“I’m not leaving you,” I said stubbornly, and he let out a sharp, joyless laugh.
“You don’t have to. I’ll do it for you,” he snapped, and then, he was gone.
After getting Luna and her mom set up with the supplies necessary to make the spell jars, I made my way back home.
As I approached my house, I frowned at the door to George’s house, which was hanging on its hinges.
Panicking that Shem and Gabe had been attacked, I gathered up as much magic as I could in my weakened state and crept up the front path, peering into the foyer.
The house was even more mangled than mine had been when my golems had been stolen.
Frowning, I stepped into the entryway, my feet crunching on broken glass and picture frames as I walked.
“Shem? Gabe?”
“In here.” Gabe’s broken voice floated from somewhere to my left, and I wandered into the living room to find him sitting alone on the couch.
He looked…devastated.
His auburn hair was a mess, and his shirt was ripped as if he’d gotten in a scuffle withsomeone.
“Whathappened?”I gaped, and he raised red-rimmed eyes to meet mine. I realized in shock that he had been crying.
This stoic, perpetually unbothered demon had beencrying,and he was sitting here in the dark, all alone.
Where was Shem?
“He left me,” Gabe croaked, answering my unspoken thoughts.
“Oh, sweetie…” I hummed, making my way to curl up next to him on the couch.
“Come here.”
I didn’t even know him like that, but it didn’t seem to matter; he curled into me and let out a choked sob, allowing me to gently comfort him while he cried.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?” I asked gently, and he shuddered but nodded.
“I guess it doesn’t matter now. He left.”
I pursed my lips.
“Tell me.”
“He wouldn’t talk to me about what happened to him, so I went to Raziel to get him to tell me.”
My eyebrows rose in shock, but I kept quiet.
“He showed me what he did to him. To Shemhazai.”
Gabe’s eyes were swimming with horror, and I suddenly didn’t even want to know.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
“It was bad.Reallybad. I think I crossed a line, sticking my nose in places it didn’t belong. Shemhazai feels like I betrayed him. He said he’d never forgive me for going there.”
“Hmm. That does sound bad.”
Gabe nodded.
