My Life From Hell (The Blooming Goddess #3)

Free The Form (Part 2)

My heart practically burst with joy at the thought that I was going to get to be around this for the rest of my life.

Theo stood up and held out a hand. "Come on, let's get you back to our place. You can't go back to school until morning anyway."

Fee wrinkled his nose. "Change, shower, generally don't reinforce that whole drug addled, runaway look you had going for you."

I swatted him. "Your concern is touching."

Though he had a point. The last time my classmates had seen me, Felicia had been dragging me out of the Winter Formal under the pretense that I was high, and that the school had failed to take care of me. Ha, freaking ha.

Festos let Theo blink us back. It was pretty cute seeing how happy Theo looked being able to do it.

It was nice to be back at Fee's. Moonlight streamed through the far windows since it was about 1AM there, with the time difference in Athens. The place was still kind of a disaster. All our battle-prep stuff was strewn everywhere.

Festos walked the length of the apartment, slowly taking in the state of the place. I nudged Theo. "I give him three hours before he's hipstered it back up again."

Theo's mouth twitched. "You're being generous."

"I heard that," Festos said, already taking down the first whiteboard. "Less insult, more action, Titan." He clapped his hands together. "Old dusty books. Begone them now."

I scurried out of the room to shower before he could press me into service with Theo.

"Princess," Fee said.

"Goddess," I called back.

Back in my bedroom, I stripped off my clothes and headed for the shower. Never had hot water felt so good, or so deserved. I stood there, a ball of lathery joy, until I felt the water cool. Reluctantly, I rinsed off.

I padded back into my bedroom, giant towels wrapping me in mighty sexy fashion around my head and body. I had the best of intentions. Do laundry. Start packing a few things to bring back until Fee could move the rest of my stuff.

I threw on my pjs, proceeding to half-heartedly putter around the room and toss items I'd bring back to Hope Park on my bed. But I couldn't focus. I felt restless. Incomplete. Which I could have attributed to a massive adrenaline crash after my most excellent humanity protection victory. But that wasn't it.

I sat down on my bed and glanced at my right wrist. At the cuff from Hannah. I stretched out my left one, turning my palm up to examine the bare skin. It looked so naked. I want a tattoo. I bit down on my lip, considering. A sense of urgency, of rightness streamed through me. Without a second thought, or a word to Theo and Festos, I slipped my shoes on and crept out of the apartment. Minutes later, I was standing in front of Jennifer's cabin.

Even though it was the middle of the night, the forest didn't seem creepy. Just peaceful and calming and gorgeous now that spring had come. Leaves were in evidence on all kinds of trees. Buds and delicately blooming flowers were curled tight in the moonlight.

It was perfect. I even enjoyed the brisk air on my skin, although I wished I'd thought to grab a jacket before I'd bolted over here. But my excitement made the shivers worth it. I approached the cabin, taking the stairs at a skip, and knocked on the front door.

Jennifer opened it. She didn't look surprised. Or sleepy. Or anything other than gorgeous and perfectly put together. Maybe she simply existed in a constant state of wonderful.

"You're back." She stepped away from the door to let me in.

"I came to finish what I started."

She blinked at me. "The roses? Yeah, all right. I kept the design."

I shook my head. "No. I had something else in mind."

Up in her studio, she frowned at my idea.

I faltered, losing a bit of the confidence to go through with it. "You think it sucks," I said.

She picked up a piece of carbon paper. "Surprised is all."

There was no painful fire arcing across my body this time. Just the normal sting of a needle permanently etching ink onto delicate skin. Trust me, that was enough.

Less than an hour later, the tattoo was done and I was back in my bed. My accelerated healing abilities meant that I'd skipped the scabby stage. The tattoo was pristine. I lay propped against my pillow and admired the design. Written in purple script around my left wrist were the words, "All you need is love." I sighed, utterly content. Seeing those words, the permanence of them, gave me comfort I was really truly going to be fine, for the rest of my life.

Whatever happened.