It was hard not to agree with her. Not because I wanted Harley to die, but because I just wanted Tate here with me so badly. But what was done was done, and Harley feeling worse than she already did wouldn’t help the situation.
I shook my head. “She wants you to live on. Have a happy life.”
Harley barked out a laugh and stood back up again. “I’m about as powerful as a chihuahua, Gage. There will be no happiness in my future.”
I frowned. “Don’t say that. There’s more to you than your powers. Tate wouldn’t want—”
The windows shook as a boom sounded outside and there was a flash of light from the garden. Harley’s eyes flew wide open.
What the…?
I was the first to the door, Harley right after me. Dash was already halfway down the hall.
We took the stairs two at a time as my mind reeled with what those booms could have been. Retaliation for the Shades losing their powers? Did they just bomb the school?
Or maybe, just maybe, it was something else. Something not so bad.
My heart was in my throat as we burst through the stairwell door that led out to the courtyard. Drea, Marlow, Indigo, and Jacob had come outside too. They were running, already halfway across the lawn. To be fair, Jacob was flying as his leg was still healing. I only found out later that he protected us from aerial attacks when we were fighting Apollyon, but he’d broken his leg falling from the sky when a level four demon clipped one of his wings.
The douche had done well during the battle, but I still didn’t like him.Much.
I scanned the lawn, looking for what might have made that noise, when my heart shuddered in my chest.
Aurum stood on the school lawn and draped across his back was Tate.
“Tatum!” Harley screamed, and then everything was a blur.
I snapped my wings out and took flight and within seconds I landed in front of Aurum. Tate was lying limp over his back with her blonde hair covering her face, and I couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not.
“Is she?” I croaked, unable to say the words.
“She’s alive, but unconscious,” Aurum said. “She’ll need some time to integrate her soul back into her body.”
Alive. He said alive.
Relief crashed into me and I lurched forward, growling at Drea and Harley, who tried to reach for her.
She was mine. I wasn’t letting her out of my sight until she woke up and told me she was okay. With one swift movement, I scooped her into my arms and cradled her to me. Her head flopped against my shoulder like a rag doll, but now that she was close I could see the steady rise and fall of her chest.
I’d always considered myself a pretty tough guy, but I nearly broke down right there, having to take three deep breaths to keep my composure. Aurelia and some of the other Lumens had filtered out onto the lawn of the courtyard, and they all looked at us in shock.
“Thank you. I’ll never forget this,” I told Aurum.
He nodded and movement to my right grabbed my attention: Tate’s mom and gran were rushing toward us.
“Is she…?” Tate’s gran asked, hand at her throat.
“She’s alive,” I said, and her mother’s knees buckled as she fell to the ground sobbing. Her gran looked shocked for a half of a second and then motioned me over. “Come, let’s get her in my bed.”
She needed rest. Hadn’t Aurum said that? Or did I make that up?
It was like I was experiencing everything in a fog. I was in shock.
The next few hours dragged by as Tate’s gran, Drea, her mother, Harley, Dash, Marlow, Jacob, and Indigo hovered around me and a sleeping Tate. Tate’s gran’s room was tiny. We were all packed in like sardines, watching Tate breathe.
Harley jolted a little and then rolled her eyes. “You scared me, dude,” she said to the wall.
I looked at her, confused.
