Chapter 18

Red arrived home to find me still seated on the edge of my bed, staring at nothing. "Are you okay?" she asked, her tone matching her steps as she slowly approached. "Amelia?" She gripped my shoulders and forced me to look at her.

"I'm fine." My voice was monotone. The response was automatic. Was I okay? I couldn't even answer. I wasn't sure what okay meant. Had I ever been okay?

"Did it just bring you back here?" She studied my face then her eyes travelled over me in what appeared to be an injury check. "That was some wild shit. Nobody else remembers any of it."

My tongue twisted inside my mouth. How was she so immune to him? I became torn. On one hand, I could try to discover the cause of this unique skill she had and mimic it, or take the safer route and feign ignorance of the whole thing. My whole life I'd been hiding, fighting to keep the secret, to be normal.

Red wore an open expression. Why is she not freaked out? Why is she not a terrified ball of screams and wet pants? "Are you okay?" I asked.

Red's lips curved. "Are you serious? I'm not the one who got kidnapped by a Ouija Demon."

"I guess that's–"

"I'm mortified! There it was, rippling and ready to reenact some very heated novel scenes, and then poof, he was gone." She shook her head sadly. "Tell me though! What happened? Did he bind your soul to his because you're his one true love, and he likes your ass?"

"What?" I blinked at her.

"That's what happened in the book. Did he take you to his fiery hell to make sweet, sweet–"

"No!" I felt my cheeks heat up. "He brought me– Can we stop calling it a he!"

"Oh honey, that was definitely male."

Her words conjured an image of the devil himself that had my skin tingling. Damn him! Damn him for being so magically fucking attractive! "It's a demon! Not a plaything! Don't you know what demons do? They kill people! Take your soul and bathe in your blood. Torture you for all eternity!" How could she be so easy going with this? "It shouldn't be real! He shouldn't be able to do that, to exist! Why are you okay with him fucking existing!"

"Okay with it! I feel like a fisherman that just saw that mega, bus-sized fucking catfish! It was amazing, and I wanted to get it in my boat," she paused to motion towards her pants and wiggle her brows at me, "but the damn thing got away! And now nobody's going to believe me when I tell them about that magnificent demon-fish- I saw!" She took a deep breath. "Except for you!" She gripped my shoulder again, like a desperate woman. "You saw him too!"

"I didn't want to!" I released a growl and shoved her unceremoniously off of my bed. "Go to bed! Go to bed and forget about demons. They suck!" I flopped down onto my amazing new bedspread and tried to ignore how good it felt against my skin.

Red made a noise. "Well, guess I know somebody didn't get any demon tail."

I lifted the pillow and pulled it over my ear. I'd always thought having someone believe me, someone to confide in, to share the burden with, would be a blessing. Now, I wanted to go back in time and warn myself about that wish. It wasn't helping, not at all.

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Brady hadn't lied, or at least, so far he'd stayed true to his promise. I got up like a normal person, got dressed like a normal person, ate breakfast like a normal person. Every class was uneventful. Even mythology, which suddenly had a new teacher who didn't seem to have any clue that there was another before them, and strangely, neither did any student.

It was as if he'd vanished. That is, until I got back to my dorm.

The minute I opened my door, I was greeted by a lazy looking Brady. He was sprawled out across my bed, hands behind his head, and when I walked in he gave me a proud smile. "See? I told you I wouldn't mess with you."

"You're in my bed," I pointed out in an annoyed tone. "You didn't even last a day."

Brady's smile dulled to a smirk. "I warned you I'd be back. I'm not here to pester you. I'm here to take you out."

"I don't want to go out."

He held up a hand. "This isn't some cheeseburger at the cholesterol king. This is strictly professional. You need to understand the world better if you expect to be able to watch out for yourself."

"I understand the world well enough."

"Ah, but you don't." He stood and sauntered towards me. "You haven't even seen all of it." He was close, too close. I could feel that electric pulse, the vibration, the pull. Why did I have to react this way! Why!

"Stop doing that!" I said, taking a step back.

Brady's brows lifted. "Do what?"

"Whatever freaky magic you're using! It's disturbing. I don't like it."

His eyes held a knowing look that only confirmed my suspicions. "I'm not doing anything, sweetheart. Whatever you feel right now, is all you." He filled the gap, and wrapped his large hand around my bicep. "Come with me."

I didn't fight him. I don't know why, but I didn't. Instead, I let myself be guided. Brady turned me ever so gently then slowly began to lead me towards... the closet?

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying and failing to pull away.

"This is how we get to where we're going."

I gave him a flat look. "I am not going into a closet with you. I'm not sure about you genies, but we humans use those for clothes." I spoke each word pointedly to ensure it made it past that thick magical skull of his.

"How boring." He smirked, his eyes dancing once again. "We use them for magic." Then in a move so fast I couldn't blink, Brady yanked me inside and pressed me tight against his chest. "Are you ready?"

"N–"

Bright blue filled the darkness, blinding me once again, and I was falling. This time, a scream managed to make its way past my lungs, but it only lasted a moment before Brady's hand ran along my spine, and a deep sense of calm fell over me. "You're safe," he reassured, his voice right against my ear.

I squinted my eyes shut tight and clung to him. When we landed, grass crunched at my feet. At a distance, birds chirped. Eventually, Brady let go, and I opened my eyes.

A scene unlike any Hollywood flick could produce welcomed me.

I stumbled, then caught my balance and spun around. It was the world, only it wasn't. Everything, the trees, the birds flying through the sky, the grass beneath my feet, was color. Light. Bright as a neon sign. Purples, greens, reds and blues. Every color imaginable and some I'd never seen. Each tree held its own, each insect could be easily set apart. I'd been transported to the inside of a Christmas bulb. I took it all in, mouth opened in wonder. It encompassed me with beauty.

"It's amazing, isn't it," Brady murmured beside me, and I turned to find him standing there. Only, it wasn't the man I was used to seeing. I could tell it was him, I could make out his face, his clothes, every detail, but all of it was composed of that same electric blue I'd found within his eyes.

"You're blue!"

Brady laughed, deep and throatily. "Yes, sweetheart. Look at yourself."

It was then that I noticed that, I too, was comprised completely of bright golden yellow. "Holy shit! I'm fucking yellow!"

Brady laughed louder. "Yes, you are." His laugh seemed to fizzle out as he sobered. "You're beautiful."

I looked up at his tone. He was staring at me intently, his eyes roaming, drinking me in. "This," he finally spoke, looking away and waving an arm outward. "Is the ether-realm. Everything you see here exists in your world. This is just another plain of that existence." He reached down and plucked a blade of grass from the ground. "In your world, this is green, physical. But here, this single blade shines orange. It is it's aura. Here, we don't merely see the outer edges of a being, but it's core."

I stared at it, then looked around again. "So, you mean, my core is yellow?" I thought about it. "That's fucking priceless."

Brady took a step forward but didn't move to touch me. "What's wrong with yellow?" he asked softly.

"Yellow? As in scared? Makes perfect fucking sense." I let out a dry laugh.

Brady moved even closer. "Yellow doesn't mean scared, Sweetheart. Yellow is joy. It's light." He stroked my cheek. "Yellow is the color of happiness."

I would have scoffed but his touch had robbed me of any and all sense. I stared up at that handsome face, that glowing electric blue. "You're blue," I managed to say. "What does blue mean?"

"It means," he lowered his face level with mine. "That I'm great in bed."

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