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30. 1 TRUE COLORS 1
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2021-12-14 23:33:22Dr. Jamy Hansel sat on a bench under a small oak tree in the little cloistered garden below the hospital room where his student-assistant lay unconscious. He sat there, staring at the scuffed toes of his sneakers as if it held all the secrets of the universe and he was trying to tease them out with just his gaze. He looked so focused on whatever it was about his shoes that captivated him, that when the young man came to sit beside him, his head snapped around so fast, the newcomer flinched visibly.
“You are not welcome here,” said Dr. Hansel, recognizing who it was. In a plain sweater and jeans, wearing a disguise that turned his streaked blond hair a despondent black color, the young man who interrupted his reverie sat down beside him. He frowned, perhaps unhappy that he had been taken by surprise. Otherwise, the young man looked completely unconcerned at the doctor’s evident hostility.
A soft breeze lifted stray locks of silver from Dr. Hansel&rsquo
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I Make My Own Happy Ending 30.2 TRUE COLORS 2
“You’ve made up,” I said, pleased that I was sensing a more peaceful atmosphere between Freya and Colin. Well, there was still a hint of awkwardness, but it was better than that swirl of guilt, wistfulness and apprehension that entwined the two of them an hour ago. “You make it sound like we were fighting,” Colin said, leaning against the wall. “Just so you know, Freya and I are on good terms.” I glanced at Freya. “Well. We’re not fighting,” she said, glancing at Colin. “We’ve sorted things out, mostly.” “Yes, we have,” agreed Colin. “Though I can’t quite say I’m satisfied…” A hint of temper flashed in Freya’s eyes, followed by the reddening of her cheeks in…embarrassment, I think. My, what an interesting reaction. I wondered what Colin meant by that? “Can we please talk about it later? Alisa and I have someplace to be,” said my aide. If she hoped she could get rid of Colin like that, she needed to study up on the guy. H
Last Updated : 2021-12-26I Make My Own Happy Ending 31.1 AUTUMN FASHION WEEK 1
District Five is the only inner district in M’lonia that is accessible to everyone, even non-citizens. It is a very large sector that covers most of the mid-south section of the city, and is solely reserved for parties, events and public gatherings. It boasts four stadiums, each located at a strategical distance from each other, where there’s always some concert or show or sports event happening at least five nights a week. Theaters and cinemas and lounge bars are open twenty-four hours, and show-hopping (attending shows or concerts back-to-back-to-back) is a very popular tourist practice. My cousin Leno once told me that when the AG posted him in M’lonia, he went to a show or performance or concert every night with his girlfriend for three months straight (unfortunately, that’s also how long their relationship lasted), and he never had to go to the same place twice.It is not all entertainment in District Five either. Company events and personal celeb
Last Updated : 2022-01-02I Make My Own Happy Ending 31.2 AUTUMN FASHION WEEK 2
Sir Merrion shook his head slightly. “The King is merely worried, Miss. And the King told me that if you should ask why, I should say that it would be best for you to ask your father. He really said nothing else.”I regarded Sir Merrion for a moment. Okay, that first part was the truth. The last part, though, was an outright lie.With my Gift, I could tell that Sir Merrion was lying when he said that that was all the King had to say. But since I can’t read thoughts, I don’t know what the truth was or why he’s lying about it. I found Sir Merrion quite secretive, but I felt no malice or ill-intent from the elf Knight, so I decided not to press the issue. But that doesn’t mean I’m just going to blindly follow along.“Alright. If His Majesty is gracious enough to lend me one of his precious Knights out of concern, then I suppose that’s that,” I said, wrapping an arm around Freya’s waist. I pulled her
Last Updated : 2022-01-10I Make My Own Happy Ending 32.1 GLAMOUR AND GRIT
