It wasn’t for me.

  When I reached the portal, I turned my head and looked over at the Viscount. I extended a hand. “Are you coming?” I asked.

  “Me?” he angled his head to the side.

  “Who else?”

  “I’m the reason you were brought here in the first place. I lied to you, Avery.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not about to throw stones in a glass house. Besides, you got to show me around your world a little. Let me show you around mine. See if we can start this thing over.”

  “This… thing,” he said, lowering his eyes, his eyebrow arched.

  He looked at Invidia, then up at the house, and then back at me. A moment later, he started walking toward the portal. I could already smell Seattle on the other side of that shimmering circle. The car exhaust, the grease, the food. Oh my God, the food. I had missed it so much.

  “If you go through that portal,” Invidia said to Silvan, “You can never come back.”

  Silvan turned his head to look at her. “You aren’t a Duchess anymore,” he said, “I am not a Viscount anymore, we do not have a House anymore. I am as free to come and go as I please as you are, Invidia. I hope you learn to use your freedom wisely.”

  “Oh,” I added, as Silvan stepped through the portal. “Don’t get into the habit of enslaving Sprites… eventually, they bite.”

  Rell snapped his teeth at her, and with that, I stepped through the portal, and made my way back to Earth.

  CHAPTER 22

  Stepping through the portal made my stomach backflip, but the instant blast of cool, Seattle air settled me. The sounds of the fire raging at Emerald Hall died down to a muted rumble, replaced by the blaring car horns and distant sirens of the city. Underneath all that was the steady, rhythmic beat of music pumping through the backdoor to the Blind Racoon.

  My old watering hole.

  “What a dump,” I said, a grateful smile stuck to my mouth.

  “Dump is right,” Rell said, “I don’t understand what’s so good about this place.”

  “Just wait until I show you what a cheeseburger is.”

  Silvan took a deep breath of Earth, then exhaled. “This place assaults my lungs,” he said, “It’s like breathing dirt.”

  “That’s probably a mixture of exhaust fumes, that dumpster over there, and a whole lot of animal piss,” I said, “I never thought I’d miss it.”

  “Is it too late to go back?” Rell asked.

  I glared at him. “You can go back if you want, but you’ll be missing out. Although if you’re going to stay, you’ll have to keep a low profile… I think I’d have trouble explaining to everyone what kind of weird cat you are.”

  “Cat?!” he shrieked. “I’m nothing like those little assholes.”

  “Careful, there’s a lot of them around here, and one of them is particularly vicious. I heard he took out three possums at once.”

  Rell shuddered. “I’m liking this place more and more every second.”

  Silvan placed a hand on my shoulder, and I felt tingles pulse through me. I looked at his hand, then up at him. “We should find Kadeera,” he said, his eyes locked with mine. “The sooner we send her back, the sooner we can… breathe easily, as strange as that sounds in this place.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to have to look very hard,” I said, pointing at the door to the bar.

  “In there? Surely not.”

  “Don’t you think she would’ve gotten out of the city as soon as she made it here?” Rell asked.

  “I mean, if she didn’t want to be found, probably. But I’m pretty sure Rebellious Bladder is playing in there… and I doubt if they’re playing without their lead singer.”

  Silvan’s eyebrow cocked. “What is a rebellious bladder?”

  “A problem for a lot of people,” Rell said.

  I shook my head. “It’s the name of my band. It’s stupid, I know.”

  “You’re right,” Silvan said, a grin sweeping across his face. “It is a stupid name. Are you sure it’s them?”

  I approached the door and listened to the beat, to the rhythm, to the words, as much as I could. “Yep. Pretty sure they’re getting ready for Burn It Down. Can you open this? It doesn’t open from the outside.”

  The Viscount—no, not the Viscount; just Silvan—approached the door to the bar. It had a keyhole, but no handle. He placed his hand against the metal, shut his eyes, and from the palm of his hand a little green glow sprang up. A moment later, I heard a click, and when Silvan pulled his hand away, the door fell open.

