Page 6 of Consume Me
They stir, whispering questions that feel like the worst invasion of privacy.
I ignore them and turn away. This is the last place I have left sacred to me. They cannot be allowed to taint it.
Head down, I head back to my apartment.
My phone buzzes in my back pocket. I check the screen. It’s my friend Niamh again—a fae with an affinity for plants unlike anything I’ve encountered before. But more importantly, a friend who hasn’t taken no for an answer. Over the last year, I’ve slowly pulled away from everyone else. But Niamh refuses to let me ghost her. If I go too long without answering, she just shows up at Spells and demands we have a girls’ night. It’s annoying as hell but also means the world to me at the same time.
Frowning, I check my history and see three texts and one missed call. I hit “ignore” before I can talk myself into doing something stupid, like replying. She’ll come looking for me soon—I can feel it—but not yet. She has no idea about the daggers. And I plan to keep it that way. Knowing about them would put her at risk, and I refuse to let the daggers order me to kill a friend.
The daggers stir at that.
Who is Niamh?
“No one you need to worry about.”
You’re weak when you think of her.
I grit my teeth. “Shut up.”
You could be so much more if you just let us lead.
I feel a prickle of some silent power brushing against my mind. I shove it back just like I do every time it tries to infiltrate me. The daggers want more of me than just my hands doing their dirty work. They want my thoughts. My free will. Maybe even my soul. And I’m not sure howlong I can hold out against it. But I refuse to let today be the day they take it.
I spend most of the day walking the city. When I get hungry, I stop and barter for a meal of fish and chips from a water fae. The daggers want her power.
Kill her,they whisper.Let us eat her magic for dessert.
It takes everything in me to resist.
By the time I circle back toward the shop, the sun has dipped behind the tree line. Twilight bleeds across the sky in violet streaks. I walk slower, drawn out and hollow. The hum is rising again. The daggers are not happy with my refusal earlier.
You cannot resist us forever, mortal fae.
I don’t answer them.
Soon, you will give yourself over to us fully.
“Fuck you.”
We alone can prevent your death.
“You’ve also made my life a living hell.”
Your will to resist us is weakening. We can feel it.
“I hate you,” I mutter. Mostly because they’re right. I can feel it too.
When Spells comes into view, I breathe a sigh of relief that it’s already closed. At least, I avoided Natalia for one day. The moment my hand touches the knob, the daggers hiss. The buzzing in my temples returns with a roar.
I drop the handle like it burned me.
“What?” I demand.
Someone’s been here.
“Who?”
More whispered muttering in a language I don’t understand. They only do it when they want to exclude me, so I purposely ignore them. I dart a glance around and then slip inside the shop, listening for some sound that might alert me to a threat waiting. But the shop is empty.
