Page 105 of Taking Jenny
My room was much like the fancy onworlder that had brought me here—gold, black, and purple, lavish to the extreme—but all I cared about was the bed. It was enormous and inviting, so I collapsed on it, face first, not bothering to take my filthy clothes off.
I was asleep before I could finish exhaling.
CHAPTER 32
Tiger
When the next siren rang out through the trees, Discord gasped with excitement. “That means she won! We must hurry back to Mal’s.”
But even as we made the drive, I fought the urge to throw open my door and run back to the hunting ground. I needed to see for myself that Jenny was safe. I wouldn’t believe it until I saw her again.
“Where will she be taken now?” I asked, unable to keep the worry out of my voice.
“Most likely, the palace for a day of rest,” Discord replied. “Justice will want her freshened up for the ball tonight.”
“Right, the celebration.” I scowled at the thought. “He’s gonna be pissed that he doesn’t get to eat her.”
Discord snorted a laugh. “Oh yes. The only other time I’ve seen that happen was when Silence won Illiapol. I wasn’t sure if Justice was happy she won or mad he didn’t get to eat hisown daughter.” She grimaced. “His happy and mad faces are the same.”
After everything, my mind felt as though it might implode. I had been awake for…well, I wasn’t sure how many hours or days it had been. Everything blurred together. But I managed to smile when Discord pulled over to pick up Surge.
He grinned up at me after he climbed in. “Glad to see you made it.”
“Yeah, you too,” I said, meaning it. “Any word on the others?”
“I broke Mal out of prison, and we split up, since the hunters did, too. I haven’t seen anyone else since.”
“No Longshot either?” Discord asked, turning in her seat.
“No. Figured they might have caught up to you or Jenny.”
She huffed and drove on, until she suddenly veered off the road toward a figure moving through the fields beside the prison. The ride was quite rough, making us all bounce our heads into the ceiling.
“What are you doing?” I groused.
“See that guy?” She pointed toward the silhouette.
“Yeah, he’s too big to be Longshot or Mal—”
“I know.” She drove straight to him, and when she flashed the vehicle’s lights in his direction, I couldn’t make out who he was. But when he came to the door, the big hulking figure had Longshot’s face.
“The hell?”
“Get out and help them,” Discord ordered.
I stepped out of the onworlder and realized that Longshot had carried Mal on his back down the mountain, around the prison, and into the field, giving him the appearance of a giant. Mal was limp and half-conscious, and Discord and I helped lay him in the backseat, draping his head on my lap.
“What happened?” I asked Longshot.
“I found him passed out in the forest,” he said, joining us in the vehicle.
Mal mumbled, “My head…is big.”
Surge immediately leaned over the seat and went to work, golden arcs crackling from his fingers as they settled over Mal’s face. I stiffened, afraid his magic would hurt, but Mal didn’t even stir.
The ride back to Mal’s blurred around me as Surge examined the wound on his head above his ear, then tasted the blood. He muttered something to himself and kept working, layering magic over the injury in rhythmic pulses. Those weird arcs fell against Mal’s closed eyes and around his temple.
When we arrived at the palace, we moved Mal into Surge’s lab, where he applied elixirs and other things I didn’t understand. Longshot and Discord left so they could sleep. They were confident Surge had it under control. I stayed beside Mal, quietly holding his hand.
