Page 191 of Sigils & Spells

“The whole reason we’re in this mess is because you tried to keep a girl from getting roofied. If she’d been the one in that fairy circle–" Alice shook her head. “She probably doesn’t hate apples as much as you. I mean, you picked a silly way to do something really brave, but it was still something that kept her alive.”

I stared at her. How could I answer that? It felt like she was picking my brain apart and lying it on the comforter beside us, reading between the lines in a way I could barely do.

“Let’s talk about something else.” I shook my head, feeling a little too psychoanalyzed, “tell me something about you.”

“I’ve been living with my uncle for a couple months, ever since the vampire thing. And I go to the bar with him in the evenings to work on my school work.” It was Alice’s turn to blush, “I thought you were cute the whole time.”

“So when you found me in the stall and I said, ‘I’m the hot one,’ did that actually clarify who I was?”

She made a face like she didn’t want to admit it. “Unfortunately yes it did.”

I laughed out loud. “So does doing homework in the bar really work?”

“I resent the implication that I was going to Blaze’s just for you.” she laughed. “No, I meant it, I thrive in chaos. I can’t stand being alone or in quiet places. I haven’t made friends here yet, so going to the bar helped me feel less alone.”

“Well I think it’s safe to say you have friends now.” I grinned at her. “That theory about how ‘fear is an aphrodisiac.’ I feel like almost dying together forces you into being friends.”

Alice’s smile was suddenly soft. “That’s better.”

“What?”

“You’re talking like we’ll make it out of here.”

“Oh.”

Alice was right. I felt a little better about it all. We still didn’t have a plan or anything, but Alice’s aggressive optimism made me feel like we could be ok.

* * *

Maeve had meantit when she said she’d give me time to make my choice. The room felt filled with nothing but palpable and sluggish time. The urgency to make a choice did nothing to make the day pass faster. Alice and I spent hours throwing plans back and forth, each one more ridiculous than the last.

“Ok, what if we do like, ‘get help’ kind of thing?” Alice propositioned. “You call out in distress that your stomach is hurting or your dick is gonna fall off, I don’t know something like that.”

“Do…” I squinted at her. “Do you think dicks just fall off?”

“I don’t know.” Alice shrugged. “Do they?”

“Obviously they don’t.”

“Ok, whatever. Anyway, you call for help, and they come in to check on you and I, as a sugar glider, crawl out of the room from the top of the doorway. They won’t see me because of Ruby’s spell.”

“You can’t turn yourself into a sugar glider on purpose.” I pointed out.

“Maybe you could startle me?”

“I can’t startle you on purpose. It’s like when you have hiccups, if you know I want to scare you, you won’t be scared. Also, even if that worked, then what? We have no way to find Ruby and Minho.”

Alice puffed out her cheeks in deep thought and collapsed back on the bed. “Ok, well, I have just been turning back and forth randomly right?”

I nodded.

“Well we can just wait until I turn back into a sugar glider and then do the plan. You scream out for help. I get out of the room. If I’m out, maybe I can unlock it? Or-” her eyes widened like she had an idea. “If I’m invisible to them, maybe I can do recon, and search the castle for Minho and Ruby.”

“We don’t know if you’re invisible to them in person form. What if you turn back into Alice and they get you.”

“Ok, what if–” Alice was cut off by a steady tapping sound. I thought at first it was from the door, and that same icy fear of Maeve set into my chest again. I stood without meaning too.

Alice sat up and grabbed my hands gently. “It’s coming from the window, Julian. I think it’s a bird.”

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