Page 194 of Sigils & Spells

“What if I challenge her to a game? She’d love that. You said Fae couldn’t resist a game, and she’d love the chance to defeat me if she’s that pissed. And give me ten minutes with her and she’ll really want to rip my face off. I can be really annoying when I want to.”

“What about the rest of the time?” Minho piped up from the floor.

“Shut.” I flipped him off. “I can make her madder if I have to. And I can trick her into a game. You said they can’t lie right? And I have to eat the apple willingly. And if she doesn’t have you as leverage, she has no cards to play. I win, she lets me free, and agrees not to hunt you. If she wins, I’ll eat the apple. She’ll have to agree.”

“Ok…” Alice looked impressed. “That’s actually a good plan. But… if you lose, you’re done for.”

“Then I won’t lose.”

“This is a fairy noble.” Ruby said. “She has magic. Even if you make it a rule that she can’t use magic, she’ll find a way to win. Besides, what could you play?”

“Uno?” Minho offered.

“Chutes and ladders.” Alice added.

“I don’t know.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “But… I think before the game, you all should leave.”

“What!” they said in unison, and exploded with noise all talking over each other.

“Julian, we are not leaving you alone here.” Alice stood. She looked between Ruby and Minho, who were both nodding in agreement. “What if they go, and I stay.”

“No.” I shook my head, “you can’t.”

“But they can’t see me. I’ll just turn back into a Sugar glider again and hide.”

“You turned back into a sugar glider?” Ruby looked at her, almost horrified. “Like you turned human when the spell wore off, and then… turned into a sugar glider again.”

“I don’t think the spell ‘wore off,’ but yes.”

Ruby’s eyes widened to saucers. “What on earth did I do to you?”

“We can worry about that later,” Alice brushed her off, and looked back at me. “But you can’t face her alone.”

“I’ll be better at whatever it is I’m doing if I know you guys are safe. It’s not like I’m challenging her to an Olympic sport, I’ll pick something I’m good at.”

Alice narrowed her eyes. There was no benefit to her staying and I could see she knew it. They all knew it. They knew my plan was a one man show.

“What if you lose?” Minho asked softly. His voice was that same fragile quiet it had been before he told me about being a werewolf. “We’ll just be waiting, and waiting, and we’ll have to give up waiting at some point. But…” he looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “Julian, I don’t know how I’d make the decision to stop waiting.”

I didn’t have a response for that. The idea of Minho waiting constantly for me to come back stabbed a shard of pain into the middle of my chest. If I was in his place I’d feel the same. I’d always believe he was about to walk through every door with his cowboy swagger. Minho was my best friend.

“I have an idea.” Ruby said softly. There were tears in her eyes too, the round lenses of her glasses were a little fogged. She pushed them up and wiped the tears away. “I know how we could know.”

Ruby reached up to her ears and pulled out her earrings. They were simple studs shaped like ladybugs. Ruby closed her eyes and whispered something over them. The little earrings flashed briefly with a bright pink light, before fading back to normal. As the light dimmed, Ruby gasped and her eyes seemed to roll back in her head. Alice grabbed her shoulder to keep her from toppling off the bed, but Ruby regained herself after a moment. Ruby’s head flopped a little, and there were dark circles around her eyes.

“Sorry. I’ve been using too much magic. I need to sleep.” she rasped. She took a deep breath and ushered me over to her. “Julian, if you–if you lose, before you eat the apple, take the earring and rub your thumb over the Ruby.”

She placed one of the earrings in my hand, and rubbed her thumb over the face of the one still in her hand. The earring on my palm became warm, and then hot, and then so hot I could barely hold it. I hissed and dropped it on the bed.

“If you do, the one I keep will heat up and we’ll know you aren’t coming back.” She sounded so, so tired. “And that we need to take precautions against Maeve possibly looking for us.”

Alice looked at me with wide eyes, but I couldn’t handle the idea of meeting those eyes and I nodded, pocketing the earring. “Thank you Ruby.”

She nodded. “We should have been better friends in high school.”

“You were busy being smart.”

Ruby laughed and then passed out, snoring almost immediately. I took the earring from her hand and gave it to Alice.

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