Julian #2
I really needed a moment to stop thinking about Atlas and the incubus. I think I was going crazy. Only now that I’m not thinking about that, my mind is wandering back to Cameron, Cassie, and Atticus and what might be happening between them.
“Oh, and you’ll never believe who I saw! Nathaniel Barfred!” Susie nearly shouts.
This catches my attention.
“Huh? Where?” I ask.
“At a club here in Cali. I went with Landon, and on my way back from the bathroom, I saw the two of them on the dance floor together. I swear to you, Julie, I’ve never seen a man look like they hate someone so much they want to fuck them to death.” Susie laughs.
I try to match her energy and chuckle as well, but my mind is reeling once more. Barfred was in California? I thought he was visiting family.
And wasn’t he supposed to be back today?
“When was this?” I ask her, considering the possibility that it might have been a different man altogether.
“Eh, maybe last Saturday? Yeah, that sounds right. But anyway, I asked him about it the next morning, and do you want to know what Lan said? He said, ‘That bastard doesn’t know what he’s done, what he’s just unlocked,’ in an ominous tone. It was hilarious.”
The timing does line up for it to have been Barfred… he was away from Chastain Castle last Saturday. But why would he visit Landon and say he was seeing family? Especially after how much they clearly disliked each other when Landon was here.
Well… it wasn’t all hate; even I could see that.
I groan, rubbing at my temple as I turn toward the street our temporary house is on. There are too many variables, too many mysteries in my life right now.
“Well, I hope everything is fine,” I say shortly, running my fingers over my bruised cheek.
“Julie,” Susie responds gently. “Are you truly okay? You sound pretty out of it for a guy who was let go. Is it… is it more than that?”
Damn this woman and the fact that she knows me so well. Fucking damnit.
I was really hoping for a distraction, not to wallow in my own self-pity, but here I am, about to spill my guts to one of my childhood best friends.
I park in the driveway of the house, sighing.
“Yeah,” I murmur, staring at the steering wheel. “It’s more than that.”
“It’s about Atlas, isn’t it? That’s why you wanted to help him so badly,” she observes.
“Mhm. I… I think I’m falling in love with him.” It’s my first time saying it out loud, and now that it’s out in the open, it’s a hundred times more real.
If I’m not already there, I’m teetering right on the edge.
How I can fall so quickly for a man I’ve only known for months, when I couldn’t muster any real emotion for Landon in years, I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.
Is love supposed to make sense?
“Then what are you doing?” Susie asks softly.
“Me? Right now I’m sitting in Dad’s truck, avoiding him and—”
“No, Julie,” she interrupts. “What are you doing? If you think you’re falling in love, doesn’t that mean you should be risking it all? Shouldn’t you be at that ridiculous castle, barging inside and helping him through his illness? You’re both grown. You’re not children anymore.”
Susie doesn’t understand the depth of our situation. She isn’t queued in on the severity or the danger involved. Even still, her words touch something inside of me. I am an adult, and so is Atlas.
I still have a key.
Should I be fighting harder? Should I be pushing my way inside and claiming what is rightfully mine?
Should I truly risk it all?
Risk my freedom, my safety, my happiness?
Risk. Sacrifice.
A line from the prophecy suddenly pops into my mind: wrongs must be righted, balance must be restored.
Oh, fuck. I think… I think I’ve figured it out.
“Susie, I have to go.”
I unlock the door to the delivery room and rush inside. This time, I am not sneaking around. This time, I won’t let anything stop me.
It takes me mere minutes to reach the top of the west tower, for my eyes to zero in on the silver chain locking Atlas inside. It angers me to see it, making me vicious and vile, but today it will prove useful.
I undo the chain and barge inside, leaving the door open.
Atlas looks up from where he sits on his knees next to his bed, his hands clasped together. Praying.
He’s in the same white sleep-set I saw him in last, but now it’s grimy with dirt. His eyes are bloodshot and swollen, his cheeks tear-stained.
Has he been like this for two days?!
“Julie!” Atlas cries, stumbling to his feet and running into my arms.
Once his small body is pressed to mine, a weight I wasn’t fully aware of falls from my chest. I breathe in the sweet, smoky smell of him and allow myself this one small moment.
This last, perfect moment to hold him.
But then he pulls away.
“Oh, god, your face! And how did you get in? What if they find you? Come, let’s run. We can get on a plane or rent a car; I don’t know.” Atlas starts to turn, undoubtedly to grab his things, but I stop him with my hands firmly on his shoulders.
“Atlas,” I say, and he freezes, peering up at me with wide eyes. “I know what to do now. How to save you, to break the curse.”
“What?” he whispers, his hands shaking as he grips my wrists. “What are you saying?”
“I figured it out: the prophecy.”
Atlas shakes his head, fast and hard. “Atticus thought so, too. He came up here with the Black Book and did, I don’t know, something, but it didn’t work.
My skin is still hot, and I can still feel it—the need.
The desire.” He takes a deep breath. “I think Atticus hurt himself, and I won’t let you do the same. Come on, let’s just run!”
Atlas attempts to turn again, but this time I take hold of his face, his warm cheeks resting in my palms.
“Listen to me, little bunny,” I command, and Atlas freezes once more. “Of course whatever Atticus did didn’t work. There needs to be a sacrifice.”
If I thought Atlas’s eyes were wide before, I was wrong. They grow twice as large, his lips trembling as he says, “A what?”
But I don’t have time to explain.
Instead, I lean in and push my tongue into his mouth, tasting him one last time. Atlas tries to push me away, to get free and most likely demand more answers from me, but I’m stronger.
I keep his body pressed to mine, our lips interlocked, and lick him thoroughly. I don’t care if he’s upset; this is my last chance.