  “Neat trick,” I said.

  “It’s not a trick,” he said, “It’s magic.”

  “I would keep that down if I were you, especially around humans. They’ll think you’re crazy.”

  “I’ll simply show them my power, then. They’ll believe me.”

  “Absolutely not. This isn’t a place for magic.”

  Silvan paused, looked at me, and then looked around at the world he had stepped into. It wasn’t his first time here, but he was looking at it as if it were. He smiled again, then turned his eyes on me. “I think I would like to live in a place without magic for a while.”

  “I didn’t say there wasn’t any, only that you can… take a break from it.”

  “I would like that too.”

  Nodding, I glanced at Rell. “Are you ready?” I asked.

  “Oh, one sec,” he said, and he shut his eyes and scrunched up his face. His wings gave off a soft, golden glow, as did his horn. After a second, the glow began to fall away, turning into stardust and floating off on the back of the night breeze. Rell’s color also changed. He wasn’t gold anymore, but green, with little purple spots on his reptilian skin.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “Do you like it?” he asked, “I call it the overgrown iguana.”

  “It’s perfect.”

  He nodded at the door. “Let’s go, then. We don’t want to miss the show.”

  With Silvan and Rell at my side, I entered the Blind Racoon. I knew I still had pointed ears, I was probably covered in soot, and I was wearing black, leather armor with a lizard on my shoulder, but I wasn’t the weirdest looking person to have entered the bar in its history.

  The band was on stage, Burn It Down in full swing. A woman at the back of the bar was holding a baby with earmuffs on its head, and she was pointing proudly at the man on the bass guitar. Crash… his baby had been born. I shook my head. How long had it been here since I left? Someone had told me time passed differently in Arcadia, and Crash’s kid didn’t look like a brand-new baby, either.

  The guitar let rip, its chords tearing through the air like a chainsaw. The drums followed, the bassline picked up, and then Kady stepped up to the front of the stage, and she started to sing.

  Can you feel it?

  Yeah, I feel the heat

  I almost didn’t recognize the woman on stage anymore. Kady was wearing my skin, but she had very much made herself at home in it. She had on a pair of black combat boots, black leggings, a pink tutu, and a purple corset. Adorning the corset were tubes filled with neon green liquid, little golden charms, and leaves to compliment the antler crown she wore on her head. She looked ridiculous, but also very much like what I would’ve expected Kady to look.

  It was on brand.

  Clawing at my throat

  Like dragon’s fire

  The warm surge of anger came kind of delayed, slowly rising to fill my chest as the memory of what she had done to me bubbled up like acid reflux. She had betrayed me, stolen my skin, my life, my friends; now she’d stolen my band, and my music, too.

  To breathe the truth

  Ignite the liar’s pyre!

  And yet… the anger settled. I realized in a moment of weird calm that she was damaged, maybe just as damaged as I was. I understood why she had left me in Arcadia, why she had stolen my identity and fled to Earth at the first chance she got.

  I remembered what it was like living with my parents, with my mother. I’d never forget the way I felt a lot of the time, alone, neglected, ignored. Her attention was better placed anywhere else, because I was just a kid, and I would do as I was told no matter what.

  Until I didn’t.

  I would’ve done anything to escape that life, and I did, at first chance. Kady had done the same, hadn’t she? She kept being told she had to go through with the Favoring, that she had to be a good little Lady, and do what she was told. We were more alike than either of us had admitted to each other… kind of like sisters, in a strange, disjointed way.

  I’m coming up, you’re going down

  Gonna burn it down

  I’m coming up, you’re going down

  Gonna burn it down!

  “Jesus, this song sucks,” I said. “All this time, and they couldn’t have fixed the lyrics?”

  “It’s your song, is it not?” Silvan asked.

  “It was a collaborative effort.”

  “That group needs to get better at collaborating.”

