Page 64 of Anchor

Then there was Poppy.

She was always complaining that I didn’t spend enough time with her, and I agreed. I wanted to hang out, but every time we did, it was always to talk about the Iris Roe. Always questions about what I did and what I saw and how I overcame this and that challenge.

She never asked me how I completed all of them, though. How I got the keys, how I drained the Rainbow without magic. And I had no clue what the audience at the playground had seen, but the Council hadn’t published videos of what happened at the Rainbow mountain at all. I suspect it wasn’t just to hide the fact that Taland had given me his magic to drain the Rainbow, but to also hide how the other players had been out to kill me in those moments.

Poppy knew I’d been Mud. She’d taken care of me herself when I was—she knew very well. Yet she never once asked me aboutthatpart of the game, and I doubted Madeline had anything to do with it. Poppy would rather just…not know. She would rather just pretend with everybody else.

I was relieved, I suppose. What would I tell her if she asked? ThatTalandhad done it for me, had given me his magic even though we had no clue what would even happen to him or me when he did?

Or would I lie to her and tell her the same thing Madeline thought I’d done—that I’d offered a player money to help me complete the game?

She would believe me; I was sure everybody thought that already. Which was absurd becausemoneywouldn’t have made anybody carry me through the Drainage like Taland had done.

But the people didn’t know that, though. The Council hadn’t showedthatvideo to anyone, either.

And now I didn’t even know if Taland hadturned Mud. I couldn’t find him no matter how much time I spent looking at footage and pictures and reports from all around the city—useless, all of it. He just wasn’t there, and September twenty-first was still so far away.

But I did care about Poppy a great deal, so when she asked me to join her for a girls’ night with her friends from our old high school in the backyard of the mansion, I said yes. She wanted to show me off. I had nothing better to do and I was really hoping for a distraction.

I didn’t get one.

She’d set up a patio with pillars on the side and this shimmery fabric that raised like a tent with magic over it, with pretty lights and comfortable chairs and a round table in the middle. All five of the girls sitting with us ate and gossiped and watched me when they thought I didn’t notice.

It was all very fancy, very fairytale-like, veryPoppy.Madeline liked these gatherings, too (because the girls all came from the rich and powerful families she calledfriends) so she didn’t hesitate to pay for these things whenever Poppy asked.

Meanwhile I was daydreaming about sitting in a tree and looking at the moon in the company of a fourteen-year-old girl.

Over an hour passed by, so slowly.

I really didn’t want to spend another second staring at my plate and running my fingertip over the rim of my glass, listening to these girls talking about nothing in particular by usingso many words.I didn’t blame them—that’s how they were raised. They weren’tbad,they were just…privileged. LikePoppy. And there was nothing wrong with that, except for the fact thatIwasn’t.

How much longer until I can leave?I asked myself in my head, and the next second, my phone vibrated with a new text as if to answer me.

It was Cassie.Are you in? I could use a long break & a lot of caffeine right now.

It was like she’d handed me the entire world on a silver platter.Meet me in the cafeteria in 30, I texted back. Because, no, I wasn’t in; I’d left work some two hours ago, but I would most definitely go back to Headquarters just to escape this hell.

I stood up while the girls were still talking. The look in Poppy’s eyes said that she already knew.

“Excuse me, ladies. I got an emergency text from work. I have to go.”

I picked that lie because I was sure they wouldn’t want to argue about the IDD, at least.

I was dead wrong.

Poppy smiled a plastic smile. “Oh.”

“Why do you insist onworking, Rosabel?” one of the girls said. “It’s far beneath you now, don’t you think?”

“You’re rich and you’re famous—it’s almost an insult to society to work,” said her friend, and the girls laughed.

Poppy did, too, but at least her laughter was fake.

Good thing I don’t really give a fuck about society then,I thought. “Oh, you know, it just stuck. I know what you mean, but I can’t quitnow, it would be…” I said, and…

I stopped.

I looked at them, all of their sparkling eyes, perfect faces, perfect smiles.

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