sure you can provide any of those.” She followed me over to a vacant toilet.
I tugged down my pants and sat down, ignoring the guy next to me muttering under his breath in disgust at my presence.
Funny, I no longer had any concern about how many had used the toilet before me. Germs covered everything we touched and ate here. How quickly priorities and hang-ups changed when survival was your only goal.
“I have no doubt you’d be excellent at the first, but I don’t think I’d be your first choice. Plus, I think you need me more now.” She motioned to the room. I glanced around, the space full of glaring looks and sneers. “What are you looking at, asshole?” she snapped at a man in a yellow uniform on the toilet next to me.
His eyes widened.
“Move,” she ordered.
“Bu-but…I’m not done.”
Blackness rolled over her irises again, her lip snarling, her skin bleaching out. “Move.”
With a yip, the man grabbed for his pants around his ankles and ran off.
A smile curved over Kek’s face, her eyes returning to normal. She grinned, clearly delighted with herself, taking the empty toilet to do her business.
“I can take care of myself,” I grumbled, pulling up my pants and heading to the sink, washing my hands.
“I know you can. Anyone watching you last night would realize that. You were unbelievable. Sometimes I swear I didn’t even see you move. But they won’t come at you one on one.” She stuck her hands under the same faucet I was using, scrubbing hers before we headed out, matching my slow steps taking us to the mess hall. “Doesn’t hurt to have a demon on your side.”
In one sentence, I realized how much my life had changed.
A demon on my side.
At HDF, that would be heresy. And just a few months ago, I would have shunned anyone suggesting I would work with not only fae, but a demon.
So much had changed.
How much of the girl who walked into this place was left in me now?
Chapter 23
“Do you like it?” Opie twirled around, showing off his new outfit. “I found some food coloring in the kitchen.”
“It’s…colorful.” I leaned against the wall, rubbing the slumber from my eyes after getting a few solid hours of sleep. Hmmm, I wonder why, a voice taunted in my head. I rubbed my eyebrows, trying to push away the memory of the night before, pretending it was a dream.
“Just colorful?” Opie circled his arms in the air and down his figure. A smile wobbled my mouth, my eyes burning at the brightness of his new creation. His shorts and tank, which looked the same as a onesie, were cut from cheesecloth and stained a bright tie-dyed rainbow. He added a pink loofah as a hat.
“I like it.”
Chirp!
“Shush. She said she liked it.” Opie huffed, glancing at the huge-eared creature clinging to his back. “Why would she lie about that?”
“I wouldn’t.” I shot Bitzy a glare. “I love it.”
Bitzy flipped me off.
I flipped her off back.
A strange warmth filled my chest. A burst of laughter gripped my chest at the amusement Opie’s crazy costumes and Bitzy’s middle finger brought me. Waking up to Bitzy shoving her finger in my nose gave me a feeling I probably should seek help for.
Pulling my knees up to my chest and placing my chin on them, I watched Opie strut around like he was on a runway, displaying his new creation. They were my one real joy in this hell, and I was so happy when they showed up again. Nothing changed in their eyes.
It had been two hellish weeks since I killed in my last Games. Every day the threats grew more severe. Bolder. From both inmates and guards. I had fresh bruises and scratch marks on my skin from those seizing a private moment to strike. Besides Tad and Kek, no one was on my side, and Kek wasn’t around to help me except in the mornings in the washroom, and Tad couldn’t physically do anything.
I was alone—an island by myself.
The fae and half-breeds I understood, but humans despising me was a shock. I mean, I expected a little bitterness from the Savage Lands dwellers because of my station. But it seemed like a deep-seated hatred causing them to choose fae over their own leader, which stirred an uneasiness in me. I didn’t understand how they could go against Markos, who was trying to fight for them. He was a formidable person and a tough general, but