Chapter 9 #2
My sluggish mind raced, trying to make sense of what I’d just heard. The implications of that were absolutely insane. Could more Healers do that? Could I learn to do that?
“How did you know?” I asked Rafe.
Rafe chuckled. “I have long suspected Holmes was making my grandfather sick on purpose, I just didn’t understand how.”
What?
“My brain is bleeding,” I said, my speech a little slurred as I leaned back onto the mountain of pillows behind me. My nose started leaking…something, and my head pounded painfully.
Zephyr’s hand was on my forehead before I could blink, and Rafe was in my face, his dark eyes jumping between mine frantically.
“Oh, he’s fine.” Zephyr said.
“What the hell is this, then?” Rafe wiped at my face with his hand, staring at the clear liquid there.
Weird. I thought my nose was bleeding.
“It’s spinal fluid,” Zephyr said. Warmth from his healing affinity settled against my forehead, and my eyelashes fluttered as the headache receded.
“What?!” Rafe squawked.
Zephyr rolled his eyes, which was weird because this sounded serious? I couldn’t tell. My thoughts were fuzzy.
“It’s fine. I fixed it. Your head should stop hurting.”
I shook my head on instinct, freezing then relaxing when I realized it didn’t actually hurt anymore.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“Anyway,” Zephyr said, ignoring how Rafe had sprinted back into the bathroom.
The sound of running water followed. He must’ve been washing his hands.
“I don’t want to tell Skye about Dani yet,” Zephyr went on.
“Tell her about me, whatever, but not Dani. Willow and Mia are very close to her and I don’t know what it means that she healed you wrong. ”
“You really think it was on purpose?” My heart rate increased again, and a shadow…started rubbing my arm to comfort me? I shook my shoulder and the shadow dissipated like smoke.
“I don’t know, okay?” Zephyr pulled on one of his curls. “I just know my intuition says this is weird, and I always trust my inner feelings.”
Rafe returned from the bathroom smelling like…
bleach? He held his hands away from his body like a surgeon who’d just scrubbed for surgery.
“I trust you and Skye’s intuition with my life.
If you think Dani’s weird, then she’s weird.
I won’t tell Skye for now, but if she figures something out, I won’t lie to her. ”
“Same for my sister,” I said.
Zephyr rolled his eyes. “Yeah, good one, Wyatt. Like your sister would ever talk to you about someone she likes.”
I scoffed. “And yours would?”
Zephyr scoffed back. “Yeah. We talked about you that day you came into the café and then never came back.”
“Knock it off,” Rafe barked. “They’re back.”
“Skye,” I murmured for the tenth time.
“Drink this and then finish your food,” Skye snapped, thrusting another bottle of water in my face.
I finished the water, then went back to my bowl of oatmeal. It must’ve been the only thing she could find in her apartment to make quickly. It was good, though. There were some blueberries and bananas thrown in with a nice pinch of cinnamon.
As soon as the oatmeal was done, Skye was shoving another bottle of water in front of me. I drank half of it, then capped it and crossed my arms. Skye mirrored me, crossing her arms and glaring at me.
“Drink it.”
“No.”
“Zephyr said–”
“I’ll drink it later. I already drank two bottles.”
Skye opened her mouth to argue, and then Rafe plopped down beside her on the bed.
“Leave him, darling, we don’t need him wetting the bed tonight.”
Skye narrowed her eyes at me, only relaxing when Rafe rubbed her shoulders. I watched the tension leech out of her. Within only a few minutes, she was like putty in Rafe’s hands.
He smiled smugly at me as Skye relaxed against him, resting her head against his chest and exposing her neck to me.
Bastard.
“I’m so fucking mad at you,” she whispered.
Rafe and I froze, then Rafe went back to his ministrations when we realized she wasn’t talking to him.
“Rafe. Get Aiden, please? I think it’s time for that debrief.” Skye said softly.
Rafe froze again, and I could tell he totally wanted to say no, but he clenched his jaw, then kissed her on the temple before standing and heading out.
“Skye,” I started.
She shook her head. Her lip wobbled, and suddenly, I sort of wished that wall had killed me. I didn’t want to be responsible for making her feel this way. It seemed like I was always fucking things up between us.
“I’m sorry, Skye. Truly.” I murmured, turning my hand over so that my palm faced upward.
Skye wiped at the tears in her eyes, then shook her head. “You’re the worst.”
But she placed her hand in mine.
I was weak, but I pulled her toward me, more gently than I wanted, and she moved, positioning herself at my side. She didn’t move under the covers with me, but snuggled down beside me, then fussed with my blankets, pulling them up to my chin so I was almost completely covered.
I wasn’t cold. Warm air was drifting through the cracked window, but I could tell it would cool as the sun finished setting.
