Page 2 of Shadow

“Have you seen Sirena?” I ventured.

He glanced over at me. “I have. Just came from there.”

“How is she?”

“Good.” He smiled, a faraway look on his face. “Beautiful. Fucking perfect.My little monster.”

I swallowed at his words. She’d completely lost it in the woods on Adam. Stabbing him until he was nearly in pieces had really been something to witness. Again with that sick satisfaction I felt regarding the matter. He deserved it and more.

At least one of his personalities had.

Poor bastard.

I shook the thought away.

Fuck him. Truly.

“Is she talking?” I asked.

“Not in the conventional sense,” he answered. “Selective mutism is really hot, don’t you think?”

I scoffed at that. “Based on how it happened, should you really be endorsing it?”

He frowned. “You’re right. That makes me shitty, doesn’t it?”

I shrugged. “To be fair, I think we’re all shitty in some way or another.”

“I regret it, you know? Not being there to prevent it. For trusting…” His voice trailed off. “It’s in the past. It doesn’t matter now. Things are better. Asylum and I… we’re better. Mostly. We have a symbiotic relationship now. She’s here with us and forgives our atrocities. That’s all that matters.”

I nodded. If that’s what he chose to believe, it wasn’t my place to deter him from it.

“How is Sin?”

Mirage was quiet for a moment before he adjusted his rabbit mask. “He’s still in the facility. Collapsed lung. He’s pretty messed up. Church won’t let Sirena inside the facility, so they’ve been rotating out on staying with him. They all went today. It was why I got to hang out with her at the house.”

“How was that?” I swallowed hard.

He smiled. “Incredible. We danced. Watched a movie. She painted a portrait of me.”

“You didn’t touch her?” I tensed, waiting for his answer.

“Well, I had to touch her to dance.” He shot a smirk at me.

“You know what I mean, Seth.”

He chuckled. “I do know. And no, I didn’t. I told you before, it’s not our time. Soon. You’re up to bat next.”

“Yeah, right,” I muttered. “You know as well as I do that I don’t fit in with the watchers.”

“You’d be surprised,Shadow.” He clapped me on the shoulder and stood. “Now, where are we on the carrot cupcakes?”

“I’ll make them, but you owe me.”

“And I’ll pay.” He grinned at me and went to my door. “You’ll love the payment. Forever.”

He didn’t wait for my reply. He simply pulled the door open, did a little rabbit bounce, and left me sitting there on the bed.

In the silence, I brought my phone out of my pocket and looked down at the picture of Sirena I had on it. I’d taken a selfie of us when she’d first arrived, and we’d agreed to be together to keep her off the radar. That had sure backfired.

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