Page 128 of Shadow

Stitches rolled his eyes. “Touchè, dick,”

Mirage chuckled and grabbed some steamed vegetables, making sure to get more carrots than anything else.

“Rinny, want some potatoes?” he asked.

She stared at him for a moment, making him laugh softly.

“I remember,” he murmured, smiling. “Mashed potato noses and silly songs. And the blueberries.”

Her eyes lit up. I glanced at Church to see him frowning. I knew Asylum/Mirage well enough by now to know of the parlor tricks. He said he wasn’t a mind reader, but damn, it sure seemed like he was.

“What’s with the blueberries?” Ashes asked from beside me.

“Oh, it’s this thing. When we were kids, Rinny liked to eat blueberries in her yogurt and ice cream. One day, she begged her mom to let her try blueberries in her mashed potatoes. It was then that I knew she was crazy like me.” He bumped shoulders with her, making her smile wider.

“How was it?” Shadow asked.

“Terrible.” Mirage laughed.

“She threw up,” Cady said, wincing. “Later that night. She came into my room to tell me she didn’t feel good. And she threw up on me.”

Sirena signed quickly to Cady, who frowned.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m trying to learn…” Cady said.

“She said she’s sorry for doing that,” Shadow supplied. “That the words weren’t as fast as the blueberries.”

Cady smiled and shook her head. “It’s fine. It was a long time ago now. I forgive you.”

Sirena relaxed, and Mirage reached out and squeezed her hand. He didn’t release it. His eyes caught mine.

I stared back at him, wondering what he’d seen lately. There was no way in hell he didn’t know something.

He cocked his head to the right. I waited for his words, my breath held.

“We bled in war with our pain deep. But some truths monsters safely keep. So hand in hand, we struck a deal. To wear their skin and learn to feel.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Stitches frowned at Mirage.

“It means, Malachi, that sometimes we must change to overcome. To keep what we fought for, we must endure until we get to a place where we can finally win. That sometimes, we have to be just like the monsters we fight.” Mirage went back to eating his dinner.

I looked over to see Sirena staring at her plate. Shadow reached out and held her hand. Mirage still held her other one.

He was right.

We’d all changed to get to this point. We were all monsters stuck warring with other monsters.

Only months ago, this entire scene wouldn’t have happened, and yet, here we all were.

“Eat,” Church commanded softly to Sirena.

Sirena did as she was told. She picked her fork up and slowly ate a few bites before signing.

I smiled at the words. I’d been trying to learn sign language too. I spent a lot of time doing it lately. I wasn’t nearly as advanced as she and Shadow seemed to be, but I could at least pick things out better than the others, it seemed, although Church appeared like he was learning quickly.

“What?” Ashes asked. “Can you do it again?”

She signed to him again.

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