We continued the conversation as Mei-Mei and the others packed up. Mei-Mei said she had to show the actual alterations to Mister Zagreb so he could have the final say. He promised that he would personally dress me up himself tomorrow. Bea went with them to coordinate schedules.“Why was she called the Patroness, anyway?” Freya said. I slipped on my dress—the plain, purple cami dress I wore when I came in—and then the jacket. I’ve made it a habit to use simple and easy-to-put-on clothes whenever I have fittings. So much more efficient that way.“Remember I said she was wealthy? Well, she spent most of that money sponsoring up-and-coming artists and designers. When they became successful, they gave back to her ten times through donations and support of Brenda’s different foundations and projects. This created more opportunities for new talent to enter the scene. It became a cycle that continues even now,” I explained. &ldqu
Last Updated : 2022-01-17I Make My Own Happy Ending 32.2 GLAMOUR AND GRIT 2
Agent Kaye had a little difficulty keeping the polite smile from slipping from his face. After the media conference, every Agent at HQ seemed like they felt it was their duty to let him know what they thought of what he did. Some gave him high-fives and appreciative pats on the back. Some rolled their eyes and whispered loudly about how arbitrary his remarks had been. And there were even some—only a handful, but still—who had the guts to ask him if the rumors about Alisa Vega and Jester Lee were true or not (for these people, he reserved the predatory cold smile Agent Alveston always makes before breaking a suspect’s spirit).Really, there are insensitive assholes everywhere, he thought in exasperation. Why can’t they just leave those two alone? Does it really matter when they started dating and who asked who out first?The AG had bigger things to worry about. Like the increasing Anomaly attacks. Like the ever-elusive Coven. Like the impending s
Last Updated : 2022-01-24I Make My Own Happy Ending 33.1 THE TRUTH (MORE OF IT) 1
Jester couldn’t catch a break.Ever since Estacio’s murder and that incident with Hogar, he’s been feeling like a passenger of a runaway train that gains speed with every additional incident that occurs, hurtling down an inevitable dead-end. And he didn’t like it one bit.He had mistakenly thought that in order to prevent the Commander’s vision about the upcoming apocalypse from coming true, all they had to do was eliminate Anomalies, find and capture the Coven, and get through the Wane with as few casualties as possible. But with everything that’s happened and after all that he’s learned, he was starting to think there was a lot more going on here than what the old bat was telling them.Not that the Commander was sharing anything much at all, lately. She had always been sparing and cryptic in her predictions, but now she wasn’t giving anyone anything beyond immediate orders. And it just fueled his paranoia.
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He found the Commander in her quarters, baking.As far as he knew, only the Fourth Special Unit Commander’s quarters had been built with its own kitchen—professional-grade, from the looks of things—a fully-stocked pantry, and a mini-bar. It was apparently one of the non-negotiable terms of her contract when she accepted the position.The kitchen and the pantry, Jester could understand. His mother told him that she learned to cook human food from the Commander, and if his mother’s cooking was any indication of skill, then surely the old lady was someone who could whip up something that could make even angels weep. But the minibar…The old lady had never drunk anything but coffee or tea the entire time he’s known her. Unless she actually spikes her tea with brandy, the Commander wouldn’t need so much space for bottles of alcohol she’s never going to touch. Another one of her many eccentricities.“What a
Last Updated : 2022-02-20I Make My Own Happy Ending 34.1 PIECING IT TOGETHER 1
Gregory’s phone vibrated in his pocket, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise at the caller ID on his holo-screen.“What is it?” he asked, and Jester’s image on screen showed he was driving.“I was with the Commander. She told me about Mrs. Vega’s connection to the Ivan Romina that was mentioned by Spencer in the diary. I think it’s important that we figure out how the diary connects your wife and her family to the Coven and to my own father,” said Jester, blunt as always. Gregory had to admit it was something he liked about the young man—no frills, no unnecessary bullshit.“We were planning to drop by and take a look at Mrs. Vega’s condition before Alisa and I left for M’lonia, but the emergency subjugation and the thing with Ms. Rosche changed my plans. I would like to see her now if that’s alright.”“It’s fine,” said Gregory. He tried not to feel too
Last Updated : 2022-02-28
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I Make My Own Happy Ending 41.1 AGAINST GRAVITY 1
