Page 105 of Sequel to the Easter Bunny

Jack responds to whatever Juun says with a long string of those booming words.

He holds our hands forward and a ribbon snakes around us, elbows to fingertips. Each of the gods pass their hands over ours and the ribbon sinks into our arms and hands, leaving behind a white mark coiling around my skin. Turning the fur of his arm the darker shade of my skin.

“Enjoy her in good health,” Heim says, though it doesn’t sound like he means it. “As long as she has it.”

He disappears, fading away like a chill wind.

Gren gives us a long nod before glowing brightly and then he, too, fades.

Death is gone. I don’t know when he left us.

But Jack’s mothers don’t appear to be going anywhere. They stand more closely together and though Juun doesn’t look particularly pleased, she produces another mask. Metal and beaten into shape.

She doesn’t look at me as she hands it to Jack.

When he takes it, tipping it upright, I see bits of Diyo’s flute, and even the eye of a peacock feather.

Jack’s brows rise and he looks at his mothers with a curious caution. “The others will allow it?”

“Of course.”

I don’t know what they mean, but I wait. Not wanting to say anything that might draw Juun’s attention back to me.

When he embraces them both, I lock my muscles against the desire to take a step back. There’s an oddity to that unexpected intimacy, but it’s over in an instant and Juun looks like she’d like to go bathe.

Mask in one hand, Jack takes mine in the other and I feel the tug of magic a moment before I blink and we are back in his domain.

“What did they give you?” I ask as he sits on his throne, pulling me into his lap.

“Freedom.” He hands me the mask. Despite being made of a dozen things melded together, it is vaguely human in shape. “With this, I can go to the mortal realm with you?”

I could have my rabbit and the Valley too.

But… “Are the consequences the same? If it comes off and someone sees you, are you stuck there forever?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “That would be fair. And we can both agree that my mothers are never fair. If it comes off, I’ll simply reappear here. But I won’t be able to leave again until the mask is returned to me.”

He holds me close, pressing a kiss to my hair. “I am yours Lily, I will go or be wherever you need me.”

It’s tempting to wait, to spend a few more hours or even days in this night, but I’ll have to go back eventually, and if he can come with me….

“Do you want to come be a part of my world?”

An Immortal Out of Place

Dawn peeks over the horizon outside as the doorway closes behind us and I don’t let go of his hand as he gets his bearings.

I take the moment to get used to the mask. He doesn’t look like a human man any more than I look like an actual bunny rabbit, but it forces his ears to sweep back against his head, and so they don’t brush on my ceiling.

“Everything’s so solid.” He presses his hand to the wall, as if he expects it to move or evaporate beneath his touch.

“That’s the way of the mortal realm.” I tug him through the living space and out onto the balcony. “This is the realm I came from.”

His hand slips from mine as he steps forward, going to the rail and looking out over the jumbled mess of my city.

“Your world is strange….” He grips the railing a little tighter, leaning forward as if he wants to see everything all at once. “But I’m very glad I’ll have the opportunity to get used to it.”

The way he observes the Valley reminds me of a king viewing his subjects. There’s amusement in the curve of his smile, calculation in the sweep of his eyes over those who are already up and going about their morning tasks.

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