Chapter 5 #2
More.
“Fuck me,” I whispered as the memory caused me to relive that moment in more than my mind. My body reacted in a way that I knew would leave me sleepless for hours.
“Nope. Don’t think about that . . . or the stuff before that,” I counselled myself.
The stuff that I’d done my damnedest not to think about in the week that had passed since it happened.
Like how devastated and wrecked he’d looked when I’d gone to his room that night.
How he’d been cutting himself and wouldn’t tell me why.
“Save your pity. Whatever my struggles, they’re less than I deserve, I promise you that.”
“Enough!” I whispered, pressing my hands over my ears like that would help.
It didn’t matter that he felt bad for what he was doing.
It didn’t matter that the act of stealing others’ magic somehow caused him pain, or that he was punishing himself.
All that mattered was that he’d lied from the start, and used young Dwimmers to make himself stronger, then lied about what he was.
Unforgivable.
I deliberately bounced on the last step, then put my foot down heavily on the floor, so the others would hear me coming.
“Liam’s office is up there. I grabbed a book for you, Fable.” I tossed her the book, knowing that she would dig through it faster than me.
She caught it and gave me a quick smile. “Thanks.”
“It seems like Liam was working on it shortly before he left. Maybe something interesting in it?”
“How can you tell?” she asked, already flipping it open.
“It was the only one open on his desk, and he seems to spend a lot of time up there. The whole room smells like his cologne.”
My friends were all looking at me. “What?”
“You going to get with Liam or what?” Ross asked.
My jaw dropped.
Marina elbowed him. “Way to be subtle.”
“But yeah, we like Liam.” Gary nodded. “He’s a good guy. You could do worse.”
Sputtering, I held up a hand. “My love life is non-existent, and I plan to keep it that way, thanks. I’m going to check out the rest of the house.”
Without another word, I turned my back on them and made my way to another set of stairs, this one leading down. If nothing else, I needed to hide my face. I had no doubt it was bright fucking red.
The house barely kept my attention even though the lower level had been decked out as a massive games room/pool hall combination, complete with projector and movie theater steps, and even a sauna in the back corner.
Nope, I barely registered it all as my friend’s words bounced around in my head.
Liam wasn’t a bad guy; they were right about that.
And he was a far better choice than others I’d made regarding men, if I was going to be honest with myself. What better way to get over a stupid, stupid hot-as-sin Draconell who’d nearly killed me, than to lean into the good guy who’d shown me nothing but kindness since the day we’d met?
I paused before I headed back up the stairs.
Not that I was looking for love in any way, I had far too many things on my plate. You know, find the kraken coin so we didn’t get killed by Calypso’s strange siren magic, learn to fight before Nocta got to us, stay free of the Senate’s machinations . . .
Little things. Who needed a complicated love life with all that going on?
Not me.
Maybe just see what happens.
Traitorous thoughts pushed aside, I made my way back up the stairs to the main floor.
“He’ll be here soon, I’m sure,” I said, more to myself than to the others, but none of them answered. Ellie, Caterina, and Gary had curled up on the couch and were completely passed out.
Ross and Marina had taken over the big chair, his arms wrapped around her, her head on his chest as they slept, and Fable . . . she sat at the kitchen table, her back ramrod straight.
I went over to her and sat down in the chair opposite. “Hey, are you okay?”
She shook her head, fingers resting on the book I’d tossed her. “No. Maybe. I don’t know. We’ve had a crazy day. First the vampires, and then those big damn . . . I don’t even know what to call them . . .”
“Nessies,” I offered. “Makes them sound soft and squishy, like they aren’t prehistoric monsters with jaws that could devour us in a hot second.”
A shudder rippled through her as she leaned forward, holding her head in her hands. “I’m not brave like you, Harlow. I mean, you didn’t even blink when those vampires showed up. Same with the . . . Nessies. How do you do it? How do you stay so calm?”
I shrugged off the praise with a snort. Calm was a fragile thing for me, that could shatter at any moment.
“I was afraid too, but as the oldest, it makes sense for me to take point on some things because I have more experience. See, you’re smart, Fable.
You and Zeed are the two that we need to keep us from making bad decisions in the first place.
Me? I’m the ‘oh shit, things are getting crazy, better call Harlow’ chick. ”
Her smile trembled. “You still think he’s okay, right?”