  “How are we supposed to do this, then?” Rell asked, “Do we catch her outside, storm the stage, what?”

  I took a deep breath. “You guys wait here. I’ll go talk to her.”

  “Now? She’s in the middle of a set. And what are we supposed to do while you’re gone?”

  I handed Rell over to Silvan. “I don’t know. Talk, get a drink, it’s a bar.”

  As Silvan and Rell made their way over to the bar, I moved into the small waiting room off to the side of the stage. It was just as I’d left it; dark, cramped, and a little damp. I remembered the KISS cover band that had gotten a little mouthy with me the last time I was here. I remembered having to squeeze past the sofa to get to the door.

  They felt like ancient memories, now. As if they’d happened to someone else.

  I decided to sit on the sofa and kick my feet up. There, in that small, damp room, I waited and listened. The music bowled over me, the bass rumbled through me, and the guitars did their best to split my skull in two, but the walls were insulated enough that I was shielded from the worst of it. I couldn’t hear myself think, though, and that was fine.

  All I wanted to do at that moment was enjoy being back home, back on Earth, back in the place I was meant to be.

  I wasn’t sure how long had passed since I’d left Silvan and Rell, just like I didn’t know when I’d started humming along to the music blasting from the speakers. It could’ve been ten minutes, it could’ve been an hour. When the music finally stopped, I knew it was time. My body ached, but I pulled myself up and scooted closer to the door to the stage.

  There, I waited, until it finally opened… and Kady stepped through.

  She smelled like spring, and beer, and sweat, and she didn’t notice me until I shut the door behind her. Kady spun around, startled, her eyes wide. She stared at me, but her eyes quickly darted around the room, like she was looking for something to use as a weapon. I put a hand up and shook my head.

  “I’m not here to hurt you,” I said.

  “You… you’re back,” she said, smiling awkwardly. “How, uh, how are you?”

  “Sore, and a little burnt, but alive. You?”

  “Tired,” she said, maintaining her smile and nodding. “Tired, you know? Phew. Rocking out is hard work. How, uh, how did you used to do it all that time?”

  I shook my head. “A total and complete lack of direction in life will do it.”

  “Right… right. Yeah, so, I should get going, but it was really good to see you again.”

  “Really? You’re just going to walk out of this room?”

  “You said you weren’t going to hurt me, so, yeah.”

  “No, Kady. I’m not going to hurt you. I want to forgive you.”

  She arched her neck back. “Forgive me?”

  “Yep.”

  “But… I stole your life.”

  “Oh, I know what you did, and it was shitty as all hell. But I know why you did it.” I paused. “Your mom needs you, now.”

  “My mom?”

  “You’ve missed a lot since you’ve been gone. I’m here, now, because the Favoring is over. I lost. So did your mom.”

  “How did she lose?”

  “Because she was selfish, and conniving, and cruel.”

  Kady nodded. “Sounds like her.”

  “But I learned something about her today… underneath all that, she loves you more than anything else. She wants you to go back home.”

  She scoffed. “And I’m supposed to believe you?”

  I took a step toward her. “Look at me… look at the state of me. All of this soot? This dirt? Emerald Hall burned down today. The prestige your mom craved so badly is gone, and so is her house, her people. It’s just her, now, and she’s broken, Kady. She set this whole thing up, made sure I was here to replace you so that I could win the Favoring and she could keep you with her. It’s a messed up kind of love, but it’s more than I had, so take my advice… go back to her.”

  Kady looked around, then back at me. “I have a life here.”

  I shook my head. “No, you have my life here, and you’re going to give it back. I’ve already missed too much.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And if I don’t?”

  “Then I’ll drag you back home by your ears.”

  Kady grinned, and when she turned around to head for the exit, she moved so fast I almost couldn’t keep up with her. Almost. I vaulted over the sofa and beat her to the door, putting myself between her and the way out.

  “How did you…?” she gasped.

  “I told you,” I said, “You’ve missed a lot. You’ve had your fun. Now it’s time to go home… talk to your mother, patch things up.”

