I grumbled at him, “I’m renaming you Rat.”
Jinx leaned forward so our noses almost touched.
She whispered forcefully, “Concentrate, woman. This is serious. A lot is at stake right now, and you’re falling apart like you’ve earned the luxury to mope. You need to focus on acting righteously, starting post hoc.”
“Grow up,” I scoffed with disbelief. “There’s no such thing as righteousness. Name one thing in this realm that’s morally proper. Go ahead. I’ll wait.”
Jinx’s pale features seemed pointier in the darkness, and I had the sudden urge to look away because it was like staring into the uncanny valley.
Something was off, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
She snarled, “If I had to tell you, then it wouldn’t be justifiable good. It would be you mimicking virtue to prop up your overinflated ego and hollow sense of self.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You think you’re so smart because you read Nietzsche and philosophers.” My laugh was raspy and harsh. “But you know nothing about the real world. I don’t take advice from sheltered little girls.”
Jinx grabbed the front of my hoodie with surprising strength. “You will listen or you will perish. I’m all you have. I’m all you’ve ever had, but you’re too blind and self-centered.”
“If you’re all I have”—I let her pull me closer—“then why would I care about righteousness when I’m already damned?” I scoffed. “Talk to me when you’ve suffered a tenth of what I’ve gone through. Until then, leave me alone.”
A noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl rumbled in Jinx’s chest.
She quivered with anger as she whisper-yelled, “You wouldn’t survive a day in my body. You have no idea what I’ve done or what’s at stake.” Her voice dripped with desperation.
I’d never seen her lose control like this.
I opened my mouth to argue back, then paused because she was a thirteen-year-old girl with a loving family. “What’s at stake? What’s wrong with your body?”
Since I was part of that family, it was my job to protect her.
“Forget I said that.” Jinx released my clothes and took a step away.
There was something she wasn’t telling me.
“No.” I grabbed her arm and pushed her back against the wall. I used my much larger body to intimidate her. “Explain yourself right now. What are you hiding from us?”
“I wasn’t planning on doing this, but,” Jinx mumbled under her breath.
The blacks of her corneas expanded until they consumed the whites of her eyes.
It was like staring into the vacuum of space.
I needed to look deeper.
If only I could search the depths, I’d discover things I’d never known.
My subconscious brain wrenched my head to the side before I’d consciously recognized that I needed to disengage.
“No, look at me. Don’t look away,” Jinx implored.
I stared at the tile floor as I gasped for air. My eyes also went black when I was enraged.
Are we somehow connected? Is she also fae?
My analytical mind whirled as it struggled to put together all the pieces. So many possibilities.
None of them good.
“Jinx, did you also go into the bathroom? Everything okay?” Sadie called from the other side of the door.
“Yes. We’re fine!” Jinx yelled back in a fake singsong voice.
Keeping my eyes averted on the ground, I gritted my teeth and whispered, “You have ten seconds to explain yourself or I will scream for Sadie and let everyone know that you have an ability you’ve been hiding from us. Also that you’re apparently suffering every day. I’m sure that won’t make everyone freak the fuck out.”
Jinx whined, “Friggin’ hell.”
“Did you just say ‘frig’？” I asked incredulously.
“Swearing,” she said coldly, “is the sign of a weak mind.”
“Well, you’re about to be grounded for the rest of your life, so you have five seconds to explain.” My voice rose as I spoke.
“Shut the hell up,” Jinx whispered.
“I’m pretty sure that’s a swear word. You’re a hypocrite. Also, you have two seconds.”
“Fine!” Jinx paused, then said, “I-have-the-ability-to-make-people-forget-things-if-they-look-into-my-eyes.”
I gaped.
Let her words sink in.
She can make people forget things if they look into her eyes.
I paused because she’d acquiesced way too easily.
Slowly I said, “And you’re telling me this because you still plan on making me forget this conversation. Correct?” I shook her back and forth, and her silence was damning. “Well, checkmate, little girl, I’m never looking at your face ever again.”
Jinx kicked the wall. “You’re a fool. You have no idea what’s going on.”
“Explain why I need to be righteous. Explain what’s going on.” I gasped as it dawned on me. “Oh my sun god. What else have you made me forget?”
Jinx said too quickly, “Nothing, just evidence that I’m in pain. Forget about this please. I’m begging you.”
I body-slammed her, pseudo-gently, into the wall.
She was lying.
“Sadie, I have something to tell you!” I whispered loudly as I kept my eyes averted.
“No, please, please, please,” Jinx begged, sounding for the first time in her life like the child she was.
I exhaled slowly and infused my voice with sincerity. “Just tell me why you need me to act a certain way and I won’t tell them anything. I promise.”
There was a long, silent moment.
Finally, Jinx’s voice broke, and she said, “I can’t. I really wish I could, but I swear on Sadie’s life that I can’t. It’s forbidden. All I can do is try to guide you into making the right choices. If I explain things, then your motivations are muddled. I swear.”
I released her.
Nodded and said, “Okay.”
Jinx sagged against the wall and said in a small voice, “Thanks for being a good friend, Aran.”
I screamed, “Sadie, Jinx has been erasing all our memories! She can look us in the eyes and make us forget things! She’s probably been doing it her whole life and is hiding things from us! Also, she’s apparently in pain every day!”
“WHAT?” Jax roared.
There was a loud cracking noise as the bathroom door was torn off the hinges. Five shifters crowded the space.
I shrieked, “No one look her in the eyes!”
Jinx whispered brokenly, “I’ll never forgive you for this.”
“Oh, please,” I scoffed. “I didn’t buy your pathetic ‘woe is me’ act for a second.” My voice dripped with sarcasm as I threw her words back at her, “And I’m trying to do the right thing. Keeping secrets isn’t right.”
Jinx emitted a high-pitched war cry as someone constrained her.
Ten minutes later, Jinx was tied to a chair with bed linens and was facing the wall.
She’d refused to talk until Jax promised he’d voluntarily withdraw from the competition and get strung up in the tree.
He wasn’t joking.