Page 133 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I pulled my hood lower.

I sank deeper into a state of fugue.

And my smile didn’t fall as I slept. It didn’t fall when we went for a fifteen-mile morning jog. It held as we stretched and did a circuit of push-ups, sit-ups, and burpees. It stayed in place for every. Single. Meal.

Even when I searched the great hall and found Sari glaring at me like I was repulsive.

I smiled wider.

Her lips curled with disgust, and she looked away as my heart cracked in my chest.

The grin was plastered on my face as Sadie and Jax rebraided my hair while we talked to the girls on the phone.

I spent days in a trancelike haze with a fake grin on my lips, thinking I’d fooled everyone.

I was wrong.

After my hair was sorted into two perfect French braids, I excused myself to use Sadie’s bathroom.

With the lights turned off, I splashed water on my face and hyperventilated at the sink. Let the darkness comfort me.

The door squealed, and I looked up.

Jinx’s midnight-black eyes hovered inches from my face, and since I was hunched over, we were the same height.

“Pull yourself together,” she ordered.

“Why are you in here?” I forced out a carefree chuckle. “Also, what are you talking about? I’m fine.”

Crack. A palm smacked my face.

“Ow, what the fuck?” I clutched my already bruised jaw as it throbbed in time with my heartbeat.

Jinx rolled her eyes. “You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself. At least pretend you have a shred of emotional maturity.”

“Hmm.” I tapped my lip like I was considering it. “Get away from me before I murder you.”

Crack. She smacked me again.

“Horse, attack the small, malnourished bitch,” I snarled.

My crow didn’t budge from where he was perched on my shoulder. In fact, I was 99 percent certain he rolled his eyes at me. He’d never refused to obey me before.

I grumbled at him, “I’m renaming you Rat.”

Jinx leaned forward so our noses almost touched.

She whispered forcefully, “Concentrate, woman. This is serious. A lot is at stake right now, and you’re falling apart like you’ve earned the luxury to mope. You need to focus on acting righteously, starting post hoc.”

“Grow up,” I scoffed with disbelief. “There’s no such thing as righteousness. Name one thing in this realm that’s morally proper. Go ahead. I’ll wait.”

Jinx’s pale features seemed pointier in the darkness, and I had the sudden urge to look away because it was like staring into the uncanny valley.

Something was off, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

She snarled, “If I had to tell you, then it wouldn’t be justifiable good. It would be you mimicking virtue to prop up your overinflated ego and hollow sense of self.”

I rolled my eyes.

---