Feversong (Fever #9)(132)

She’d been a virgin. Words couldn’t express the relief I felt on that score. She’d given her innocence to Dancer last night. And, again, words couldn’t express the relief I felt on that score. At first when she’d returned as Jada, I’d thought it would and probably should be Ryodan. Hardened, cold, Jada had seemed a decade older than the woman that sat with me now. But for Dani, Dancer was the perfect choice. He’d given her a normal, teenage rite of passage—the only one she’d ever known.

And my girl was on fire with the wonder of it, her fresh young skin glowing, her eyes sparkling! Her curls practically crackled with energy, she even moved differently. She had a subtle new self-awareness and excitement for what the future might hold. She was at the very beginning of her life.

I was at the end of mine.

And that was more than okay, it was good, because not so long ago I’d been willing to die right then just to see her get a chance. Now she had more than a chance. She was Dani again. Actively engaging, caring.

“So, I’m thinking about taking Ryodan up on what he said,” she said finally.

“What’s that?”

“He said he’d take me and Dancer through to save Shazam, make sure we got off that world to somewhere new.” Her sparkling eyes dimmed and she shifted uncomfortably.

“How is Dancer?” I asked softly.

Green eyes locked with mine. “He’ll die. I just don’t know when. Is there anything you can do? I mean as the queen?”

I shook my head sadly. “The only possibility is the Elixir of Life. I already offered it to him and he refused.”

“You did? Wait—he refused it?”

“It has a nasty side effect. It destroys the immortal soul.”

She closed her eyes and sighed. “He would never do that because he died once and he knows there’s something more.”

“He did? He knows that?” I pounced on it. “For certain?” So, Barrons and I did have a chance to find each other again, like the two children in their boats at the end of What Dreams May Come.

“He’s certain. Which means it’s probably true. He’s neither easily fooled nor prone to illogical sentimentality.” She was quiet a moment then said, “I could slip it in one of his protein shakes.”

My eyebrows climbed my forehead. “You would do that to him?” Not that I could or would give it to her. The elixir was hidden in Faery and I had no way of getting there.

She blew out a gusty breath. “No,” she said nearly inaudibly. “I’d like to but I couldn’t.”

“None of us know how much time we get, Dani. Maybe that’s what makes it so intense. Save Shazam. At least try. The three of you may end up getting a long life. Perhaps Shazam knows some way to help him.”

She looked at me, startled. “I didn’t even think of that but you’re right, he might.”

The doorbell tinkled and Alina stepped in.

Dani glanced over her shoulder and froze, face blanching.

“It’s just my sister,” I said lightly.

“Hey Dani,” Alina said with a warm smile. “I’ve heard so much about you from Mac but we’ve never actually had a proper introduction.”

“Because I was, like, killing you shortly after we met,” Dani said tightly.

Alina walked slowly to join us, pausing a few feet away. “How much do you remember of that day?”

“More than enough.”

“What I remember is that you were screaming at the end, tearing at your hair, vomiting all over yourself. Dani, honey, it wasn’t your fault. And if you don’t quit blaming yourself I’m going to kick your ass all over this city and back. You’re not stupid. Get a grip on it. Rowena was a sadistic old bitch and you were a child. A good child. End of subject. Let it go.”

I mouthed a silent Love you, sis at Alina. She’d said exactly the right words. Not too much, not too little. Not too nice, not too harsh.

Dani said nothing for a long moment, just sat there in silence. Then she said, “You really mean that. You don’t hate me.”

“No. And I didn’t then. I felt sad. For both of us. For being trapped in circumstances beyond our control. It was obvious you were being controlled and you were fighting it with everything you had. Come off world with us tonight, Dani. Start a new life. Mac’s coming in a few days. We’ll be sisters.” She beamed. “The three of us.”

Oh, fuck, that drove a knife through my heart. Dani would go to Shazam. Alina would go with Mom and Dad. I would die. The three of us would never be peas in a Mega Pod. That time had passed.

But for a while we could pretend.

I said quickly, “What do you say we go for a stroll around our city? Take in the sights one last time? The three of us.”

Dani turned and looked from me to Alina, back to me, and back to Alina again. Then she said slowly, “I’d like that.”



I got another slice of heaven for a few hours that day. We walked around our deserted town and talked and reminisced. It was stiff at first between Dani and Alina but my sister and I are so much alike that Dani didn’t stand a chance.

We detoured into the Dark Zone, stood outside 1247 LaRuhe and swapped stories about it. We climbed Dani’s water tower and looked out over the city as she told us about the night Ryodan first “offered a job.” Then she filled me in on all I’d missed with the Hoar Frost King. We dropped by Alina’s old place and Dani showed us a couple of her favorite hidey-holes and we finally ended up at Chester’s standing forty feet away from what was now an enormous roiling black hole, descending into the dug-out pavement beneath it. The entire sphere, except for a tiny walnut-sized blot of absolutely still blackness at the center, had become a whirling ergosphere. We held on to one another, our jackets flapping briskly in the breeze it was throwing off.