Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
“I need something to depress his tongue so he doesn’t swallow it or bite it off.” I drop to my knees next to him. “Raven, transport to the healers.”
“I’ve got it,” Jayden says and shadows wrap around him, taking him to the healers’ office for help.
“Here,” Raven says, handing me a small dagger.
“Seriously?” I ask, rearing back. “I am not sticking a knife in his mouth.”
“It’s the only thing I’ve got.” She wiggles the knife in front of my face.
“What if I accidentally cut off his tongue? The way he’s jerking around it’s a real possibility.” I grip Adrian’s jaw, ready to just stick my fingers in his mouth instead when the white recedes from his eyes.
“Wait,” Kira says, placing a hand on my shoulder.
Adrian rolls to his side, coughing and gagging, but the convulsions have stopped finally and he’s no longer foaming at the mouth.
“What the hell was that all about?” I ask.
I sit back on my haunches, attempting to give him space without moving too far away in case it happens again and he needs me to keep him from biting off his tongue.
Note to self: The medical kit needs tongue depressors in case this happens again on a mission.
“Vision,” Adrian mumbles.
“That’s never happened before because of a vision,” I point out.
“I’ve never had a vision like that before.” He attempts to sit up but groans and lands on his back.
“What do you mean? You’re not going to have another seizure, are you?” I ask, rapid fire, as I scan the clearing for Jayden.
What is taking him so long? We need the healer like now.
“I have never seen the entirety of the future before.” Adrian squeezes his eyes shut.
“What?” I ask, shocked.
“I saw every strand of fate, every choice that’s made, and the outcome of that choice, and I can’t tell a soul what I saw,” he says with tears in his eyes.
“Let’s get you up and to the healer, okay?” I stand up, dusting off my pants, and turn to Dax. “Keep working with them. Sara is going to help your brothers learn to take down a smaller, quicker opponent.”
Adrian stares up at the sky even as I hold out a hand to help him up. He’s dazed, which is understandable since his gift just became an even bigger burden on him than it was before. Can a half-human brain even handle that much knowledge? Is this dangerous for my friend?
“Adrian? You need a healer.” I wave my hand at him, trying again to get him to take it.
“Can’t move yet,” he says, voice hollow.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
It’s a dumb question and Raven raises a brow at me.
“There’s too much. I can’t…” Adrian shakes his head.
“Is he okay?” Jayden asks, jogging into the clearing.
“What took you so long?”
“The healer refused to shadow travel with me. I had to run here,” he says, chest heaving for breath.
I shoot the healer a glare as he drops to the ground next to Adrian. His hands light up green as he scans Adrian’s body. Adrian doesn’t react to the healer at all, just mumbling under his breath as he stares at the sky blankly.
The healer shakes his head. “I need to get him to the office. I can’t find anything physically wrong with him but there is clearly an issue. What was he doing before the episode?”
“He was running endurance training,” I say. “He had a vision and it triggered the seizure.” I cross my arms.
“Has that ever happened before?”
“No, he said that he saw every possible future, not just what needs to be done.” I rub my arms, fighting off the chill that has nothing to do with the weather.
“I want to keep him for observation for at least a day.” The healer stands up and dusts his robes off.
“Shit, we were heading out for a mission that can’t wait.” I glance at Jayden and Raven over my shoulder.
“We can’t go without him, baby.” Jayden grabs my hand, gripping it tight in his.
“Of course not. He’s been a part of every mission. We can’t just leave him.”
“Then we delay a day. It’s only the end of the world,” Raven says.
I shoot her a glare for her ill-timed joke. “Isn’t it always the end of the world?”
“Death, destruction. Have to stop it,” Adrian mumbles.
“Fuck, that’s not good.” Dread pools in my belly at his words.
“Okay, buddy.” Jayden reaches down, scooping Adrian up in his strong arms. “Let’s get you to the healers so you can rest.”
Raven and I follow behind Jayden as he carries our seer friend back up to the academy. The others all stay behind to continue with training and I’m grateful that they know what the priorities are right now. We need to make sure Adrian is okay, but they need to help with the others.
“He said that he saw all the possible futures. You don’t think they all end in death and destruction, right?” Raven asks.
“They can’t possibly all lead to our deaths and losing the war.” I shake my head. “They just can’t. We have to be able to stop it somehow.”
“We will figure it out. We always do. I’m sure it’s just that he’s disoriented so he’s focusing on the horrors he’s seen instead of possible solutions.”
