Page 74 of Ruled By Fate

The phone immediately fell silent.

The two of them fell silent as well. For a suspended moment, they simply stared at it together. Then she lifted her eyes with a blistering glare.

“You did this.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Did you just use the hypnosis voice? On my phone?”

He shifted his weight uncomfortably. “It wouldn’t stop screaming.”

She narrowed her eyes. “And why was it screaming, Cameron?”

Another pause. Another guilty deflection. “I may have taught the creature to fear.”

This took a minute to register.

“It wasn’t strictly speaking on purpose, Brianna,” he insisted quickly, watching her color flame from pink to a more dangerous red. “While I was mending it yesterday, I… I may have been overzealous in my condemnation of its general attitude—”

“Overzealous in your… Do you mean you cursed it?” she interrupted. “Did you curse my phone?” She threw a pillow at him. “Like a freaking warlock?”

He was so undone he actually let it strike him. It flew into his face, then slid to the floor as she huffed again and unlocked her traumatized device with her passcode.

“Hey, Siri. Are you doing okay?”

“Lucky Lucy gets the spoon.”

She paused, flabbergasted, before pressing her home button again. “I’m sorry, Siri. What was that?”

“Into the tunnel, out of the shoe.”

She tossed it on the bed in disgust and glowered at Cameron. “You broke my smartphone.”

“I defeated it,” he muttered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly, trying to change the subject. “Why don’t I go downstairs and make you breakfast? Buy you breakfast,” he amended at the look on her face.

She wanted to hurl another pillow. But she was hungry.

He went downstairs while she made a half-hearted effort to get dressed, her ears still ringing with echoes of those inhuman cries. It was a rather meager attempt, but when she glanced into the mirror, she was delighted to realize that she liked what she saw.

Her skin was glowing, her hair was thick and shiny, and her eyes were clear and bright. Even her nails seemed to be growing strong and fast, despite her never once taking care of them.

I should get a good night’s sleep more often.

Or maybe it’s the smoothies.

She stuffed a backpack with an extra pair of scrubs and shoes to keep in her locker at all times. She didn’t think she’d want to stash her sneakers in the morgue again anytime soon. When she came down the hall into the living room, she stopped short.

Cameron was talking to a golden orb that floated in the air inches from his face. He spoke rapidly and in a low voice, but she could tell it was a language she’d never heard before.

She didn’t want to eavesdrop and didn’t see the value in hiding. She stepped into the room with a confident, “Good morning.” It was the most uncanny thing, but she could swear that both Cameron and the orb turned to look at her.

“Good morning!” Cameron said quickly. “We were just… I was… this is Ephriam.”

The golden ball bobbed slightly up and down.

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