Both the nurse and healer gasped and then the healer looked down at Harley. “Must be a brain bleed. Let’s go.”
A whimper left my throat at the wordsbrain bleedjust as the front doors slammed opened. I glanced over my shoulder to see Drea and Gage step inside the healing center. His eyes locked with mine and he started toward me.
When I looked back, Dash was hot on the healers’ heels as they rushed Harley down the hall toward the OR.
An alarm started blaring through the speaker system.
“We are in full lockdown.” Aurelia’s voice boomed over the speakers. “Hunters, get your weapons and prepare for imminent attack. Children to the gymnasium.”
Holy crap.
All of this because of me and Harley. And we’d ripped Gage away from Apollyon and I was sure now he was extra pissed.
Gage slipped his hand into mine and I noticed that he was wearing a pair of low-slung sweats and no shirt. He’d wiped his face clean of blood and dirt, but his chest was still streaked with signs of battle from his day in the Netherworld.
“Come on, let’s watch her surgery from the viewing room,” Drea said. She started down the hall as the sirens blared Aurelia’s message on repeat.
Guilt wormed its way into my gut that the school was in imminent danger because Apollyon was coming for Harley and me.
As we booked it down the hall, I turned to Gage, his fingers still laced through mine. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I am but…” He shook his head. “I remember flashes this time.” He stopped, pulling me toward him before I could follow Drea into the viewing room. His eyes were wide. “Tate, he’s amassing an army.” He looked off into the distance, as if remembering something. “Apollyon… I was in his army. Thousands of hellhounds, demons, shadows…” He pinched the bridge of his nose and winced as if in pain.
Chills ran up my arms. “Okay, just take it easy. I’ll warn Aurelia.”
It was going to be the last thing she wanted to hear right now.
He nodded and then walked into the OR viewing room where Drea and Dash were already watching the healers work on Harley below.
“I said I’m fine!” I heard Harley snarl, and I joined everyone peering through the glass just in time to see Harley stand and then sway on her feet. The healer caught her and scowled down at her. “You need to rest. We just cauterized a brain hemorrhage with light.”
Harley frowned, and I walked over to the wall intercom that communicated with the healers below. Pushing the button, I moved my mouth closer to the speaker. “Harley James, you get back in that bed right this second.”
She crossed her arms and looked up at me with annoyance but complied. Stumbling back over to the bed, she sat down on it and then allowed the healers to lay her back. Both healers shared an irritated look and then went back to work, grasping the sides of her face as golden light arced and swirled around her.
Well, she was conscious and complaining so that was a good sign. If we hadn’t brought her here so quickly it might have been another story. Harley’s stubborn attitude was going to get her into trouble one day.
The alarm had stopped blaring, but every few minutes Aurelia’s message still sounded through the speakers.
With a sigh of relief, I walked over to Drea. “Should we go help your mom?”
I had a light weapon on me. If Apollyon was going to attack I wanted to be there to fight him. But I also wanted to run as far away from this place as possible so that I didn’t lead him right to all of the innocent souls here.
Drea chewed on her lip and glanced down at Harley, who was scowling at the ceiling as the healers finished working on her.
“If the healers say she can be moved, do you think we should all go and hide out somewhere?” she asked.
Relief washed over me. “You read my mind. If we aren’t here, Apollyon will move on to another place.”
She nodded curtly. “Come with me to tell my mom our idea,” she said. She looked over at Dash and Gage. “You two go pack a bag. Tell Marlow, Jacob, and Indigo to grab one too. We’re going on the run.”
Gage’s eyebrows shot up. “Where to?”
Drea shrugged. “I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out. Have Marlow pack a bag for me and Tatum. And ask Jacob to swing by Harley’s hotel room and grab her stuff and meet us in the courtyard.”
The two boys nodded and then Gage leaned forward and planted a kiss on my cheek. “I’ll meet you in ten minutes.”
I hated that we had to be apart after only just getting back together, but I knew this was for the best. I squeezed his hand and watched as he and Dash jogged out of the room and down the hallway.
