find out what the smallest effective amount possible is.”

“Test it how?” Pixel asks, her full attention on us again. “On someone?”

“Well, Scathe agreed to let us test it on him first, since he’s already gone through it once. We know with certainty that Tasia’s blood can save him and counteract the effects. But we’ll need a human test subject afterward.”

“I’ll do it,” Zeke says, puffing up his chest.

Pixel’s eyes widen. “But…what if it’s not safe?”

Godric eyes them speculatively and jumps in. “Nah, I’ll do it. Your system’s already fucked up with drugs, skinny-boy.”

“Oh, come on, Ricky. We both know you don’t really wanna do it.”

I roll my eyes. “I can barely breathe through all the testosterone in here,” I deadpan.

Pixel snorts. “Now you know why I prefer computers to people.”

“No one is doing anything until we test my blood first,” I say, “so let’s get on that and see if this plan is even feasible.”

“You know, I think this might work,” Zeke says, fingering his joint as if he’s itching to light it up. “My lab tested some of the food and drinks from last night, found out someone spiked the liquor with dreamdust. It’s why it hit so fast, so hard.”

“What?” I ask, turning to Archer, who seems just as shocked. We’re lucky Pixel and Archer didn’t drink anything.

“Yeah, you can totally ingest the dust and get the same effect. I’d imagine your blood might work the same way.” He flips his mohawk out of his face, bracelets jangling. “Didn’t hear it from me, but official word is someone was trying to be smooth—get everyone to loosen up. Some rich asshole thought he’d get everyone high. They’re calling it a tainted batch. An accident. But publicly? They’re using this as a reason to crack down even harder on the city—blaming the tainted drugs on the PD and calling it a terrorist attack.”

“Holy shit,” I mutter.

“We might never know the truth,” Godric says. “The best we can do is take control of this shit before it gets any more out of hand.”

“Well,” I say, “let’s get to work.”

Something tells me the city will never truly be safe. There will always be something, someone, or some fae trying to fuck shit up.

But with Archer by my side? I’ve never felt safer. And I’m starting to see the true power of his gang—his family—and how they are Silver City’s true heroes.

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