Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
TOM
“Gabe!” The shout comes from a tall young man who looks a lot like Gabe. He’s half carrying another guy who looks like he’s been sick for weeks. Gabe told me Ian gets severely airsick—which is why we stopped to grab Gatorade and Saltines—but I wasn’t expecting him to be this bad.
Gabe goes to meet them and sweeps both of them into a big hug. I reach them just as he steps back and exhales deeply. “You’re here. Okay.”
“Not okay,” Ian moans. “I’m not okay.”
Gabe chuckles. “Come and sit down.” He guides Ian away from Matt and helps him to a row of seats, saying over his shoulder, “Tom, could I have the bag?”
Both Ian’s and Matt’s heads snap up, their eyes zeroing in on me. Maybe they didn’t realize I was with Gabe?
Well… not with him, with him. Though if I take Nonna’s advice once this is over, maybe one day.
“Sure.” I join them at the seats and hand over the reusable shopping bag with the supplies. “Hi. I’m Tom.”
“Crap, I’m so rude. Meet Matt and Ian.” He gestures to each of them in turn. “Guys, Tom’s a friend who’s helping out right now.” He hands Ian the Gatorade and rips open the Saltines for him.
“Hi, Tom,” Matt says politely, then turns to his brother. “Helping out with what? And where’s Con?”
“He stayed at the estate. It’s not a good idea for both of us to be gone at the same time right now.”
“Because of the reasons you wouldn’t tell us on the phone? The reasons why we got on a plane and I had to sit next to Mr. Vomit here for four hours?”
I bite my lip and look away so they won’t see me smile. Matt’s got snark.
“Those reasons,” Gabe agrees placidly. His gaze is on Ian’s face, which is regaining color and starting to look less haggard.
“This is going to be one hell of a car ride,” Matt declares, making it sound like a threat.
Gabe looks up. “Yeah, about that… Con called about an hour ago. The highway’s been closed because of an accident. There’s another way we can go, but with the weather being so shitty—”
Ian groans. “Please don’t talk about the weather that made the plane fucking bounce.”
“Anyway,” Gabe continues, “Kieran got us rooms at a hotel. We’ll crash for the night and get an early start.”
“Sounds great,” Ian says, and Matt shrugs.
“Sure. Don’t think that means you can delay telling us stuff.” He glances at me, then back at his brother. “Um… does he know about what’s going on?”
“He has a name,” Gabe chides, sounding so much like a parent that I finally get it.
I’ve been wondering why he and Connor were so convinced it was safe to bring their brothers into this without fear of it getting back to their parents, but seeing them interact…
I’m pretty sure Gabe was more of a father figure to Matt than their parents were.
Probably to Ian, too, given how close he and Connor are.
“And yes, Tom knows what’s going on. He was dragged into it by accident, but now he knows everything. ”
Ian stops sipping Gatorade. “Everything? Like everything, everything?” He seems stunned.
“Let’s get to the hotel and I’ll explain,” Gabe suggests. “Did you check bags?”
Matt nods. “One. We didn’t want to, but you said a couple weeks, so we compromised.”
“We don’t have any gear, though,” Ian complains. “You know we can’t keep it at school.”
I think about the stuff that’s in Connor’s kit.
When he pulled it out this morning and showed me, I was…
surprised. Aside from the sword and an assortment of knives in different sizes and styles, it mostly seems to consist of packets and bottles of herbs and herbal solutions.
And salt… lots of salt. There were some crystals, which he informed me were quartz, and a couple of water pistols.
The cheap plastic kind you can get at the dollar store.
I can guess why they wouldn’t be able to have bladed weapons at school, but the rest?
Gabe seems to guess what I’m thinking, or maybe I’m just really bad at controlling my facial expressions.
“It’s a rule the Collective came up with about fifty years ago, when herbal remedies were being given the side-eye,” he explains.
“Anyone who goes to college has to be careful not to expose us, and that includes not having a kit that might attract attention.”
I nod. “Makes sense. They can probably revisit it now, though.”
“There’s a lot of things they need to revisit,” he mutters.
Ian caps the bottle and shoves it in the bag with the rest of the Saltines.
“Okay, I’m good. Let’s go.” Now that he no longer looks like he’s at death’s door, I can see the resemblance to Connor.
Ian has no visible tattoos, unlike his older brother, and his face is more open and friendly, but hair, eyes, bone structure…
they’re definitely brothers. “Come on. I don’t have time to waste just hanging out in a fucking airport. ”
Yep. Definitely brothers.
“No, I think there’s been a mix-up,” Gabe says politely. “There should be three rooms.”
“I’m sorry, sir,” the receptionist replies, equally politely. “The reservation only has two.”
Frowning, Gabe looks down at his phone, swipes, and sighs. “You’re right, I’m so sorry. My friend must have made a mistake. We need three rooms, though, so could we add one, please?”
With a regretful smile, she shakes her head. “I’m afraid we’re fully booked tonight. The only rooms I can offer you are the ones you’ve reserved.”
Well, fuck. Gabe doesn’t say anything for a moment, and I know he’s thinking the same thing I am. We don’t know each other that well. Sharing a room might be weird. Especially if he takes his shirt off and I have to pretend I’m not interested in staring at him like a creeper.
He half turns toward me and the boys. “Maybe we should see if we can find somewhere else.”
“What?” Ian whines. “Dude, no. It’s nearly midnight and I can still taste vomit. Why do you wanna drag us all over Chicago looking for a hotel when there are rooms right here?”
He’s got a point. Besides, it’s not like we have to hang out in the room or anything. We’re going to sleep. “It’s fine,” I murmur.
