Chapter 10 #2
“I can take it.” He pulls me into his lap, separating my body from touching anything but him. Some of his skin is already healed over, scales emerging along his sides and neck.
I bury my face there, releasing the anger and sadness as he holds me like that. As I let go, cocooned in his warmth.
The funeral for Harvey later is a complete turnaround from Vera’s.
Guild members show up wearing whatever black clothes they could find in their closets, whether it was jeans, leggings, sweats, or tops.
I’m the one overdressed compared to the others, and I almost chew Aiden out for not telling me until I remember the way he’d looked at me in the dress.
Fabian and Evie escort Alice to the front row and sit on either side of her like guards. She has a plain black dress on, and her face is tight as she takes in the Hall, the decorations, and the people in it. Once she spots the urn, though, she doesn’t look away the entire service.
When members take to the stage to talk about Harvey, they share silly stories that make everyone laugh at what they’d done together or something Harvey had said or done.
After eating a buffet of his favorite foods—which were mostly snacks and tacos—everyone splits to various tables to play some of his favorite games.
The Guild Hall is loud and rowdy, laughing as they play and continue to share stories of Harvey when another one comes to them.
I learn more about Harvey tonight than I knew when he was alive.
Eventually, members retire to their apartments for the night.
Alice approaches us with Evie and Fabian at her sides.
Her face is still red and splotchy as if she’d just finished wiping away a fresh set of tears.
They’d been bouncing between tables to hear more stories all evening, but I hadn’t seen her speak to anyone.
She’s been soaking in everyone’s stories of Harvey without a word.
She looks at me, then Dane. “Thank you for this,” she murmurs, then spins on her heel and walks away.
We migrate to one of the lounge areas under the glass half-dome. The lights in the Hall are dimmed, allowing some of the brighter stars to shine through the windows. A tiny gas fire dances over colored beads at the center of the low table we’re sitting around.
“How many siblings did he have?” Silas asks, pinching a bit of lint from the couch he’s lying on and tossing it in the fire.
Evie smacks his hand. “Stop that.”
A sly smile stretches across his face as he looks up at her, his fingers going back for another one. She grabs his hand.
“Ten,” Aiden answers absentmindedly, swirling the bourbon in his glass.
“And another on the way,” I add, remembering when Charles told Harvey he could have time off when his newest sibling was born.
Gabe leans back against Zedd, who’s strumming softly on his guitar, and claps. “Eleven, wow! That man sure gets busy. You hear that, Zeddy? We’ve a lot of cleaning to do.”
Zedd’s hand freezes over the strings. “Why?”
“They’ll need somewhere to go after we rescue them. You can be the stern no-nonsense figure, and I’ll be the cool, keeping-it-hip one.”
“No.”
Kellan laughs, stretching his arm behind me on the couch. “You think you can handle that many kids and teenagers who can turn invisible and were trained to stay hidden?”
Gabriel pushes off Zedd, balancing on the chair arm. “Can I? You should have seen the way I single-handedly turned a group of bloodthirsty fans into a gaggle of giggling besties by the end of one night!”
“You bribed them with stolen jewelry and snacks,” Zedd deadpans.
Tinsley titters with laughter, and Silas snickers in the ensuing silence.
“They always say the best way to someone’s heart is through their stomach,” Gabe presses on, unperturbed.
“Accurate,” Fabian chimes in, a bag of chips in his lap.
Aiden sighs.
“We have bigger things to worry about before that,” Dane cuts in, running his fingers through his hair on the other side of Kell.
“Taking down the board members and elects, for starters. Charles, on his own, is going to be difficult, and then there’s the rest of Gifted Enterprise operating all over the world, handing out gift-blocking jewelry to the highest bidder. ”
Wait. Gift-blocking jewelry. Something wiggles at the back of my mind, trying to remind me of something.
“Damn. When you say it like that...” Silas grumbles.
The machine Vera made. She said it could mass-produce those, but also...
“Oh!” I exclaim, the memory coming back in a rush.
All eyes turn to me. “Vera.” My gaze inadvertently slides to Dane.
His face tightens. “She told me they’re weaponizing gifts.
Dane’s, of course, but others’ too if they have their blood.
And they made her program a machine that can synthesize gifts from blood samples into objects.
” I seek out Tinsley to confirm what I’ve said, and she nods.
“We should have killed her sooner,” Reid remarks, his tone bitter.
Dane stands abruptly. I start to rise, too, but he’s already walking across the room without slowing down.
“Give him a minute,” Kell murmurs just for me, his hand guiding me to sink back onto the couch.
“He shouldn’t be alone,” I argue.
“Jack’s in the Loft. He won’t be completely alone.”
I nod, still worried, but look back to the others and catch Tinsley smacking Reid’s chest.
“That’s still his sister, Reid. Have some compassion. Or tact. Besides, she was trying to do good when I was with her last.” Tinsley wraps her hand around his. “She fixed me.”
“There would have been nothing to fix if not for her,” he replies coldly.
Tinsley stands, bringing him with her by his hand. She smiles apologetically to the rest of us, waving goodbye. “Sorry about that! We’re going to call it a night.”
The rest of us don’t say a word until the elevator doors close.
It’s Silas who speaks up first. “So, what got fixed?”
The others give varying sounds and gestures of having no idea before looking at Aiden, who takes another drink. “No.”
“No, you don’t know, or no, you won’t say?” Silas questions.
