Page 15 of Anchor

There I was, worried sick, wondering why the IDD wasn’t stopping the game and coming to take him back to prison. Worried sick that when he did come out, they’d be waiting for him, hundreds of agents eager to drag him back.

Meanwhile he hadn’t looked like himself at all.

“Rora, are you okay?”

The video had ended. Poppy looked at me with a half-smile on her face, unsure of whether to be worried or to laugh with me.

But she didn’t need to be worried because Taland hadn’t been Taland in that game. To me, he had, but to thesescreens, he’d been someone completely different. Someone unrecognizable. And better yet—I’d seen the picture of this man whose face he wore on the list of players on the other tab.

Taland had really been there—it wasn’t just a figment of imagination. He’d really helped me to win the Iris Roe, and he’d really carried me in his arms as he walked through the Drainage to get to the gates…

Stabs at my heart again. My laughter died a slow and painful death.

“I’m fine,” I said, breathless. “Is there more? Are there more videos?”

Poppy shook her head. “Only those who had seats at the game have access to the raw footage. The Council hasn’t issued more videos for the rest of us so far, but a bunch of new ones are expected by morning.

“Okay,” I said, more to myself than her. “That’s fine. That’s fine.” Taland was alive—in the end, that was the most important thing. Because when I went back to the list of players and found his picture, his fake name:Collins, Jack—the column at the end said Participant, not deceased. He was alive, and the IDD had no clue that it had been him because he didn’t look like him. And I couldn’t wait to find out how he’d done it—if it was a charm he wore or a spell he fired up or another he renewed every hour or day? I wanted to know how, and I’d ask him as soon as I saw him.

Because I’d find him. I’d go back to the Blue House right this second, just as soon as I put some clothes on. I’d go back to the Blue House and find him and prove to myself that he wasn’t Mud. He hadn’t been drained even though he’d walked with me through the Drainage—he wasn’t Mud.It was just a game, the Iris Roe, no matter how brutal and ruthless. Still just a game…right?

I hardly saw what the hell I was doing when I stood up, but my legs knew the way to my closet, and despite Poppy’s protests, I didn’t stop. I grabbed a shirt and a jacket and a pair of jeans. I grabbed some socks and a pair of boots, and I took off my nightgown right in front of her, which I didn’t normally do. Only Taland got me to undress without caring tothink. Normally, I was a very shy person and never took my clothes off in front of other people.

Right now, though, I couldn’t have cared less. I got dressed faster than I ever had in my life, and suddenly Poppy was in front of me, forced to grab me by the shoulders just so I would stop and look at her for a moment.

I did.

“What do you think you’re doing?! Where do you think you’re going? Stop it—you still need to rest!”

And she was absolutely right.

“I’ll be back,” I told her, because even though my body still felt strange, and I still hadn’t even begun to think clearly about everything that had happened to me, about the fact that I’dwonthe Iris Roe, right now I needed to go. So many things to figure out, but none mattered until I saw Taland. Until I knew that he was okay. Alive and breathing, his magic intact.

Nothing mattered but Taland, as twisted as that might sound, considering everything that had happened between us until now. And I could figure out everything else—with ease, when I was with him.

“Backfrom where?!” Poppy cried, but when I moved out of the closet, she wasn’t fast enough to stop me. “Damn it, Rora, listen to me!”

“I promise I’ll be back soon. I’ll call or text or something as soon as I can.” I just needed my wallet and my phone and my ring?—

“What about your magic?”

I stopped three feet away from the doors.

I stopped and I could see my reflection in the tall mirror Poppy had always insisted I keep right there in that spot.So that you may see what you look like before going out. It’s important to always look as flawless as possible.

Words Madeline no doubt said to her. Words I didn’t care about, but I still looked at that mirror every time I left my room.

Tonight was no different—except the woman looking back at me now. It wasn’t just the hair, long and loose around my shoulders or my slightly paler than usual cheeks. It was the eyes—they were…orange. Almost completely orange, not brown.

Afiery orange,like Taland used to say when we were in school. An orange that hadn’t been there before Madeline smuggled me into the Iris Roe, not that I remembered.

“Look at me.”

Poppy was in front of me again, hands on mine.

“You are not capable of walking out of here right now.Wheredo you want to go, Rora? It’s late and we haven’t even gone through the most important things that happened in the game and I still haven’t even congratulated you properly on winning! You’re a millionaire now and you have your color back! You…you…”

She shook her head.

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