Page 111 of Psycho Beasts

That was it.

I couldn’t live like this.

Lunging for the window, I almost slammed my way to freedom, but Aran intercepted my path and chucked me easily onto the bed.

“Come on,” I moaned. “This is so unfair.”

Aran wrestled me into a headlock, her arms and legs wrapped around me like a pretzel, so I couldn’t move. “If I have to keep living and dealing with this shit, then so do you.”

“Ugh, don’t be so selfish, Aran.”

“Don’t be so unhinged, Sadie.”

“Don’t be so ugly.”

“Don’t be so scrawny.”

I gasped with hurt. “Take it back. You said my muscles were looking bigger, you lying cow.”

“Moo, bitch.” Aran released my limbs from her death grip and climbed off the bed.

A terrifying thought struck me. “Oh my sun god.”

“What?” she asked.

“Do you think the ancient fae voice is an alien? From the stars,” I whispered with horror, remembering a human movie about a weird blob thing in a basket.

Aran rolled her eyes.

“First, no sentient beings live on a sun; the temperature is way too hot. Second, aliens are a ridiculous human conception. Of course there are people from other realms. Planets are connected by portals. The different realms are all just individual planets, duh.”

I gasped, the world shaking around me.

“Wait, so I’m an alien?”

Aran narrowed her eyes at me. “I can’t tell if you’re joking or actually an idiot, but I’m going to pretend for the sake of this friendship, and apparently a prophesied war, that it’s the former.” She rubbed at her forehead tiredly. “Also, I know you’re deflecting from studying.”

“I’ll show you deflection.” I took a running jump off the bed and spun in an impressive roundhouse kick.

Aran caught my foot in midair and pulled it up, so I tipped over. “Very impressive. Can’t wait to see you with wings.” She chuckled. “I’m envisioning you flying into a building.”

Funnily enough, I also saw that for myself.

Chapter 20

Sadie

SCHOOL TESTS AND JEALOUSY

Aran grabbed a book off the desk and handed it to me while she took another long drag of her pipe.

At least her hands had stopped shaking.

She’d been smoking so much the last three days that it no longer seemed to have any effect on her.

“Molly said you have the test tomorrow morning, and you have to pass, or you’ll be executed. The men said something about studying together tonight, but I figured you’d want some space.”

“Oh, I need space all right.” I grabbed the book out of her hand and tried to rip it in half in a fit of rage.

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