“What kinds of blood samples does GE have?” Evie asks, redirecting the conversation.
I chime in, “Anyone who was on an island or captured by them, and anyone who works for them. At minimum. But Vera and Tinsley said they’d tried destroying as many of the samples as they could, like ours.”
“With all those samples, Daddy Psycho could have had his pick of gifts,” Kellan drawls.
“Unlikely,” Aiden says. “Based on what Reid’s said and what we know about him, I think he has to get it directly from the source. Otherwise, he could have had your gift a long time ago.”
Kellan shrugs. “Or he didn’t know about me until he saw me. Maybe I don’t look as good on paper.”
“Regardless, we need to add finding and destroying that machine to the list. Even if we kill Charles, that gives too much power to any other agents who have access to it,” Aiden adds.
As if our list isn’t already big enough.
But he has a point. We’re taking down the board members to avoid someone else picking up GE and running with it.
The scientists and agents are too separated from the management level to know the first thing about leading the shadow organization.
But with the ability to mass produce gift-blocking cuffs or other gift-imbued objects, it would only be a matter of time before things spiral out of control.
We continue discussing other possible gifts and how they could be—or might not be—applied to objects. Jackson’s gift, for example. He controls air, but could an object with no brain or real body be able to control air? Or is it only property-based gifts that could be used?
After it feels like we debate it for an hour and there’s still no sign of Dane, I decide to say goodnight and return to the Loft.
Jackson’s there waiting at the door when I open it. He gives me an enigmatic smile. “Here for Dane?”
“Yeah. Is he in his room?”
Jack nods. “Don’t stay up late. We’re training in the morning.”
Oof. It’s already after midnight. Maybe Dane went straight to bed, and I’ll just go snuggle in his arms.
But I hope he’s awake. I want to know what was on his mind after the funeral and what Reid said. He didn’t and hasn’t sounded like he blames me at all, but... I have to know.
“Good night,” I whisper, pushing to my toes to give him a kiss, but he somehow sneaks around me to kiss my cheek instead.
He chuckles softly. “If you kiss me now, little one, I won’t stop. Go.”
Oh.
Warmth floods my face. As tempting as that is, I need to see how Dane’s doing, and I hurry around him to Dane’s room.
I tap on his door a couple of times with my knuckles. “Dane? Can I come in?”
No answer.
I turn the knob and poke my head through. “Hello?” The bedroom’s dark. And empty. But the bathroom door is cracked, and light shines into the room in a bold line along the floor. I close the door behind me and approach the bathroom. “Dane?” I gently push the door open.
He snaps his head up, looking at me through the mirror and then over his shoulder. There are two boxes of hair dye on the sink in front of him. One blond. One brown.
“What are you doing?”
“Staring at hair dye, apparently.” He looks back at his reflection.
He runs his fingers through the longer hair at the top of his head.
“The blond is almost gone,” he says, almost wistfully.
“And I don’t know what I should do. If I dye it, does that mean I’m still stuck in the past?
But this guy with brown hair… I don’t know who that is. ”
I move to his side, my gaze on his through the mirror. “Dye your hair whatever you’re comfortable with. Don’t worry about if it means something or not.”
His brows pinch and his lips thin to a line as he looks between the two boxes with uncertainty.
“You don’t have to force her out of your life, you know. It’s okay if you take some time to let certain things go. And it’s also okay if you’ve just grown to like the color.”
He turns, settling his hands on my waist and tugging me a step closer. “Which color do you like?”
I gaze into his warm amber eyes, drawing me in and trapping me like honey. “I’d like you in any color if that’s what makes you happy.”
Dane raises an incredulous brow. “Any color? Even if I dye it blue?”
I shrug, a small smirk pulling at my lips. “If that makes you happy.”
He chuckles, pressing a chaste kiss to my forehead. “You make me happy.”
I tilt my head back without thinking, my lips seeking his on instinct.
His eyelids droop as he leans in, our mouths fusing as one.
Clutching his shirt in my hands, I pull myself against him.
His heart hammers, matching mine as if they’ve somehow synced.
He wraps an arm around my waist, tucking me even closer as his other hand cradles my face so he can deepen the kiss, melting me from the inside out.
Eventually, we part, our eyes locked. As much as I want to stay in this warm feeling, it’s eating me alive to know what he’s thinking.
“Dane... I’m sorry. I'm so sorry. I promised to—”
He kisses me. It’s a short press of lips. A sweet stop to my words.
He strokes his thumb over my cheek. “Thank you. For doing what I couldn’t.” His eyes turn glassy. “I wish we could have saved her some other way, but I think you did the right thing. She’s free from them now. So... thanks.” His throat bobs with the effort it’s taking to hold himself back.
I throw my arms around his neck, pulling his head to my shoulder and holding him tight. He wraps himself around me, exhaling a shuddering breath against my skin. “Thank you,” he repeats, his voice strained.
Tears prick my eyes as I squeeze him tighter. Hold him, as if I can somehow transfer my strength to him. “I’m sorry she’s gone,” I whisper.
It’s one thing to lose his sister the first time. But to then have hope that he could have her back, only for it to be crushed again...
He draws back, kissing my cheek. My lips. “Me too.” Dane somehow manages a soft smile. “Want to help me dye my hair? I’ve decided on a color.”
I share a watery smile in return.
“Sure... Is it blue?”