Page 94 of Marked by the Demigod

Trixie clears her throat, and Aimes snaps her glance up to her.

"I didn't see you come out of one bad relationship only to fall all the way into a worse." Trixie scowls, as if for punctuation.

"It's not worse," Aimes protests, though it sounds weak to her. Hollow. "I mean, he doesn't cheat."

"That you know." Trixie shoots back.

"I'd know," Aimes says, quick. "It's part of the...magic thing."

Trixie blinks, slow. "So you can't ever sleep with someone without him knowing?"

And when you put it like that, with the context that Trixie knows, it does sound awful. "He can't either."

"For the rest of your life."

"Yeah."

Trixie pokes at her breakfast again, a thread of worry crossing the impassive expression. "Aimes, this is insane." She breathes. "You can't expect me to sit by with this."

It's not like she can demand that, but at the same time, it'd be like pointing her friend towards a wall and expecting her to smack against it. "It's not all bad," she says, and it's hollow, especially with her anger. "I can't...I can't explain it, but it's not all bad."

Tears fill Trixie's eyes, but don't fall as she reins herself back. "I'm not going to like him. Ever."

"I think he could live with that."Aimes jokes, but it falls flatter than the pancakes. "Not very many people like him."

"If he goes around doing things like that, no wonder." Trixie looks visibly relieved to have the conversation switch over.

There's a lull, where they both eat for a few minutes, and it's miserable.

"Wait, did he visit at Vegas?" Trixie blurts out.

Nodding, Aimes tries to cast back for a good story of him, and finding it remarkably difficult. "Remember that guy staring at me? He's one of the bad guys."

Trixie's eyes widen. "He wants you dead?" She breathes, immediately jumping to the most dramatic option. Which happens to be correct.

"Yeah, Jake got me...out. So I wasn't followed."

Trixie pales more. "I told him you were from the Midwest."

"That was good." Aimes points. "That helped. A bit. We think."

"So how do we take down the creepy staring guy?" Trixie says, casual. "There's got to be a way." She shakes herself, as if shaking herself from a rut.

Not knowing how to reply, Aimes nods. "What time do you have work?"

Trixie shoots her such a vile glare that Aimes regrets changing the topic. "Doesn't matter." She snaps. "My best friend was missing for days, I can use a sick day." And she scowls so hard it looks like she'll burst a blood vessel. "I can't believe you'd ask, you were in a hole in the ground and then in a hospital --". And she rants on, and Aimes just nods.

* * *

Trixie drops her off,and Aimes collapses back into her bed, pulling her trustworthy laptop up next to her, the knot in her chest throbbing.

Her work email is full of good wishes from her coworkers, asking how her grandmother was doing, and when they could expect to see her back, that sort of thing. It's heartwarming, their concern for her non-existent grandmother and the excuses Katya crafted for her, and she spends a few blissful hours replying to programming emails like a champ.

After replying, her coworker Evan immediately starts texting her, and it's also heartwarming for it's utter panic.

EVAN WORK (1:01 PM): Please tell me you'll be back soon.

AIMES (1:01 PM): tomorrow.

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