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Maya kicked her bedroom door shut. Locked it. Then dropped her bag.

"Finally."

She shoved both hands into her curls. Her fingers disappeared almost to the wrist.

"Where the fuck are you?"

The left horn had been annoying her since lunch. She dug through several pounds of hair. Nothing. More curls. More hair. A pen. Maya stopped. She pulled it out. She stared at the pen.

"How long have you been in there?"

No answer. Rude. She threw it onto the desk. Then resumed searching. There. Smooth horn. Maya carefully worked the curls free. The small dark horn emerged near the crown of her head. Then the other. Immediate relief.

"Oh, thank God."

She shook her head. Her curls settled around them. Even exposed, the horns were difficult to see unless someone knew where to look.

Maya stared at herself in the mirror. Dark curls almost to her ass. Brown skin. Dark eyes. Gold jewelry. Chocolate sweater. Plaid skirt. Tiny horns. She looked like herself. Mostly.

She let the glamour fall. The illusion peeled away from her legs. Human skin disappeared below the knee. Dark brown fur emerged. Ankles narrowed. Feet reshaped. Two small cloven hooves rested against the hardwood. Maya flexed. Better.

Holding glamour wasn't painful. It was just irritating. Like wearing a bra you hated but couldn't take off until you got home.

She pulled the leather belt loose from her waist and collapsed onto the bed. For several minutes, she did nothing. Then her phone buzzed. Raine. A photo loaded. Notebook paper. Lyrics. At the top:

'SUNSHINE'S VERSION'

Underneath:

'MY VERSION BECAUSE HIS SUCKED'

Maya laughed. Actually laughed. She typed:

'you are so fucking in love'

Three dots appeared instantly.

'die'

Maya smiled. Another message:

'don't tell him i sent you that'

Maya typed:

'secret's safe'

She stopped. The words sat there. Secret's safe. Her eyes moved toward the mirror. Toward the horns. Toward the hooves. Her smile faded.

Eventually Raine replied:

'thanks'

Maya stared. She typed:

'you okay btw?'

Long pause.

'yeah'

Lie. Maya knew it. She let him have it. For now. She placed the phone beside her. Her eyes moved toward the bookshelf. Romance novels. Fantasy. Greek mythology books written by humans who had no idea how much they had gotten wrong.

A framed photo of her and Raine from sophomore year. He was glaring at the camera. Maya was smiling. His middle finger had been blurred because her mother wanted to frame it.

Maya picked up the photograph. Raine. Human. She'd always assumed. Her best friend. Definitely. That part hadn't changed. Wouldn't. Her gaze moved toward the corkboard above her desk.

A Soteria crest was pinned near the corner. Her mother had given it to her years ago. Maya stood. Crossed the room. Pulled it free. Shield. Flame. Protection.

She turned the little metal crest between her fingers. Maya had spent her entire life walking between two worlds. She had chosen one.

Raine hadn't known there were two. And if everyone else was about to drag him into the second— he deserved at least one person beside him who remembered who he had been before any of this. Not the demigod. Not the prophecy. Not whatever god had fathered him. Just Raine.

Maya looked down at her phone. Another message from him.

'u better not have told anyone btw'

Maya snorted. She typed:

'your scandalous affair is safe with me'

Raine:

'IT WAS THREE KISSES'

Maya's eyebrows shot up.

Three.

She hadn't actually known that. Just assumed. Maya typed:

'THREE?????'

The typing bubble appeared. Stopped. Appeared. Stopped. Then:

'fuck'

Maya burst out laughing. Her mother shouted from downstairs.

"What happened?"

"NOTHING!"

Raine sent:

'i hate you'

Maya smiled.

'love you too'

There was no immediate response. Then:

'yeah yeah'

Maya looked at the words. Something in her chest softened. She tucked the Soteria crest into her palm. Tomorrow, she would go back to school. She would watch Noah. She would watch Raine. She would figure out exactly what Soteria knew. And eventually. very eventually— she was going to have to tell Raine the truth about herself.

He would lose his fucking mind. That part was inevitable. Maya looked at her reflection again. At the horns barely visible between her curls. At the satyr staring back. Nineteen years since birth. Eighteen years lived. Two worlds known. One world chosen. For now.

Because Maya Marlowe still wanted normal. She wanted graduation. Prom. College. Terrible coffee. Cheesy romance books. A life in which the biggest crisis involving her best friend was whether kissing the hot new transfer student three times constituted "liking him."

But Maya had grown up around enough prophecies to understand one thing. Normal did not survive forever. And if Raine Graves was about to lose his— Maya would not let him lose it alone.