Once he’d gone, I dropped my aura. “I need to go.”
“Gray.” Quentin caught my arm, looking pale. “Why couldn’t he read me?”
“I don’t know, Scott. I have to see Erik.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” I snapped. “Nothing’s wrong. Like I said, it’s probably a case of overexposure to all of us.”
I told her no more as I disappeared in black, straight to my brother.
“Erik!” I called out, appearing at his host's house.
“Gray?” Sloan asked, rocking Cato in her arms. Elva was there and looked alarmed at my sudden appearance.
“Where is he?” I asked.
“I’ll get him now. Is everything okay?”
All I could do was shake my head. In less than a second, Sloan disappeared and reappeared with Erik by her side.
“What’s wrong?” Erik asked me.
“Archer is hanging around her,” I told him. “He wants to know why we’re all so interested in her.”
“I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?” Erik asked.
“Archer thinks we’re protective of her. Thinks there must be something special about her we aren’t disclosing. He couldn’t read her today and he’s going to be like a dog with a bone.”
Elva spoke quietly, “Why do we need permission to read each other?”
“Because we’re divine,” Sloan answered.
“Her powers,” Erik muttered.
“No! No! She doesn’t have powers. This needs to stop!” I hissed, grabbing at my hair.
“She’s a demigoddess. She’s my blood. Of course, she has powers,” Elva told me seriously.
The stress continued to build, and there was a sharp pain in my chest that I tried to ignore.
“They might not be dormant anymore,” Sloan mused.
“She came to Elysia. It’s her home. It might have done something. We may not need to worry about him ever reading her,” Elva added.
“She didn’t make it into the pool,” I argued.
“She did. She just didn’t get very far.”
“What am I meant to do?” I couldn’t keep the desperation from my voice.
“Stay away from her,” Erik answered shortly.
“I’m not the problem here. Archer is.”
“Keep a ward on her,” Elva suggested.
“That won’t work. Archer’s interested in her because of how much Gray’s involved with her. He doesn’t know the full extent, but Gray’s interest has piqued his,” Sloan said.
