AN - This place is kinda dead for this book. I'm gonna stop updating here. If you want to keep reading this story, you can find it on Royalroad or Scribblehub. I hope to see you there!
***
"Is this entirely necessary?" Sophia asks.
"What do you mean?" I know full well what she means.
Sophia raises her arm, which in turn raises mine, and gestures at the handcuffs fastening us together. Shiv can do mighty fine work in a pinch.
"Yes." I said, with zero hesitation. What happened will never be allowed to happen again.
Sophia sighs, but I can't help but notice the ever so slightly smirk to her lips. She puts on a brave face, but my angel is made of broken glass. Her life has never been easy, but lately…
I snuggle up closer than I already am. I'm not okay, but I'm trying my best to keep my shit together because Sophia is even more not okay than I am. She snuggles into me as well, pulling the heavy blanket around us tighter.
We are sitting on the deck of the ship, keeping watch for any demon that might spot us. It's our watch; the others are sleeping down in the hold.
There are other scars running all across Sophia's body, new ones, but older than the ones healed on her back.
"They tortured you the entire time, didn't they?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
"Yes, but it was okay at first. Gestalt stopped me from feeling anything. They took over for most of it. We watched movies in the back of my mind while they screamed for me."
Oh, 'Thanks Buddies.'
[Think nothing of it.]
"You didn't tell me anything."
"It wouldn't have helped for you to know. I did need you to come rescue me and you needed a clear mind for that."
"You are taking this all very well." She is not. She is made of splinters and shards of glass.
"It only got bad when they removed the Gestalt Slug. I was unconscious for a lot of it, and then you came and saved me pretty quickly. I got off lucky, I think."
I hold her tight, if this is the lie she needs to tell herself I will support it. Until she's ready to fall apart.
There isn't really a day or night cycle in the Realm of Shadows. Just night all the time. As we stare out into the swirling black clouds and rocky outcrops, I shoot Maria a message.
I don't hate the idea of not putting Sophia in more danger, and honestly, we are all a little worse for wear after the raid. We were lucky. We only survived because most of the Demons are currently invading the academy.
I sit in silence with Sophia, listening to my angels breathing. The handcuffs give a comforting feeling of safety.
She will never be taken again.
***
"What the hell is that, Shiv?" Lillian calls out.
"Elven putty."
We are down in the warmth of the hold, all the boys are up on deck, keeping watch.
"How did you get your hands on Elven putty? That shit is insanely rare." Lillian eyed the tub longingly. "Gimme a pinch, just enough for my nose."
"No, fuck off, I need this. You have no idea what I had to make for the twins to get my hands on this shit." Shiv lets out an involuntary shudder.
"What did you make?" I ask, popping a kettle on a little heating element.
Shiv fiddled with the pot of putty. "I'm not saying, but those twins are into some really weird shit…"
"What's elven putty?" Changing the subject while I dig around the cabinets for some tea leaves.
Lillian gets excited: "Well, you know how Elven glamour gives you that edge, right? Smooths out your skin and gives you perfect lighting somehow."
"Yeah?"
"Elven putty is like that, but permanent. You can edit, or even redo your whole face. Or any other body part for that matter. The elves hoard the shit; it's almost impossible to get your hands on any."
I find some tea leaves at the very back in one of the ship cupboards. Sus. I wonder if Rikky was hiding them back here…
"Why do you need Elven putty?" asks Sophia, as I drag her around the ship on my mission to make tea. "I thought you were considered attractive for a goblin?"
"Yeah, for a goblin, not for a human. I see the way that Daisy looks at Tangerine, and Lillian, and you."
"Yeah but we are all hot as fuck for humans, you can't blame her for looking. Daisy is obviously head over heels for you, she even does a terrible job of hiding it." points out Lillian.
"Oh yeah, I know. She's very much into my mind, personality, and bomb-making skills. But I want her to want me for my body too, you know?" Shiv fidgets a whole bunch. "Also, she found out that I got hurt, and now she's mad at me."
Ah, yeah, I get that. If I upset Sophia, I would absolutely drown myself in elven glamour and try to seduce my way out of trouble. But while I would do that, that doesn't mean it's healthy behavior, love who you are, and all that. "Are you sure this is a good idea Shiv? Won't you look weird to other goblins?"
