“Rune’s staying.”
“No, she isn’t.” I could only imagine he’d want to leave his Soul-hound with us to gather information. “She can come back later, but for now, I’d like time alone with my friend, please.”
The general held my gaze, something tightening in his face before he turned away. “Okay,” he said softly.
I stood there, stunned. He actually agreed. But why? Did my bloodshot eyes and puffy cheeks move him? I highly doubted that. He hated me—so then what?
I didn’t get a chance to ask. Oliver tugged me through the door, locked it, and then helped me to the settee.
“You’re unusually quiet,” I said.
He flopped next to me, picking up slices of dried meat leftover from earlier, and handed me a couple. “Your father is scary. Your mom is eating away at your energy. The general hates you. And now we’ve been signed up to train with both scary and pissy for the foreseeable future. It’s a lot to take in.”
I slumped deeper into the couch, munching on a piece of meat that tasted like salty mush. “That’s not all.”
Oliver snorted. “Why am I not surprised? What else is on Oli and Lucy’s shitstorm of a plate?”
“Lilith carved more Hell Runes on Aspen’s wrists,” I whispered, hating even voicing it aloud. The urge to help him and my mom pressed down on my chest, almost crushing me. Frustration pricked my eyes at the fact that we couldn’t. We were stuck, the general was an ass, and I was weak.
Oliver shoved another piece of meat into my hands and laid an arm over my shoulder. “We live fucked-up lives.”
I smiled a somewhat watery, defeated smile. “We do.”
“You want to save him, don’t you?”
My silence was answer enough. He already knew I did.
“I still don’t think he’s good for you, Lucy.”
“I don’t care.”
“It’ll be dangerous.”
“I know, Oli. So will finding your sister and killing Michael.”
He stilled. “Did you just give me a nickname?”
“You’ve been by my side all this time and nearly got shredded by ice to protect me. You never let me give up on my mom, nor did you leave me to save your sister when you could’ve. Oli, you’re the best brother I’ve never had.”
He smiled and pulled me into his skinny frame for a big hug. “And you’re the sister I’ve always wanted.”
I let myself smile into his chest, taking one moment in my brutal life to appreciate our friendship. Then Oliver, being Oliver, found myhead and gave me a good-natured noogie to finish off our sweet moment, and I laugh-cried as he did.
He wiped my cheeks. “I want to say it’ll all be okay, but I don’t know if it will be. But I’ll be here with you one way or the other, okay?”
I nodded, having no words.
“So what do we do first?”
We were in way over our heads. Munching on the meat and cheese plate, we mulled over our predicaments. Oliver was right. Everything we needed to do would be dangerous. Which meant the King of Hell was also right. I couldn’t go anywhere in this state. My mother continued to drain my energy to survive. My legs were twigs, and I needed to learn more about my powers. I didn’t want to stay here another second, but I also didn’t want to go out there and die the instant we faced anything.
“We need to train,” I said.
“Uh—”
I stopped his protest with a smack on his leg. “Your running stamina sucks, Oli. And who knows about your fighting skills?”
“Like hell. The only reason my stamina sucks is because I’m carting your ass around. And I’m a badass fighter.”
