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My face was on fire My senses had gone totally haywire I couldn’t take any more It was like that sound below had a real hypnotic effect But it couldn’t becould it? This entire party was one big high I’d gotten drunk on the sights and sounds like soet the hell out of here Check the house Find Violet and the others and leave

Sebastian shifted, his thigh pressing against ainstBut it was enough of a reminder that it sharpened my focus

Strands of beads and candies flew over our heads I shifted, angling away fro others to take our place We drifted back, pulled like a wave retreating into the sea Back into Josephine’s house

God, I needed to get out of this gown! It had beco I ree of the bodice, pulling it up and away fro to let the cooler air in Didn’t help

"Coh the now empty room

We hurried across the empty ballroom floor

A French door slammed closed

Then another And another

I slid to a stop on the deserted dance floor, turning to see each door close and lock all by itself The orchestra stopped playing Solass panes of the doors, tried to get back in but couldn’t All around them doors slammed and locks clicked

And then there was silence

There was onefor it to close, but so slithered down my back

The sheer white curtains on either side of the door billowed The air betobbled and shiure stepped out of thin air

The blood froze in my veins

There was no doubt in my mind who strode into the room How could there be?

The door sla me flinch

Six feet tall Perfect body Wrapped froht leather, the color of dark, muted olive There were lines in the leather, lines that looked reptilian--that looked like it had once been a living thing

Athena

She had porcelain white skin, e, wavy black hair that brushed her lower back All through the strands were braids, braids woven with thin strips of leather, sinew, and bone beads--braids that looked like they’d been in her hair for hundreds of years Tiny sy both temples, just at her hairline

Full wine-red lips curved up "Not thinking of leaving, were you?" ca with an undeniable vibration of power

My eyes traveled over her In shock Couldn’t speak

"I’ve wondered at your existence for years, child"

I forced down a dry s, rin stuck on her face, a htly

Oh God

My stomach rolled as the leather bodysuit Athena wore beca wrapped around her body, a thing that had a very faint outline of a huge face, squashed flat, as though the skin had been peeled off the bone and pressed thin, sewn together to lint of delight in her eyes "I made this from the skin of Typhon Just a small piece of flesh, really He was a Titan, after all"