“He’s never gonna be the same, is he?” I ask.
“Once this is all over, none of us will be the same. Don’t forget there’s no real winners in war, just the ones who lose the least in the process, but there will be losses and we need to be prepared for that.”
“Why do you think training and them coming together is so important to me? We need them to be as prepared for the inevitable. The queen isn’t going to announce battle and a time and place to meet. She’s more devious than that. She will attack us without notice,” I say.
“We need to worry about one thing at a time, like Jayden says.” Raven claps me on the shoulder. “Focus on Adrian for now and then on the mission tomorrow.”
The healer rushes to open the door to the academic building for Jayden to carry a blubbering Adrian through. We follow down the halls to the healers’ wing. Jayden lays Adrian on one of the cots and takes a step back. All the color has drained from my mate’s face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, grabbing his hand.
“The things he was mumbling on the way here, it’s bad, baby.” Jayden blows out a breath.
“Did any of it make sense? Could you piece anything together?” I ask.
“No, it’s just a lot of mumbled nonsense but dark nonsense. Fire, death, destruction. The academy burns. That’s one thing he said.” Jayden’s shoulders slump.
“Shit, at least we have something. We just don’t know when or how.” I lay my head on his shoulder.
“Did he see the actual battle with the queen?” Raven asks, cocking her head to the side. “That could be when he sees the academy burning.”
“You’re right. That’s probably it. If he really saw it all, then no wonder he’s disoriented and rambling. I can’t imagine having that huge burden on my shoulders.” I shudder.
“Your friend needs rest. You should all go. We will send a message when he’s ready to have visitors or when he’s released,” the healer cuts in.
“Yes, sir.” I nod in deference to the healer and lead my friends back through the halls.
“This doesn’t change anything. Yes, Adrian knows everything that needs to happen to get us to the desired outcome but we’re still going in blind. He can only tell us so much.” Jayden wraps an arm around my waist.
“The only thing that’s changing is when we leave. Other than that, the plan is the same. We get to Arcadia and find the temple of Hermes so we can stop a global war.” I turn back to the training fields through the forest.
“I want to make sure they aren’t giving our friends crap about splitting the cliques up and making them all work together,” Raven says.
“Hopefully they have it through their thick skulls by now that what they were doing isn’t working and if we’re going to survive what’s to come, they need to work together.”
We stand back away from the two groups to observe training. The students without battle magic are running through drills, testing endurance and strength, while the others are paired off, practicing their hand-to-hand skills.
Jackson barks at two of his brothers, “The fuck do you knuckleheads think you’re doing? You’re not pairing together. Find someone else to spar with.”
My brows rise practically to my hairline as he turns back to Sara and gets into his fighting stance. He’s taking this seriously. I guess losing to Sara in the ring humbled him a bit. Is he just now realizing that he can actually learn something from the other demigods outside his siblings?
“That was unexpected,” I say.
“Not really,” Raven replies. “Jackson’s a hothead but when you teach him a lesson that he deems important, he’s all in. Sara did a number on him and I think now he’s eager to learn.”
“Well, I’m glad. We need leaders while we’re gone that will get these guys into shape quickly,” I say.
“If only the rest of the academy could even grudgingly accept the truth, we wouldn’t have to continuously babysit them.” Jayden squeezes my hand.
“Maybe with more of the Ares guys learning to be humble, more of the others will get the hint.”
“I hope so,” Raven mumbles. “They don’t have a ton of time to prepare.”
“They don’t. Maybe training should have been mandatory from the beginning,” I say with a sigh.
“Don’t do that, baby. You were trying to give them freedom to choose for themselves if they wanted to fight, even though we all know there’s an inevitability to them fighting anyway. They forced your hand by not obeying the rules of the academy.” Jayden cups my cheek.
“What if it’s not enough?” I ask.
“We’ll handle that,” Jackson says behind me.
I turn to find him and Sara standing next to each other, their arms crossed over their chests.
“We’re going to continue the rigorous training sessions and maybe some team building exercises while you guys go and save all our asses again,” Sara says and glances up at Jackson.
I glance at Raven from the corner of my eye, catching the goofy grin on her face. She’s thinking the same thing I am about these two. Ares men value strength and badass women over everything else. Sara put him on his ass at least once that I saw.
“I appreciate you guys coming together despite the differences between you.” I nod.