Chapter 49
Jahla sat there at her desk, not actually sure what she should do. Had…this been what that dream was about? The ticking clocks, followed by one going off?
The question was…had it been about Ollie finding out about Noble, or simply about her managing to ruin their friendship? Or was she just trying to use her stupid, meaningless dreams to pretend what had happened was inevitable, to take some of the guilt away from basically betraying her best friend?
Jahla brushed a tear away before flopping down onto her desk, groaning, “Fuck.” Only to quickly jump back up at the sound of footsteps. When she spotted Ollie, she blurted, “Ollie, I’m sorry—”
“Save it!” the man snapped, his expression closed off and empty as he marched past, fully dressed and seemingly dry, aside from his hair, a messenger bag across his chest.
“Where are you going?!” Jahla cried out as he headed for the front stairs.
She took a step after him, only to stop when Ollie hissed, “Don’t follow me!”
Sagging a bit, she tiredly sat back in her desk chair.
Red, who had been quiet the whole time, softly murmured, “He just needs time.”
“Yeah, well, until he’s ready to talk, he is going to keep thinking horrible things about himself. Because he has self-esteem issues, as that bastard Rowden should never have been given a child to raise in the first place!”
Jahla just wanted…to tell him he wasn’t useless.
That her not telling him had nothing to do with something he was lacking, and more to do with her not wanting to see him cry.
She wanted him to come back here and let her hug him, to help build him back up.
Jahla also wanted to punch Rowden in the motherfucking face.
Because he was the one who’d ingrained so much negative self-image into the redhead.
Having done so long before Jahla had ever met the man.
Swallowing, she angrily rubbed away another tear as it broke free, before looking to Red and starting to ask, “Should we—” But Jahla cut off, jerking in shock as she was suddenly no longer in the library, but somewhere outside in the city.
Red’s eyes widened as Jahla went rigid, her eyes dulling and becoming slightly glazed. He had seen the look far too many times to mistake it for anything other than what it was—a vision.
Jahla remained quiet for a moment, her face blank, clearly no longer there with him. Then suddenly, as her eyes returned to normal, she screamed, “OLLIE!” Giving her head a shake, she stood up with a look of sheer panic as she gasped, “We…we need to find him!”
“What did you see?” Red demanded.
“Ollie, h-he…” she whimpered, before blurting out, “NOBLE! I need to call Noble!”
His tears having finally stopped, Ollie took a deep breath, and just kept driving forward. As that was all he could do.
He had this. He didn’t need anyone. He never had anyone anyway.
Honestly, Ollie never really even had his godfather.
Red had been there, but he had been keeping things from him from the very first moment they met, and then it was just one lie after another.
His best friend had also lied to him. And his boyfriend…
He supposed the whole ‘boyfriend’ thing was just made up. Ollie’s bottom lip wobbled as he held back the tears that tried to rush forward. Sniffling, he took another deep breath.
Had… Had any of it been…real? Probably not…right? Ollie roughly wiped a tear away when one broke free.
Whatever…it was…whatever. It was fine. So he had no one? No big deal. Ollie was used to being alone. And yes, he may not have anyone, but what he did have was…ghosts, and ghost-like things, who he could help. That was something, at least.
So that was what he’d focus on. He would do the only thing he could that made him feel wanted and helpful. And like, he had the potions, and the spell was simple… So what if cluster ghosts, even just as a concept, were scary, and in reality, were possibly much worse? He could do this… Maybe.
No—he had this. He’d do it all on his own, and show everyone that he wasn’t useless… He wasn’t…
Ollie sniffled and wiped at his eyes again.