I turned and gave her my back, not wanting her to see how much that had hurt. My vision of us reuniting, sharing a hug, and watching movies until two a.m. with Drea while we all ate pizza were completely gone. I was pretty sure at this point that in order to get her to help me defeat Apollyon I was going to have to beg Gage to pay her.
How depressing was that? My own sister wanted nothing to do with me.
Shaking off those thoughts, I took off, focusing on Dash instead. Within two minutes I was at the healing center.
Rose was behind the counter when I walked in and waved me back. “He’s in surgery.”
“Thanks,” I called to her as I jogged down the hall, thinking of how many times I’d been to this surgery center in the past few months. For Gran, for Skye, my mother. It was all so traumatizing.
Speaking of Skye, she popped right next to me as I had my hand on the door of the surgery ward.
“Dash has been injured—” I started and she nodded.
“I know. He’s going to be okay. I wanted you all to know that. It didn’t go deep enough to cause permanent damage. He’ll be stitched up with a cracked rib and back with you guys by tomorrow night.”
I sagged in relief. I don’t know how Skye knew this stuff but I’d learned to trust it. And for once one of her little premonitions had brought me comfort and not fear. “Thank you, Skye. I’ll go tell the others.”
She offered me a wan smile and inclined her head. “And then I need to take you to Avalon. You need to find Tartarus. Things are escalating.”
My stomach dropped. Escalating how? Did I want to know?
I didn’t want to go to Avalon to search for Tartarus, but I also didn’t want to shirk my responsibilities.
Duty called. I nodded and then walked into the room as Skye trailed behind me.
Drea was sobbing into Gage’s shoulder, and I rushed forward.
“Skye popped in. Dash is going to be totally fine. Stitched and a cracked rib. It looked worse than it actually was and he’ll be eating dinner with us by tomorrow night,” I said in a rush in an effort to not prolong Drea’s heartbreak.
She stopped crying immediately and sat up straight.
“Thank God,” she breathed, wiping away the tears from under her eyes.
Gage turned to me and reached out a hand. I stepped closer and let him pull me onto his lap. He was covered in Dash’s sticky blood but I didn’t care. I leaned into his touch and let him hold me. It felt so good to be held by him.
“You’re leaving now, aren’t you?” he asked.
I pulled back. “How did you know?”
He chuckled. “Skye shows up and you disappear.”
“That’s accurate,” Skye said from behind him, but I ignored her.
“I’ll come find you when I get back,” I leaned forward and whispered. “Movie night in your room. Dash won’t be there tonight.”
“Okay, I’m sitting right here.” Drea stood up from the bench and covered her ears, which caused me to burst out laughing.
When I looked down at Gage I expected to see him grinning, but instead he looked conflicted. My face fell and he must have noticed it because then he did smile, but it was fake.
“Or… not. I mean, you must be tired—”
He brought his fingers up to my lips to stop me. “There’snothingI want more than to be alone with you, Tate… but I’m worried I won’t be able to control my hellhound.”
Oh.Right. My father was pulling his strings. I almost forgot. My heart sank.
All I really wanted was a few steamy make out sessions with my sexy boyfriend, and now he was too scared to be alone with me? Were we ever going to just be a normal couple, or were seemingly insurmountable obstacles always going to stand in our way?
If I wasn’t depressed before, I was now.
