Wattys Shortlist 2022 -
When she isn't looking, they call her the Princess of the Ghouls, but they haven't seen the assassination order on her secret identity: viper.
Stuck in Lake Darling, ruled by her father's gang, Vi has one objective... run awa...
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The stench of the reservoir kicks me in the nose, and I wrinkle my face, glad for the new knife wedged in my belt. I couldn't bring my gun in party clothes because people would notice, so I put Reid's knife on display just to piss him off. "Yeah, but then that text showed up in my eye and I got all, antsy and shit so I tried to silence my fuckin' phone, but then he saw the fuckin' gun. But, but that don' matter, what I wan' know is why the fucking setting won't cooperate because it should let me programme it to silence notifications from the devices it's synced to." I speak into my phone, downing the last of my drink before I toss it at the rotten lake.
Scor snickers, "So, you're asking me about notification settings?"
I grumble through a pull of my cigarette, "Fuck off-." But he starts laughing.
"I'll fix it in the morning, yeah? It sounds like it's bugging cause remember how mine let me deactivate it after I got that text in the middle of screwin' around with Elxi..." The phone clatters, like it was knocked out of his hand, "Fuck, fuck sorry, no cunt wait I think I smashed it-."
"Scor?" I laugh, and he groans over the other end.
"I just fuckin' footy kicked it across the back porch, swear to god. Fuck," He cusses one more time, "Oh wait it's fine. Nevermind, but close call-. Oh shizznit Sphynx is here. And now I can't find my damn shoe... but yeah, I'll fix it. Tomorrow. Please don't get married till then, yeah? Even if this Hito is hot or some shit."
Shizznit? He's such a hot mess, swear to god. It makes me laugh.
"Alright, alright, but bets are off if he's tall and hot, okay?"
"Oh yeah, save some for me then."
"Ew, threesome." I gag, and he barks a laugh.
"I'd get you off."
"Ew!"
He chortles like a satisfied piglet, "Ew," He mimics, "Anyway, love you. Wish me luck."
"Love you more. Good luck." The line blinks, toning out, but I look at my phone funny as I try to remember what I'm wishing him luck for.
The moon sparkles atop the black water, and rotten ships poke through the dead lake.
The Cruella container-yard moans under the moonlight. Each container cries rusty tears from flank to flank as I trudge through the gravel. I look at my phone once again, but my smile reflects off the glass and I wince. I look like a dork, and worse, I still have twelve hours to get through before I can get away from this shit. I pull on my cigarette again, needing it this time.
Not even the thumping speakers can cheer me up—the bass throbs in the air. Heavy, hypnotic.
Since I disappeared last winter, I've stuck out like a sore thumb. The only one who actually took me back was Elias, but that's because he was the one who looked after me when I was sick. Then his kid, Binnie, accidentally let it slip to my father that I was in the city and I had to jet. I ran off with Scor, partied it up in Holders Bay and, did stupid shit like travelling with the Manics... hella jobs. I chew my lips. Okay, enough jobs to put Scor and I onto some elite contacts, that are bare scary sometimes. That's when I had my eSight contact implanted. Nine hundred and twenty thousand dollars worth of illegal as fuck tech. Oops. I guess?
