“What took you so long to get here?” I asked the Psycho, as my Treasure called him.
“I had people to see and torture to inflict.” He grabbed a sandwich and stuffed it into his mouth, almost swallowing it whole, not bothering to clean the dried blood from his hands first.
“Fuck, Nathan, what kind of mess do I have to clean up now?” Oren dragged a hand through his hair.
“Why do you give a shit? All that should matter is getting my Nexi back!” He slapped both hands down hard in front of Oren.
“I care because we need the help of some of the families you're pissing off!” Oren yelled. “Don’t you think I want to go on a fucking killing spree too? I hate every single motherfucker that even looked at Reverie wrong, but I know it’s going to take more than just the five of us to get her back.”
I frowned at Nathan, “And she’s not justyourNexi. We all belong to her. You tend to forget that.”
“Fuck…fine, she belongs to all of us.” He directed at me, then scowled at Oren. “I’ll try to hold back, but when she returns, I’m going to make sure that none of the people who even caused her the slightest inconvenience still draw breath.” He grabbedanother sandwich, then found the bottle of whiskey Zane had drunk from and poured himself a shot.
“I truly hope you mean that. I could use the extra time spent trying to get you out of trouble to recover our Nexus." Oren stood, grabbed another glass from the cabinet, and motioned for Nathan to fill it.
Zane came down the stairs and grabbed the bottle, just as Nathan finished pouring Oren a shot.
Nathan roughly slapped him on the back and clinked his glass to the bottle. “To the silence after the screams.”
Those two had become closer since Reverie had been taken. It didn’t surprise me; both of them were more than a little crazy and had become more so over the last few months.
Oren followed with, “To mercy… may it die screaming.” He threw his shot back.
“So, what’s the plan, Boss?” Zane grabbed two sandwiches at once and began eating.
I was glad to see it after all the whiskey he’d consumed. It took a tremendous amount of alcohol to affect an Aurathion, so he wasn’t in danger of getting drunk. For me, it was knowing he was on the edge and in danger of falling. I needed him—no, I neededallof them—to be whole when we found our Nexus. I was going to take it upon myself to make sure it was so.
“Let’s wait for Jet and Deshawn to arrive, then we’ll sort it out. I want to find out what his contact has planned and see if it will benefit us,” Oren ran a hand through his hair and sat back down, the mantle of leadership heavy on his shoulders.
I nodded, recognizing the importance of that. I understood that Oren was barely holding on, just like all of us. His family’s involvement with Reverie’s disappearance must have been tearing him apart, but he refused to let it stop him. In fact, it seemed to drive him—sometimes he wouldn’t get home until early morning and would sleep on the couch in his clothes,working nonstop to get our Nexus back. I knew he had contacts with the resistance in Aurathia, but he kept his information tight—knowing there were many ears in the academy that would kill for it.
Before I could reply, Jet and Deshawn walked in with Chloe and Oliver following right behind. Jet had a thunderous look on his face.
“What the fuck has happened now?” Nathan asked Jet, already scowling in preparation for his answer.
“The damn council has decided to use someone more experienced in Aurathion culture to represent them with the humans,” Chloe spoke up before Jet could.
“Why the fuck would they do that?” Oren stood and began pacing.
“That’s what I was going to ask you.” Jet plopped into Oren’s chair and began stuffing a sandwich into his mouth.
I’m glad I made them. Apparently, everyone was starving to death.
Oren kept pacing and muttering to himself. By now, we all knew his routine and understood it could take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours before he decided to involve us. We usually remained patient with him because we’d come to understand that he was a genius at the workings of the council and the other leaders of the Aurathion people.
“La’u alofagia, can I get you a sandwich? You haven’t eaten at all today.” Oliver began fixing a plate, not waiting for her answer.
Even in the midst of my personal heartache, it was truly a wonder to see my sister cared for with such love. She was almost as devastated as we were and sometimes forgot to take care of herself. Oliver had been a big help to us in our search for Reverie, but his first responsibility was to his Nexus, as it should be.
And yes, we knew she was Nexus now because everyone, except Chloe, acknowledged that Deshawn was hers too. She was denying it because I believed, subconsciously, that she wouldn’t allow herself to take that step without Reverie here.
Oren had been sending her out to the war-torn cities and towns to help with the recovery effort. It was just one of the ways we tried to keep her busy and away from the majority of the fighting.
Chloe took a seat next to Jet. “I’m not really hungry.”
“Hungry or not, you need to eat.” Deshawn sauntered over, standing so close to her that his chest was touching her back.
Deshawn wasn’t willing to wait. He was getting impatient for Chloe to admit who he was to her. The poor guy had been through a lot, discovering he was Aurathion the way he did.
