“I am whatever people believe me to be, and my image adjusts as such. That’s why Morta told you to think of me as Pluto.”
When he saw my face, he smirked. “What? You didn’t think I knew about that? Or that you’ve been chanting it to yourself almost constantly since I took you?”
It didn’t escape my notice that the devil openly admitted to taking me, and he didn’t show an ounce of regret over the matter.
The devil leaned back in his seat once more, his face smug. “So you wanted to know all about my fascination with you.”
“That’s not what—”
“Ask away.”
I huffed. My mind was still reeling from all that he’d just admitted. I breathed in deeply, pulling myself together. I did want to know more about the devil. If I was going to be stuck down here, I needed to know the enemy.
“I’m not the enemy.”
“Stop that!”
“Reading your mind? Then stop throwing objectionable thoughts out there.”
Oh my Go—
The devil hissed his displeasure.
—odness. Oh my goodness.
“Have you ever cared about me?” I asked.
“What an absurd question, little bird. Of course I cared for you, and I continue to. If I didn’t, you wouldn’t be sitting across from me, asking your inane questions.”
“You know what?” I pushed out of my chair. “Forget this.” I didn’t need to sit here with the devil as he lobbed insults my way.
The devil stood up with me, and faster than I could follow, he was in front of me, pushing me back into my chair.
I sank back into my seat, glaring at him as I did so.
“You are not to leave until this discussion is over, and it is not over.” He flicked his wrist, and his chair dragged itself over. He sat down, so close that he trapped my knees between his.
He captured my hand and threaded his fingers between mine. I was holding hands with the devil. I was holding hands with the devil.
“And you like it,” he said. “Now, should I tell you about the time that hateful girl, Sarah Boffington, tried to steal the necklace I gave you?”
I recognized the name and the instance he was referring to. There was only one problem.
“The necklace you gave me?”
Back in junior high, a certain Sarah Boffington returned a birthday gift of mine that went missing, but so far as I could remember, she hadn’t tried to steal it and the devil hadn’t given it to me.
“The locket with the rose,” he said.
“I know which one you were talking about,” I said. “My mother bought it for me.”
“You really think your mother could afford a necklace like that?”
Before I had a chance to answer, he continued. “She couldn’t. Not at that time. She barely had enough money to pay her mortgage and the bills that month.”
I stilled. “What?” He couldn’t be speaking the truth.
“Your mom had been laid off months before, and she was running low on money.”
I squinted at him. “How did you know … ?”
“Because, little bird, I watched you, and I intervened when she couldn’t fully provide for my future queen. And on your birthday that year, she really couldn’t.”
What he was telling me was absurd. It had to be a lie. The devil wasn’t like this. He wasn’t thoughtful.
“I protect what’s mine,” he said, playing with my hand. “And I wanted you to treasure something I’d given you. So I stepped in and left the present for your mother. By then she was very aware of my anonymous donations.”
“She was used to you paying for me?” What he was saying blew my mind. It called into question my entire perception of my childhood.
“Oh yes,” he said. “Now that we’ve cleared that up, back to the story: Sarah took the necklace from your locker.”
I’d lost it during gym class. I’d taken it off and placed it in my locker. I’d assumed it’d fallen between the grates, or that it got caught on something and dragged out. I’d searched our school’s Lost and Found and talked to the janitors. I was broken up over losing it.
Sarah had been my friend, and she’d known my lock combination. And I’d never suspected.
“I had someone talk her into returning it to you,” he said.
My stomach dropped. “What did your men do to her?”
“Nothing you should worry about, consort.”
Riight.
But I couldn’t concentrate on Sarah in the midst of this huge revelation. Before I’d even decided to come to Peel, before vampires and soulmates and magic, there’d still been this other side to my life, a secret world where the devil moved his players and pawns around to accommodate me.
My mind was officially blown.
“I ended up losing the necklace a year ago when I went swimming in the ocean,” I said absently.
“And I retrieved it.” The devil lifted a fisted hand. He tilted it to the side, and out slid my locket.