“What if I went to Shade Academy and tried to walk inside and see his dad? Think that would bring him out?” I mused.
Drea face-palmed herself and pointed to the tub. “He’s probably unconscious somewhere healing from wounds. That’s a lot of blood.”
Crap, she was right, but I still had to try. I glanced at all the red in the tub. I wanted to lie to myself and say that blood probably wasn’t his, but if Gage was hurt, then all the more reason to try and find him. “I’ll just get close to Shade Academy, but I won’t go inside.”
“Yeah, you can’t go inside. You’re a Lumen now remember? The wards would eat you alive,” Drea added.
Right. Another element of danger. That was good. If Gage was watching over me and able, then surely he would intervene.
“It’s worth a shot.” I moved to go to the front door and Drea snaked her arm out and stopped me.
When I looked into her brown eyes, I saw compassion there. “Tatum, I care about Gage, I really do. And I want him safely back with us, but not at the expense of your life. If he doesn’t show up, we’ll drop this and let him come home when he’s ready. Agreed?”
I swallowed hard. Drop looking for Gage? After knowing he was possibly hurt because he jumped in front of a hellhound for me? No way. I knew Drea was just trying to protect me, but I couldn’t give up on Gage. No matter how stupid that note was and his decision to leave.
I flicked my gaze back to the bathtub and all the blood there.
“Okay,” I lied to her for the second time today.
I couldn’t stop looking for him. Just like if Drea were in this situation, I wouldn’t stop looking for her. I was going to find him, even if only to smack him in his beautiful face and tell him he could never kiss me again as punishment for leaving me and basically breaking up with me on a piece of paper.
* * *
“This is crazy.Youare crazy,” Drea repeated for the tenth time as we rounded the corner to Shade Academy. I eyed each passerby, searching for Gage or anyone wearing a hat and hoodie and looking like they were trying to go incognito.
I stopped at the gelato cart that Gage and his buddies had once been at and absentmindedly ordered a scoop of chocolate.
Pulling out my phone, I texted Indigo.
Me:You okay from last night?
Her reply was immediate.
Indigo:Yeah, but can’t talk to you anymore. Delete my number. I’m blocking you. For your own good. Bye, friend.
It was like a shot to the chest. First Gage and now Indigo.
Me:Wait, have you heard from Gage?
I shot a text back quickly, but no reply came. Tears welled in my eyes, but I sucked those little weak droplets back and then growled.
“Whoa. What’s going on?” Drea asked, and I handed her my phone.
Indigo was a friend, something I’d never had a large supply of, and her abrupt cutoff hurt. Bad. Even though she’d said she was doing this for my own good, I still couldn’t numb the sting of her blocking my number.
Drea frowned and handed me my phone. “I’m sorry. We should go now.”
The gelato cart guy handed me my scoop and I paid him, scowling at the black skyscraper before me.
Stupid academy for glorified demon security guards!
This plan wasn’t working. Gage hadn’t appeared like I’d hoped, and now I didn’t know what to do next.
Maybe he was fine. He was a badass with his sword and he’d cut that hellhound to pieces. The blood on his clothes was probably from the hellhound. After he’d gotten that master Lumen to fly me to safety, he probably went to his place in Long Island to clean up and then left town to go find himself, or whatever his early quarter-life crisis entailed. Maybe he wasn’t following me like I thought. Maybe he’d happened on me falling out the window by chance as he was leaving town…
But the blood… the fur…thatwas real. Dash leaving town abruptly was real too and didn’t make a lick of sense after he’d divulged he would never go back to LA. Or maybe the problem was just that I wasn’t in enough danger? If Gage was looking after me like I’d hoped, maybe I needed to up the ante.
“How close can I get without getting zapped by the wards or whatever?” I asked Drea.