Jester swiped his hand to the left. The wall before him tore itself up and crumbled to dust before being sucked into a void known as Jorus, exposing the figures inside.Only two people remained standing. One was a familiar figure, tall and broad, with a white mask covering his face. The other was leaner, smaller than the masked man, with a handsome face and cold, dead eyes. This man held in his arms a woman with golden hair in a fancy red dress. The features of her beautiful face were obscured by the blood seeping from her head, and around her slender neck was a fiery tattoo, like a necklace of thorns painted on her skin.A curse mark, in its most potent form.Alisa. His Alisa.Everything in Jester fell still, and whatever rationality he had left was burned away by fear and fury.*****An explosion of black—an oppressive, all-consuming darkness surrounded them in the blink of an eye. This darkness was unnatural. It wasn’t a darkness born from a lack of light, rather, it felt to him li
I Make My Own Happy Ending 40.2 A GIFTED'S POWER
Jester had several misgivings about attending the Finale as Alisa’s date. He had to dress fancy. He had to listen to a rabid crowd scream his name and fight the urge to run away. He had to let the paparazzi take pictures without breaking their limbs. He even had to stop scowling.But the Finale was important to Alisa. She had asked him to come, and he knew if he did, it would mean the world to her, so how could he refuse her?At first, it wasn’t so bad. The suit was surprisingly comfortable, and though it was fancier than what he was used to wearing (it had a cape, for crying out loud) at least it was in black and grey, and not—gods forbid—egg-yolk yellow or neon green (like what he saw some of the other guests were wearing). Their red-carpet entrance was also quickly over with, and like what Aisha had said, all that was left to endure was the small-talk.It only took a few minutes after Alisa left, though, for Jester to realize he could only bear with this situation in her presence.
I Make My Own Happy Ending 40.1 A GIFTED'S POWER
TEN MINUTES BEFORE EVERYTHING WENT TO HELL, VIP SECTIONAn intense tremor shook the Stadium, accompanied by alarmed yelling and swearing and the sound of shattering glasses as surprised guests dropped to the floor or crawled under the tables. Before the shaking even stopped, an alarm ripped through the air. Colin felt a foreboding sense of deja vu when he recognized what it meant.CODE BLACK: ANOMALY BREACH DETECTEDLOCKDOWN PROTOCOL IN EFFECT. THIS EVENT IS HEREBY CANCELLED. ALL GUESTS AND RESIDENTS ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN WITHIN THE BORDER. PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND FOLLOW EVACUATION PROTOCOL.The last time M’lonia had a Breach was nearly fifty years ago. Not only were there fewer active Faults in Ellenis as a whole (when you compare it to Earth or Oren), but the Elven capital of M’lonia was literally in the middle of nowhere, and under miles of sand and bedrock to boot. Some studies have claimed that the possibility of a new Breach forming in an area without a history of a Fault decreas
I Make My Own Happy Ending 39.2 A HEALTH BREAK 2
I suddenly stopped feeling bad for my PA when I realized why she was so on edge.They were hiding things from me again. They knew—Bea, Dad, Jester, they all knew—how much I hated that.“Give me my earpiece,” I said to Freya, pointing at the tiny purse on the couch beside her.“You have to focus on the Finale.” Bea said, snatching it away before Freya could even reach for it. “Forget what I said about New York. Right now, focus on the show, and when everything’s done, you can go and cuddle up to Jester as much as you like and have that talk.”“And if I say, ‘No, I don’t want to go to New York?’”Bea wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Come on. Be reasonable. It’s just a health break…”I narrowed my eyes at her, focusing on Bea’s emotions.How suspicious. There was concern for my health, certainly. But strangely, Bea seems to be more focused on my safety rather than the possibility of me relapsing into anorexia. Then, there’s the thing about Sir Merrion following me around on the orders of the King
I Make My Own Happy Ending 39.1 A HEALTH BREAK
It was Jester who first stepped out of the car.Broad-shouldered, long and lean, he wore the dark grey suit Alisa had picked out for him, and it fit him like a dream. Unbeknownst to the stylists, the white shirt he was wearing underneath was actually his AG suit, which he had adjusted to copy its appearance. He told Alisa it just felt wrong for him to wear normal clothes when out in public, and convinced her to let him use the suit. Draped over his shoulders was the luxurious cape trimmed with black fur and embroidered in gold that Holly had waved under his nose, and in the flashing lights, the gold thread shimmered.From LeBlanc’s position on the balcony, and with the help of his favorite camera, he could see very clearly why Alisa Vega had fallen for the AG rookie. Had he been into men, LeBlanc himself would have fallen head-over-heels and off of a cliff for him. The build, the figure—there was no angle from which you could take a photograph that wouldn’t flatter him. And that face-