Rafe came back with Aiden, and the two moved around the room, pulling up chairs so the four of us could properly talk. Zephyr came in a moment later, having been down in the kitchen.
Rafe dragged one of the dusty old armchairs to the foot of the bed, moving to sit and then freezing when he saw us.
We probably looked ridiculous. Me, fucked up in the bed, and Skye pulling a soft pink blanket over me.
Rafe’s look of surprise turned to a vicious glare, and I widened my own eyes back at him.
What? I asked, genuinely confused.
Fuck you, Wyatt. Rafe huffed as he dropped into his seat.
I had no idea what his problem was.
Skye snuggled deeper into my side, finally happy with the position of my blankets, and I almost jumped when Aiden climbed onto the bed beside Skye. The whole thing creaked precariously, and I tensed, feeling like the frame could give out at any moment. Rafe just sat across the bed, glaring at me.
“So, a debrief is in order,” he said finally. “I think we should all take turns explaining what happened from our perspectives.”
Skye started first, explaining how after Raaz had defended her and Aiden from Lucille, they’d gone into the hall where she knew something was wrong.
She, Aiden, and Raaz made it into the ballroom where the Crusader was waiting for them with Lena Iykos, who then knocked out both Raaz and Aiden.
Then, Skye began to explain the strange conversation she’d had with the Crusader.
“I pushed back against him finally, because he was pissing me off, and then he’s all, ‘ah, you’re a Telepath. Makes sense because of Ben’–”
“What?!” Zephyr shot out of the corner where he’d been looming, his eyebrows so high they disappeared under his curls. “He mentioned Ben?”
Skye nodded. “I cut him off, I didn’t hear his complete thought. But the whole time he was talking…he wanted you.”
“Me,” Zephyr repeated, still looking bewildered.
“He thought he had a son,” Skye explained, nuzzling into my shoulder and sending butterflies bursting through my stomach.
“But the Phantom is a woman,” Zephyr said slowly. “Landon told you that.”
“I’m not sure where the misunderstanding happened,” Skye said. “But, uh…he knows I’m his daughter now. He took a good look at me.”
Zephyr leaned back against the wall, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes with a groan.
Skye sat up a little straighter. “There’s another thing. Rafe…Alex was there. He came into the ballroom, and he and Aver– the Crusader started to argue.”
“About?” Rafe asked, tilting his head to the side.
“Uh…me?” Skye covered her eyes with her hand as if she were so embarrassed she couldn’t bear to look at any of us. “It seemed like…the Phantom had been promised to Alex somehow, and when the Crusader realized I was his daughter, he accused Alex of having known.”
“How close of friends are they?” I scoffed. “Anyone who knows Alex knows he’s an idiot.”
Rafe only smirked, then furrowed his brow. He was clearly too deep in thought to properly appreciate my jab.
“Yeah, it’s not looking too good for him or this guy Richard,” Skye said. “It seemed like they were about to fight when I got Aiden and I out.”
Rafe and I froze.
Skye looked back and forth between us, feeling the shift in our demeanor.
“What?” Aiden asked.
I cleared my throat, hoping she’d just misheard him. “You’re sure you heard the name Richard?”
“Yeah,” Skye answered slowly, looking back and forth between us. “That mean anything to y’all?”
I sighed deeply while Rafe snorted.
“Oh, my God.” Skye groaned. “Richard–”
“Richard is my father’s name,” I finished.
“Oh, shit.” Aiden said. “I totally forgot.”
“And Willow said he has the Crusader’s symbol in his office.” Skye mumbled.
“He does,” I confirmed. “I saw it when I went back to visit during the term break.”
“What do we do with that information?” Aiden asked.
We all shrugged.
“What did you find in the dungeons?” Skye asked. “Before the fire?”
I looked to Rafe. There was no way I’d be able to explain what happened. I’d only been awake for an hour, which meant I wouldn’t be processing any of it until later. Rafe had already had days to process everything.
Rafe stared at Skye, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his mind as he tried to come up with a way to explain what the hell had happened.
He cleared his throat, then said quietly, “Wyatt and I discovered that there were Sensors being held prisoner in the dungeon.”
Aiden’s jaw dropped. Skye’s eyes widened. Zephyr scoffed.
“They were…very old. Hooked up to a bunch of medical machines to keep them alive.”
Skye covered her mouth.
“How old?” Aiden whispered.
“They thought I was my grandfather–”
Aiden cut him off, sounding shrill. “You spoke to them?”
“Yes, two of them. The first man, Albert…” Rafe trailed off, looking at me with a pained expression.
“Albert died as soon as Rafe told him who he was,” I said flatly, like I was discussing the weather. “The second one, Josefa, died a few minutes before the smoke started. We got information from her, at least.”