"I don't really get on with other goblins. To be fair, most goblins don't get on with other goblins, but it's different for me. I couldn't wait to leave the tribe, no desire to go back either. Looking a little less goblin and a little more human will only help me. But mostly it's because I want her to look at me the way she used to look at you… Like she wants to eat me."
Yeah, I get that. Even the memory of the look still does things to me. Sophia's free hand reaches up and tugs my ponytail. "No thank you," she says.
Busted.
"So you want to look human?" I continue the conversation to distract my angel.
"Nah, I'm a goblin, I still want to look goblin, just like… a cute goblin."
"Do you know how to use it?" Lillian asks.
"You just slap it on and mold it, right?" Shiv's tone is a little unsure.
Lillian grimaces, "Yeah, if you want to end up looking like a horse or something, I'll go grab Vincent, he's a bit of an artist."
Lillian runs off to go grab her boy while I put the finishing touches on the tea. I miss teabags and milk, proper English breakfast tea. But the loose leaf stuff they have in the Realms isn't half bad; the stuff I'm brewing now reminds me a bit of Assam.
"Are you really sure about this, Shiv?" Sophia confirms, "You are changing how you look…"
Shiv nods her head. "Yeah, I've been planning this for a while, even before Daisy. Goblins have a rep, I want to move away from that. I get a lot of funny looks from people like I'm gonna steal their shit or something."
"But you do steal their shit?" I point out.
"Yeah but I don't want them thinking that, it makes stealing their shit way harder!"
Vincent and Lillian return just as I'm snorting tea out my nose. Which they politely ignore. Well, Lillian only politely ignores it because Vincent is here, else she would be giving me shit.
Shiv runs through everything she wants with Vincent, and they go through a bunch of back-and-forths before he eventually gets to work.
I watch exactly five minutes of it before I turn away. I have total trust in Vincent's skills after seeing his sketches; but the in-between stages where Vincent is molding Shiv's face like magical putty is disturbing. Lillian is transfixed on the horror show.
"Soo Vincent, you been sculpting people's faces long?" I asked.
"Why are you making him sound like a serial killer!" Lillian immediately jumps down my throat.
"I'm not! That's a perfectly normal question when he's sculpting our friend's face!"
Vincent cuts into our banter: "I've been sculpting and drawing for many years, the arts have always been somewhat of a hobby for me."
"Wait, what do you mean many years? Are you like four hundred or something?" I fire back.
He laughs, "No, I'm the same age as Lillian. There just isn't much to do in Morgoth, and Vampires have a tendency to be a little… poetic."
We all continue to chat as Vincent continues his work. There must be some sort of nulling agent or something in that putty, because Shiv seems unbothered. The process looks like it should be super painful.
But before long, "And, done," Vincent exclaims.
Shiv looks really, really weird. In a good way, but so different it's hard to compute. Her hook nose and chin have gone, replaced with a cute, slightly pointy button nose. Her beady little eyes have morphed into something that would belong in a Disney movie. She still has sharp, pointy teeth, but she's got lips now, not so full that they look weird on her wide grin, but definitely there. Her brow is less wrinkled. Vincent has somehow added freckles.
I know technically all goblins are female, I guess? Are you still female if your species only has one gender? Anyway, even though they are all female, goblins look kinda male. Short, wiry, and aggressive. Shiv still looks like a goblin, but she also looks female now, like human female. Vincent has even done her makeup. Honestly, that man belongs on a fashion show's makeup team; everything is perfectly on point.
He's even done some work on her body. Her breasts are smaller, something she personally requested. Her hips are wider, and she almost has a bust now, small but there.
Shiv looks cute, like very cute. As in I totally would now, and I'm more into my tall girl bad bitches. She's gone from dungeon goblin to Disney goblin.
Daisy is going to eat her alive.
Oh shit! She's totally Sophia's type now as well!
I quickly cover my angel's eyes, but she's stronger than me and yanks my hand away. "Oi! Stop drooling!" I say.
"I'm not drooling," Sophia lies, while staring at Shiv like a wolf stares at a sheep.
"Do... Do you think Daisy will be happy?" Shiv asks.
"I think Daisy is gonna swallow you whole." Lillian replies, "Vincent has done excellent work." She holds up a mirror so that Shiv can look at her new appearance. She looks confused at first, but then happy.
"Yeah, I think this will do."
I just drag Sophia away, unless she tries to eat her first.
***
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