Page 2 of Chaos Crown

“Need me to spell it out,” she sang. “I promised I was arranging a meeting for us and here we are. I’d have thought you’d be happy, seeing as you put so much effort into finding me.”

“You?” I scurried back as she closed the distance. “But— But how? Why?”

“How and why you already know. But you forgot.” Zoey rolled her eyes. “How convenient.”

“You’re the Letter Man,” I sliced in.

“Woman. Thank you very much.”

“But you... Blake Jensen...”

My conversation with Craig came roaring back.

“Blake. Is he in this photo? Point him out.”

“Blake’s not—”

“A guy,” I whispered. “He was going to say that Blake isn’t a guy. The face he pointed out!”

I snapped up to her. In my mind, I moved past the person I thought Craig pointed at, to the girl I dismissed outright.

Her hair was brunette. The round nose was pointed, but the resemblance couldn’t be denied.

“You’re Blake Jensen.”

“Correction: I was Blake Jensen.”

“And Dante? How did you...?” I trailed off, my mind struggling under the new information.

“Oh, I’m not Dante. But the new guy is a friend,” she said. “He kindly made a few changes to the show, and added lines to his script when I asked. I have friends, Angel. Everywhere.”

“You’re not Dante, but you are Blake.”

She gestured with my crossbow. “I changed my name to Zoey Mariner the second I hit eighteen. Ugh. You don’t know the hell I went through. My parents thought it’d be cool and revolutionary to give me a guy’s name. Instead, I was bullied relentlessly. They called me a man. Stole my tampons, saying that guys didn’t need them. It was awful.”

“Boo-hoo. I don’t give a fuck about your sob story.” I strained in my binds. “You shot Colton. You killed Bella! And the guys. Get them down from there right now.”

Zoey aimed the bow at Legend and fired.

“No!”

He jerked out of the way and the arrow sailed past, missing him so narrowly I heard his jacket tear.

“You’re not in a position to make demands, so don’t do it again. You are, however, lucky that I’m in a sharing mood. Go on,” she sang. “Ask me all about my dastardly plan. Why did you do it? How did you get away with it? I love this part.”

I spat at her feet.

She heaved a sigh. “You always were stubborn.”

“You don’t know me.”

“Au contraire. If you want to get technical, I’d say I’m the only one who knows the real you. Come on. Haven’t you put it together yet?”

“We met during that blurred-out year of my life while I was on the meds. I get it,” I mocked. “But if you think that drugged-up robot is the real me, you don’t understand how blackouts work. Anything I did”—I thought of the body at Black Widow Hill—“or didn’t do. It wasn’t a choice.”

Giving me her back, Zoey shot at the ropes keeping Arsenio out of the water below.

“Hmm!”

---