Page 30 of Expose Me

“Zey is from another realm—a totally new realm.” Zey gave me a what-the-fuck look but didn’t lunge for me. Lowell stared at me in shock. “A new portal opened in Melbourne a few days ago. I don’t know why the House is keeping it secret, but if you can leak the info to the other Houses—safely—that would help us.”

He nodded and I could see the million questions floating in his eyes. “I’ll do my best.”

The call ended and my friend’s face disappeared. I sank onto the hard bench and dropped my head into my hands. I didn’t even get to say bye, but I was grateful to have been able to speak to him.

“It was important to you—to have this friend believe you,” Zey said, sitting down beside me.

“Yes,” I sighed and sat up. I was a little surprised that he was leading with that and not grabbing me by the throat to demand why I was spilling his realm’s secrets. “Why do you care?”

He didn’t answer. After a beat, he asked, “Why would it help us for more people to know about the portal?”

I answered his question with a question. “What was it like in your realm when the portals started appearing?”

“Exciting, frightening. It was all anyone could talk about.” Realization settled in and he gave me a small smile. I nodded.

“I don’t know why my House is keeping it secret, although I’d hazard a guess it has something to do with getting the upper hand on the other Houses. Power is everything in this world. Anyway, if word gets out there’s a new portal with a previously unknown species on the other side, it will be a pretty damn good distraction. The Houses will have their hands full trying to figure out more information, the House of Spirit and Sapphire will be busy defending their decision to keep it a secret, and the public will be just as obsessed with the development as your people were.”

“And we can focus on our search in the chaos.” He looked me up and down, like he was seeing me for the first time. “Clever.”

“Come on. Let’s fetch the first Onuei. It should be within walking distance now.” I stood and started walking in the direction that my ability was pulling me. I wasn’t sure if I was pleased that he thought I was clever or pissed that it seemed to come as a surprise to him. I also wasn’t sure why I cared.

Chapter9

My seeking ability led us to the local dump. We walked for about an hour to reach it, and it was fully dark by the time we got to the locked gates.

I dragged a hand down my face. I couldn’t believe I had to dig through literal trash to find Zey’s precious. The smell was already making me gag.

“What is this place?” Zey asked, his face screwed up in disgust.

“This is where the Onuei is hiding.” There was no use delaying the inevitable. I pulled up the bottom of the chain-link fence gate and squeezed through, then held it for Zey. I wasn’t worried about any magical wards on this gate—it was highly unlikely anyone would bother to spend money on protecting a place most people avoided anyway.

The few streetlamps barely illuminated the area a few feet in. I summoned a flashlight and closed my eyes to pinpoint a direction. The smell was distracting and made it impossible to take deep, centering breaths. Then it started to rain, and I was thoroughly distracted. I huffed, irritated. Next to me, Zey seemed to have no trouble finding Zen. He had a serene look on his face as he stood there, his face tipped up to the sky, his eyes closed. The rain was a light sprinkle, and I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off the strong lines of his features as water gathered all over his skin. He did that mesmerizing rippling thing, the depthless black flowing in waves over his skin. He let the droplets linger before absorbing them.

After a long moment, he opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Which way, seeker?” he asked.

I cleared my throat. “I’m struggling to focus. Give me a moment.”

He took my hand and held it firmly. I glanced down, then back into his eyes.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“It helps when you touch me, right? It’s easier for you to find the Onuei?”

“Right. Yeah, good. OK.” Ignoring the weirdness, I forced myself to focus. The ribbons unfurled like tendrils in my mind, showing me a path through the mounds of trash.

Zey started rubbing small circles against the back of my hand with his thumb. For a few seconds, I held off telling him which direction we needed to take. The sensation was more comforting than I cared to admit, and I couldn’t stop myself from enjoying it for just a little bit.

“This way,” I said, finally dropping his hand and taking the lead.

We wove through the piles of trash, some of them so high that my flashlight beam couldn’t reach the top. The rain continued to fall gently but steadily, soaking through my clothes bit by bit.

Eventually, the ribbons in my mind floated off the pathway and into a pile of metal scraps. There was everything from bits of wire to the carcasses of old cars. It looked like a death trap.

“OK, your turn.” I pointed into the mess of murderous metal. “Seeing as you can’t die from being impaled by a rusty steel rod and I can, you can climb into that and fetch your Onuei."

Zey started climbing over the mess before I even finished speaking. Several times, sharp metal pierced his skin as he scrambled over it all. I cringed every time, but he didn’t even seem to notice. It just passed through him like a hot knife through butter. Like a hot metal beam through a butter-man. An image of Zey standing before me, his body made entirely of butter flashed through my mind. I snorted.

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