Zeed.
He’d been pulled out of Neverthorn and sent home after having a traumatic response to his Quirk rising within him.
Fable had been trying to get him to respond to her letters ever since.
It had been weeks with nothing back from him.
What if something had happened to him, outside of getting his Quirk and injuring himself? What if Nocta had gotten to him?
I tried to keep my thoughts off my face. “I think that we should keep trying to contact him. See if . . . maybe we can go back into Lairg and call his family once we’re settled in here? Do you have his home number?”
A whoosh of relief flew out of her. “Oh, that’s what I was thinking, but I didn’t want to sound paranoid, you know? I don’t have his home number, but I’m sure I can get it.”
I reached over and squeezed her hand. “You aren’t paranoid, Fable. We’ve been through a lot, and we are all worried about Zeed. Things will seem better in the morning. You should try and get some sleep.”
Her eyebrows shot up and she glanced over at the others. “Where?”
She had a point. So far, I hadn’t seen any bedrooms in my search. I looked over my shoulder and even in the shadows picked up the black and white tiles of the bathroom.
“The bathtub?” I’d been on my own since my mom died when I was a teen. I’d slept in way worse places than a bathtub.
She rolled her eyes. “There will be at least one bedroom around here. If you promise not to spoon me, I can share if you can.”
“I’m not sure who hurt you so much that you don’t like a good spooning, but whatever. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
That drew a tiny smile out of her, which was good enough for me.
She’d been strung tighter than a mandolin since we’d left Neverthorn, and I was starting to worry.
Finding Zeed and making sure he was okay needed to stay high on my list of priorities, as much for my own peace of mind as to make sure Fable didn’t fall apart.
House Phoenix would need to be at its best .
. . and we needed every one of us, if we had any chance of winning this war.
Fable and I went on a hunt for a place to sleep. Turned out that Liam liked his bed orgy sized. I mean . . . the mattress was big enough for all of us with room to spare.
“Should we tell the others or just let them sleep?” Fable tested the mattress with a hand, then jumped onto the bed.
The dark blue blanket was thick and looked so inviting along with the stack of pillows that ran the entire length of the bed. Six pillows, all perfectly laid out.
“Funny, you think you know someone.” Seemed like maybe our twinkle-eyed professor had a little kink in him. And speaking of kink . . . I let out a sharp whistle. “We found the bed, guys, unless you want to wake up with kinks in your necks.”
I mean, if I slept in a huge dog pile of bodies on a couch, I wouldn’t be able to walk the next day, but maybe they were still young enough not to have those worries.
One by one my friends stumbled in and threw themselves onto the huge bed. No one made a comment about the size or the fact that we were basically having an adult sleepover.
I sat on the edge of the bed, still not as tired as them – I needed the fatigue to come rushing back. The second wind would fade eventually. Unless there was something else keeping me awake, like the energy here plucking at me. Demanding I pay attention.
My foot bumped my backpack on the floor, and my thoughts went straight back to the journal hidden within. Phyllis had seemed confident that I’d figure out how to open it, but I hadn’t managed it yet.
Yeah, so much for feeling tired.
“I’m going to keep watch.”
I backed out of the room, closing the door to a series of mumbled good nights.
Before I changed my mind, I pulled the journal free from my pack and headed down to the main living area, straight to the oversized chair.
Tucking my feet up under me, I put the journal on my lap, then pulled Calypso out of my pocket and set her on top of it.
Was I stalling?
Yup, sure was – but also, with everything going on, I hadn’t had a chance to check on Opie.
I tugged absently at my bracelet made of colored glass and pebbles.
She had made it for me as a gift and said that every little piece was a reminder of our times together.
It was like she hung her little heart on a string and handed it over.
Then a few short weeks later, I walked out and left her with nothing but a note – there hadn’t been time for more.
It killed me to leave her behind, even knowing that Phyllis and Bandit were looking after her.
I flicked the catch on the locket to open it. “Calypso?”
She swam into the frame so I could see her entire body, the long, fanned tail, her hair swirling and lit up by her cauldron. “Harlow.”
“Any news on Opie?” I asked, my throat instantly aching. I’d tried so hard not to think of her and how sad and scared and upset she must be, but now that I had a second to catch my breath, I could think of little else.