  “I don’t know how to do that. She’s Duchess Invidia.”

  “Not anymore. Now she’s just your mother… and she needs you.”

  Kady looked at her feet, then turned her big, puppy eyes up at me; eyes that were once mine. “You don’t know what it’s like there.”

  I snort-laughed, then caught it with my hand. “Really?” I asked, “I’ve just spent… I don’t know how many months pretending to be you. I think I have an idea.” I shook my head again. “How long has it been, anyway? Because Crash had his baby, and—”

  “—a little over seven months.”

  “Seven months? You’ve been pretending to be me for seven months.”

  “Sorry…”

  I waved my hands in the air. “You know what? Forget it. Clean slate. You can go home and give me back my life, and we’ll call it even.”

  Kady paused. “Do I really have to go?” she asked.

  I nodded. “This isn’t your home, but it is mine.”

  Another pause. “Can I come visit?”

  I extended a hand. “Only if you give me back my life and the keys to my apartment. You do still have the apartment, right?”

  “Yeah, I do,” she said, and she fished the keys out of the corset.

  They were warm when she handed them over. I rolled my eyes. “Alright, you can visit. Now, please do the magic swap thing?”

  Kady nodded and placed a hand on my chest. “Thank you, Avery,” she said.

  “For what?”

  “For not kicking my ass.”

  “I really wanted to, but I think I managed to work through a lot of my anger issues in your world. Maybe I can channel that into something productive over here.”

  Kady smiled. “I hope you do,” she said, and a moment later, she worked the magic that would put our bodies back to they way they were supposed to be. Without much more of a fuss, Kady marched herself through the portal that would take her back to Arcadia, and I was left in the back alley behind the Blind Racoon, with the keys to my apartment in my hand.

  I had to admit, I was a little surprised Kady had managed to keep up with the rent, then again, Kady was full of surprises.

  I took a deep breath, tossed my keys into the air, and caught them. “I guess a spare room just opened up in my apartment,” I said to Silvan and Rell. “Shall we go and check it out?”

  “I could go for some food,” Rell said.

  “Me too, but I think I need a serious shower first,” I said, “And maybe a change of clothes.”

  “I didn’t pack any clothes with me…” Silvan said, trailing off.

  “Right,” I put in, “I’m sure I’ll find something for you, don’t worry.”

  On the way back to the apartment, we passed several little restaurants and fast-food places. Rell tried to make us stop at each of them, but we looked like a freaky bunch of weirdoes, even if I did look like myself again, and I didn’t have any money anyway.

  “I’m looking forward to eating all of that,” Rell said as we walked up the stairwell to my place.

  “I’m looking forward to a moment alone, if we can,” Silvan said, catching me a little off guard.

  I stopped as I reached the door to my apartment and looked at him. “We… we can do that, yeah. After I get showered?”

  “Of course,” Silvan said, nodding.

  I swallowed hard. “Awesome,” I said, trying to keep my cool as my pulse started to race. “Anyway, you wanna know what I’m looking forward to the most? Even more than a shower?”

  “What?” Rell asked.

  “Not being eaten by giant plants.”

  “Giant plants?” Silvan asked.

  “Plants don’t try to eat you here. Here, they’re cute little things that make the room smell nice, though I’ll be glad not to see one for a long time. Arcadia made me a little sick of them.”

  I opened the door to my apartment, but the door wouldn’t budge more than a few inches. I frowned, looked at the floor, and saw it was grinding against something dark and squishy.

  “What the hell is that?” Rell asked.

  “I… I don’t know,” I said.

  “Let me,” Silvan said, and he pressed his shoulder against the wall and started pushing until it opened.

  Then I saw the state of my living room, I saw the vines, the leaves, the flowers… they were everywhere, the entire apartment looked like a jungle, like it was totally overrun. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the situation in the bedroom, in the bathroom. And what if there were things living in there?