I Make My Own Happy Ending 38.2 A RECURRING PROBLEM 2
LeBlanc thought that West Park Stadium had never looked more like a treasure chest than it did tonight. It was bright, and shiny, and loud—and the people inside it were equally so.For most of the normal people in the three worlds, the Fashion Week Finale was a show you watch on your holo-screens. But now, LeBlanc was a part of it. He was there in the flesh.He had been fortunate enough to be invited to the Finale as a guest by his editor, and though he was not strictly required to work during the event, the photographer in him could not resist slinging his favorite camera over his shoulder. Fashion Week was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for him—there was no way he was passing up an opportunity to photograph the elite of the elite of the fashion world, in all their splendor. Of course, he would not be allowed to publicize any of his photographs unless he gains consent from his subjects. But he didn’t mind. He didn’t pursue photography for the money or the potential connections he cou
I Make My Own Happy Ending 38.1 A RECURRING PROBLEM 1
It didn’t take very long for someone to knock on the door and remind them that Alisa had things to do, and places to be.In reality, it had only been about three hours since they left the others in the drawing room. Emotionally though, to Jester it felt like an entire day had gone by. In a mere three hours, Alisa had gone from ‘angry-girlfriend’ to ‘sweet seductress’ to ‘vulnerable, guilt-ridden, accidental murderess’ and finally, now she was ‘the-show-must-go-on, high-fashion supermodel with a probable eating disorder’, and he sat in bed watching her reapplying her makeup and slipping on those icepick heels.As if she hadn’t been crying her eyes out and dripping snot over his shirt a few minutes ago.Alisa is more than just a pretty face, strutting around in glamorous outfits and smiling for the cameras. She was more than just the Vega name and the influence that goes with it. She’s also more than just a girl with a powerful Gift.Alisa—his Alisa—is lovely, complicated, and unique. S
I Make My Own Happy Ending 37.2 WHAT REALLY HAPPENED 2
Things went back to normal almost immediately after that. That mugging incident never happened again, and it was easy to forget about something horrible if it’s not happening directly to you. Marcus was his usual possessive self, and I should have had no expectations otherwise. He changed my memories, so of course I don’t have a proper recollection of what happened. There shouldn’t be any reason for me to feel uneasy with him.But I did. I guess somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew what was really going on. I think Marcus could tell, too. He became even more obsessed with keeping me by his side. There was even a rumor at school going around that he and I were dating secretly, because he’s always holding my hand.I’m sure that Aisha told you Marcus needed physical contact to reinforce his Gift, right? I think at that time Marcus was still testing the limits of his Gift. He was afraid of being apart from me because he wanted to make sure that I wouldn’t remember things I shouldn’t.
I Make My Own Happy Ending 37.1 WHAT REALLY HAPPENED 1
We found ourselves in bed again…though not in the same way as we were a few hours ago.For one thing, we were dressed. Jester now had on a pair of pants and a new shirt, though it was mostly unbuttoned—I hadn’t realized that when he pulled off the first one, it had ripped a little from our eagerness. He said normal clothes were just built too fragile, and he was used to it.“Wow,” I said drily, “How many girls got you ripping your shirt off for them to say you’re used to that?”Jester kissed my forehead. “Just one.”“Really.”“I have the physical strength equal to a hundred humans, Ali. That’s what I meant.”“I know. I was just teasing,” I said.“Huh. Stop trying to distract me.”Resigning myself to the inevitable, I cuddled up to him as I thought about how to begin.Half my hesitation comes from the fact that I still couldn’t wrap my head around what just happened a few hours ago. I’ve always wanted to know how it would feel to kiss someone and touch someone and be so intimate—withou
