Chapter 70

JUNE.

Nancy must be lying.

This is the statement that I kept repeating in my head until last night. Over and over. Since I walked in from the boys’ mansion last night, she’s been acting weird and I was ready to dismiss all of it as some kind of caution over nothing.

“Where have you been?” was the first thing she asked me the moment I walked through the door last night. “Did you go see Seven?”

I was so tempted to tell her that even if I did, it would be none of her business. But of course, I know that a certain response would just igniter her curiosity more. So I just looked at her and tried to smile. “I just walked down the beach. Go back to sleep, Nancy—”

“But I wasn’t taking a nap. I was watching you.”

I froze when I sat on my bed. I didn’t know how to react to that. I was hoping Tiffany or even Amelie would be awake so they would point out to her how weird that actually was, but both of them were flat out snoring. I just decided to ignore Nancy and lie down.

Eventually, she got off my back and left me alone. I fell asleep thinking about Seven and what he did, biting my neck like that. Vlad called it a mark. I don’t even know what that means, but it wasn’t like I could ask anyone about it either. I didn’t feel anything particularly bad about it, but I did feel like something might be a little off with me.

All day the next day I just felt… calm. It was like I was seeing the world differently. There was a lot more color. The sounds were sharper in my ears. Even the sensations were a little bit more intense, especially when I saw Seven again. I felt bonded to him in a way that I never have before, not even after we started going out.

But when the trip to the museum ended, all the good things came with it.

I started to feel a little sick. The spot he bit on my neck was stinging. I was putting ice on it when Tiffany saw me before the bonfire. Apparently Vlad refused to talk to her. She said a lot more but at that point, I was no longer in the right headspace to listen.

The stinging sensation was getting worse and worse by the moment that when Tiffany asked to be brought back in the room, I just agreed, thinking about not coming back.

But inside the room was Nancy again.

“Are you alright?” she asked me, but she was already looking at my neck like she knew what was going on, even though when I looked into the mirror, it didn’t show a single sign.

I just nodded at her and helped Tiffany go back to bed. Nancy left the room then, but she met me in the bathroom when I was on my way to run cold water on my neck.

“I bet it stings,” she said without preamble. “I heard their saliva could do that. But I guess Seven really is one of the good ones, if he doesn’t produce venom.”

It was a jumble of words to me then, those sentences. None of that made sense to me. I looked at her and just asked, “Why are you here?”

“Because I can show you the truth,” she said. “I think somewhere along the way, Seven forgot what he needed to do. I have a feeling he would abandon it altogether, so I have to find a way for you to see it.”

“See what?” My frustration was growing. My patience was running thing with her. “What are you even talking about, Nancy? Why are you so angry with Seven? What did he ever do to you?”

Nancy was taken aback but she stood her ground. “Come with me and you will see.”

The fact that she said that completely unflinching gave me a strange feeling in my stomach. Suddenly I felt like she might be onto something. As to what, I had no clue, but I went to the forest and waited outside the clearing like she instructed.

I heard footsteps. I saw Nancy arriving. Then I saw a creature covered in bright gold scales, its dark eyes glinting in the darkness.

It’s vaguely human, with horns protruding out of its head and neck. I can see nails as sharp as daggers coming out of its hands. It looked very much like what the doctor had become when we fought him, but the worst thing about this is, the creature has the exact same hoodie that Seven was wearing at the campfire.

This is him.

He’s… a Dragon.

I never thought I would see the day where I believe in such things. But the pair of eyes in the highway, the cut from the poison that almost killed me, the chopped Humans, the doctor… it all strangely made sense.

Nancy looks proud. She’s breathing hard and backing away, extending her arms as though to protect me. Seven walks forward, and slowly his scales retreat back into his skin until he looks normal again. He’s only looking at me, but I can’t bring myself to even meet his gaze. Every time I blink I just see that strange humanoid Dragon with dark eyes and vertical pupils. I just see the monster.

“June,” he says in his normal voice. “June, I can explain. Please, just come here….”

He tries to reach for me but Nancy blocks his way. “I told you. If you don’t tell the truth then I will find a way. You lied to her for so long. You should have told her the moment her life got in danger. But no. You kept lying to her face even when she risked herself time and time again against creatures she doesn’t know. Against things that could very easily hurt her. You say you love her but you don’t.”

My hands start to shake. I feel dizzy. I want to disagree with the things that she’s saying but it feels like I have no energy.

And Nancy is right.

My chest is tight. I want to dismiss all of this as some kind of illusion, but it feels like deep down I have always known and I just chose to ignore all of it. As to why, I don’t know. I don’t know why I ignored any of these things. I don’t know why I refused to see it.

My dad seemingly arose from the grave just to warn me against Seven. From the start I tried to distance myself from him because I felt like he was lying. I have no one to blame but myself for ignoring the signs. I gave everything I had to this boy.

“I’m sorry,” Seven breathes out, his tone so pained that it brings tears to my eyes. One tear flows down my cheek. Then another. Then another. “I didn’t mean to lie. I didn’t mean to hide things from you. Please, June….”

I don’t say anything. There’s nothing left to say.

I just run from them both.

Nancy doesn’t call me back. She doesn’t chase me. But Seven immediately gets to it. His energy seems to be filling the entire forest with his despair. I can almost feel the air getting colder. I get out of the other side of the forest, breathing hard as I reach a small hill. I stop in my tracks to catch my breath and Seven finally keeps up with me.

“June,” he whispers. “June, I’m so sorry. Please, I will explain everything to you. But you need to—”

“I don’t need to do anything,” I say, and I find it to be true. At least partially. One thing is humming in my mind and it’s getting louder by the second. “I don’t need to do anything with you or for you. I think we’re way past that.”

He stops. The hand he’s extending to touch me drops limply at his sides.

“I gave you so many chances to tell me the truth,” I whisper. “I gave you everything I had. Maybe it’s stupid to point that out to you because that was my own decision and I shouldn’t blame you. But I trusted you, Seven. I really trusted you.”

“You can still trust me,” he says, his voice low, almost carried by the wind.

I shake my head. “I can’t. I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t even started in the first place. Your kind… brought this upon Charles and Patricia and they’re gone. They died without knowing the truth of what surrounds them. I almost suffered the same fate and yet you didn’t say anything.”

“I’m only trying to protect you.” Seven is desperate now. “No one should find out that you know. It should—”

All my energy leaves my body in one go as I look at him, and the humming in my mind grows louder. I do need to do one thing after all.

“It’s over,” I say with finality. “Between us… it’s over. And I don’t want you anywhere near me ever again.”