Gabe meets my gaze. “Yeah?”
I nod. “Sure. I sleep like the dead. The ones that aren’t ghosts, that is.” I wince as the receptionist gives me a startled look. Probably shouldn’t have said that.
Gabe turns back to get us checked in, distracting the receptionist, and Matt shakes his head pityingly at me. “Tom, buddy, no. We don’t make jokes like that around the norms. They think it’s weird.”
The… norms? “Yeah, it just kinda slipped out. I’m tired.
Connor smacked me with his sword today.” Even before the last word leaves my mouth, I know I’ve made a huge mistake.
Both boys dissolve into laughter. Matt actually bends over and braces his hands on his knees for balance.
Gabe and the receptionist glance over, and I shrug sheepishly. “Turns out I’m a funny guy?”
That just makes the boys laugh more. “Dude,” Ian says, wiping a tear from his eye, “thank you. That was…” He snickers. “Lucky for you I know exactly how dead Connor would be if Kieran caught him s-smacking…” He starts laughing again, unable to finish the sentence.
“Yeah, yeah.” I grin, glad they’re more relaxed with me now. “I’d never do that to Kieran. And no offense, but Connor’s not my type.”
“Why would we be offended by that?” Matt asks, finally straightening. His face is red from laughing so much. “He’s not our type either.”
Gabe thanks the receptionist and comes to join us. “Come on, we’re on the fourth floor.”
Grabbing his overnight bag, Matt says, “Maybe now we can finally get some answers.” He and Ian lead the way to the elevator.
“Sure,” Gabe promises. “Tom can get comfortable, and I’ll come to your room and expla—”
“Nope.” Ian stabs the button for the fourth floor, and the elevator doors close on the lobby. “Tom’s coming too.”
I blink. I am?
“He is?” Gabe echoes. “Why?”
“He knows everything, you said,” Matt reminds him. “He’s part of this. He came instead of Connor. So he gets to help you explain why you pulled us out of school and made us fly most of the way across the country, even though Ian is the worst person ever to put on a plane.”
“I am,” Ian agrees. “Tom’s one of us now. He’s seen me at my post-flight worst.”
“One of us,” Matt chants.
Gabe sighs for what must be the fiftieth time tonight, and mutters, “I don’t know what I did to deserve the last two days.”
The elevator stops, and as the boys crowd forward, I surreptitiously reach out and give Gabe’s hand a squeeze. His eyes shoot to my face. “It’s okay,” I say quietly. “It’s all going to be okay.” For a second, his expression is intensely vulnerable, and then he smiles gratefully.
“Thank you.”
Before I can say anything else, Matt calls, “Hurry up! What’s with you guys wanting to hang around in public places?”
Gabe looks up at the ceiling of the elevator. “I love them. I really do. I love them both so much.”
Chuckling, I take his arm and guide him to the hall. “Come on.”
We find the first room and Gabe lets us in. The boys dump their bags, and Ian flops onto the king bed while Matt goes to explore the minibar.
“Do not eat anything from there,” Gabe orders Matt, though he’s frowning at Ian. Or maybe the bed. Hopefully our room will have two queens.
“But I’m hungry,” his brother whines.
“Eat the rest of Ian’s Saltines. I know you ate on the plane; I saw the charge on my credit card.”
Matt pouts, and Gabe’s expression softens. “We’ll get breakfast and stock up at the hotel market before we leave so you can have car snacks.”
The drive’s not that long, but from the way both boys cheer up, car snacks are essential.
“Okay.” Ian sits up and leans against the headboard. “Time for that long story.” Matt joins him on the bed, sitting cross-legged, and Gabe grabs the desk chair and turns it to face them. That leaves me with the armchair by the window, and I’m not mad to be out of the eye contact zone.
“Did Connor tell you about Skye’s encounter with an adiut spirit a month ago?” Gabe begins, and both boys shake their heads. “Okay then…” He launches into the story, including details I didn’t know because it’s only been a day since I found out any of this.
When he reaches the part about me driving up to the estate with a higher demon in my passenger seat, Matt breathes, “What the fuck?” and turns an awed gaze on me. “Mad respect, dude.”
“Thanks. I didn’t know what he was,” I add.
“Yeah, but this was yesterday, right? And now you’re here and not hiding under your bed all freaked out. I thought you must have known about the otherworld for months or something.”
I hesitate, because under ordinary circumstances, that might have been what happened. But I don’t have time to freak out right now, not when I’m needed to save the world.
God, that’s a fucked-up TV show kind of sentence.
“Let Gabe finish,” I say.
Gabe hesitates. “Connor wanted to be here for this, but… Anyway. The demon in Tom’s car was the same one who nearly killed Con all those years ago.”
Ian’s face goes dead white, and Matt wordlessly scrambles closer and grabs his friend’s hand.
Gabe eyes them closely, but doesn’t move, giving them space to process the news, and continues the story.
When he gets to the part about the list of names and who’s on it, Matt squeezes his eyes shut tight.
“I was really hoping there was another reason,” Ian says, his voice a little hoarse. “Not this. How could they?”
I huddle in my chair, wishing I was anywhere else. This is such a private moment.
“We don’t know,” Gabe says honestly. “I don’t want to believe it’s true, but…”
Matt takes a deep breath. “Yeah. Okay. So… what’s the plan?”
“We’re still working it out. Tomorrow we’ll go back to the estate and hopefully someone has a brainwave.” He pauses. “Marc’s going to be coming and going. Con and I want you both to stay away from him.”
Ian snorts. “Trust me, he’s not high on my list of potential besties.”