A small eternity later, he pulls into the underground garage at Isla’s apartment. Without a word, he parks in her assigned spot, climbing out and slamming the door behind him with the obvious, unspoken expectation that we would all follow.
Once inside Isla’s apartment, his silence continues, a cold, ominous thing, like that feeling in the air before a blizzard. No one dares to speak a word, the relief of our safety being short-lived now that another threat lingered in the air.
I’m unsure if Eamon will follow through on all of his threats of bodily harm or if, since she’s fine, we might be allowed some small mercy. His eyes never leave Isla, and though he’s fuming, he seems to be watching her for any sign of injury that she’s attempting to hide.
I myself am surprised that she’s walking away without so much as a scratch. A few bruises, sure. A slight limp from tripping over some debris and stubbing the shit out of her toe, but nothing else. Personally, I feel like death warmed over.
“Sit,” the giant man orders. Each of us, even Isla, who shows no desire to listen, hastily obeys, all of us but Caspian plopping onto the couch. The only place he can comfortably be right now is sprawled on the floor, still stuck in his demon form. “I can’t fucking believe you three did this. I told you several times what would happen if you did something stupid.”
“I don’t remember doing anything stupid,” Isla examines her nails. “As I recall, we laid out a perfect plan and executed it flawlessly.”
Eamon’s face fills with surprise and outrage, “Are you fucking kidding me? You helped them let Caspian get captured in the first fucking place. Then youdidget Fritz killed and only by some fucking miracle was he able to come back. And all the while, you put yourself right where the Sanctum wanted you.”
“Wanted me?” she asks, “Why would they want me?”
“Because you are the oldest daughter in your family,” Fritz supplies.
Her eyes narrow in confusion, “What does that have to do with anything?”
Eamon groans, clearly frustrated with having to explain this to us like we’re all children, “If they get their hands on you, they are going to bleed you dry for the magic in your blood to power their weapons.”
“Oh. Well, they didn’t. They can’t. No harm done,” Isla’s flippant tone only seems to enrage Eamon further.
“No harm—no harm done?Isla, you just put an even bigger target on your back doing this. You’re insane. You all are fucking crazy. You have no sense of self-preservation, no common sense, no fucking idea the mess you’ve made.”
I feel like a naughty kid being scolded by a schoolteacher. It would appear that those around me feel the same. The only thing we can do is keep our mouths shut and hope that he’s done soon.
Except for Isla, obviously. She’s possibly more furious than Eamon, and if it weren’t for the way she’s clenching my hand to calm herself, she’d probably be screaming right back at him.
Eamon finally tears his eyes from her, meeting Fritz’s. “I should kill you. If you didn’t already die and come back once today, I would. But you already know what’s coming next, and you had better not interfere or I’ll make sure Caspian and Bel spend the rest of time tracking down the pieces of your body I scatter around the world. Got it?”
What’s coming next… What is he talking about?
“Got it,” Fritz replies, looking almost guiltily at Isla. “But let me be clear. I don’t regret what we did. We saved Cas and took out a whole bunch of those fuckers.”
Eamon rolls his eyes. “A drop in the ocean, Fritz. You did more harm than good. Now, I need you three,” he gestures at us, “To do what you need to do to get cleaned up, then you need to leave town the second the sun goes down. And never come back.”
I stammer out, “Never come back? But Isla-”
He holds up a palm, “Isla will be fine.I’llmake sure of it.”
“But-”
Fritz squeezes my other hand, drawing my attention to him, “It’s alright, Bel. Everything will be fine. Promise. She can still come see us at home. We just won’t be coming back here.”
“Okay,” I mumble, not really happy about this big-ass moose man telling me what to do. But I understand the threats we would face if we ever returned, and I know I’m already on thin ice with him, so I’ll do as I’m told. “Fine. Never coming back. Got it.”
“Good,” an infinitesimal amount of tension leaves his body as he looks back toward my currently irate best friend. “Isla, I’ll be back in a few hours. I have to go clean up your fucking mess.”
Within moments, he vanishes, walking into nothing, which is just as unnerving now as it was the first time I had to see it.
Once he’s gone, Isla stands and starts pacing, “What an asshole. What an absolute, condescending, bossy asshole!”
“Maybe you two should just fuck about it,” Fritz suggests. “It’ll probably help.”
“Never.” She points a finger at Fritz, causing him to flinch away, “I would never touch that arrogant bastard.”
“Right. Of course. Why would you?” he asks, nearly hiding behind me. “Anyway, how are we supposed to get Cas cleaned up? He’ll never fit in your shower like that.”
