Page 4 of Obsession

I find a pale, stressed girl with weighted eyes. Bony, with plain features. Slumped shoulders. Gaze drifting to my long, dark hair, I dread what I have to do next. I’ve always liked it long, but so many photos show me with it.

I sigh and start snipping away, aiming to cut it from mid-shoulder to what is about neck length. When I finish, it’s uneven in the back, clearly a shoddy job, but I force myself to stop, worrying that if I mess with it more, I’ll just make it worse.

After swiping my hair into the trash, I mix the dye, wet my remaining hair, and leave the bathroom while the dye sets. I find a corner to settle in, chewing on a granola bar and keeping an eye on the clock in the corner. Staying alive—good job so far. Shelter, food. Incognito work.

I can do this. I can be on my own.

The store closes at nine and customers are ushered out a quarter til, the manager vacating at ten. She seemed confused by the smell of dye when checking the bathroom, but ultimately shrugged and turned on the overhead fan.

Once I’m certain everyone’s gone and it’s just me in the store, I curl up in the employee lounge. There’s no couch or blankets, only a stiff armchair that unfortunately makes sleep close to impossible, even with how exhausted I am. I take turns alternating between the chair and the linoleum floor, but both are terrible.

Finally, I turn on the florescent lights and flip through the spellbook. If I have to be awake, I might as well be productive.

But I soon discover that I won’t be getting anywhere tired, with a mind that does nothing but circle back to Henry and Aris. I can think of them only with clenched teeth.

I run through the moments we spent together, the secrets I shared. Was I telling them to Henry, or Aris? Could Henry bring himself to touch me, or was he so disgusted that Aris had to take control?

Tears gather in my eyes, a trophy of Aris’ victory, but I can’t stop them. Now that I’m somewhere safe, I’m finally able to deal with what happened at the Institute: Aris’ betrayal, losing Henry, the deaths.

From what I saw, the destruction from the attack was immeasurable. There were countless bodies and screams that echoed down the halls. I was only ever a means to an end to them, to all of them; my presence was not celebrated, merely tolerated. The mages imprisoned me, even hated me, but I can’t bring myself to enjoy their downfall.

A painful idea seeds: Is it my fault?

The sound of something like a slice suddenly cuts through the air.

Despair momentarily forgotten, I sit up straighter. The room is empty, but I definitely just heard something, like two knives grinding against one another, or a sword swishing about…?

My first thought is that someone’s here to work the midnight oil, but no one enters the lounge and I hear nothing else.

Just when I’m about to chalk it up to nerves and fatigue, shining light cuts through empty space, and a tall, needle-thin hole appears in the middle of the room. For a moment, I go completely still and don’t react at all. And then I spring to my feet like a rabbit fleeing a fox.

Has Aris found me already? Is it the Following? He ordered them to let me go, but maybe he changed his mind…?

Could it be Henry? Is he back? Is he sorry?

The iridescent light offers no answers, and, as the seconds tick past, it gets brighter and brighter, until it feels like I’m staring at the sun and I have to shade my eyes as a shadowed, massive form steps through.

At first, I freeze, thinking Ryan has come to collect me in place of his master, but as the light dims and the crack settles…

I squint, then tense. I’ve never seen this man before, but I know who it is instinctively. The name invades my mind like an ailment, beyond my control: Jaegen.

His eyes land on me immediately. “Mary,” he says. “Are you ready to talk about consequences?”

Chapter two

I’m torn between confusion, surprise, and relief. He’s here. I didn’t need to spend any time studying or trying to summon him; he’s come on his own. Then again, why? The fact that he sought me out isn’t exactly a good thing.

I go to ask how he found me, then pause, remembering what he is. His power. The last I encountered him, my heart stopped, my body completely overwhelmed.

Now, it seems that he learned his lesson; his presence isn’t as extreme. To be sure, I’m affected, my head swimming like I’ve just spun in thirty circles, but my heart is still beating. For now.

When I saw him before, he was just a massive thing in the sky. His true form, Henry, or maybe it was Aris, called it. Now, he appears as a spectacular man—tall and muscular, with rippling pectorals. He’s handsome almost beyond comprehension, with skin glowing gold and shimmering from the light of the slice, rough features so paradigmatically masculine that it is aggressive. His blonde hair is cropped short, and the spiky strands shine as vibrantly yellow as his eyes.

The air pulses around him. It’s different from Aris’ presence. When I saw Aris in my dreams, and for that terrible conversation in the hall, it felt like the air was pressing in on me—weighing my shoulders down, trying to force me to my knees. With Jaegen, it looks like the atmosphere is shifting and shimmering like we’re in extreme heat, molecules now clear to the human eye.

He’s so close that I smell him—lemongrass and ginger—and, bare-chest, his skin can be scented as well. It’s impossible to describe that base scent, the musk that is just him.

I take a breath and squeeze my eyes shut. His magnetism is making me stupid.

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