Men.
“So he couldn’t tell the Council where we found Renee,” I answered, pissed she’d risked Bryan’s mental state to protect her coven.
“Bry wouldn’t give them up.” Clay gave a single nod at him. “Would you?”
He hid his gaze by dropping his head. His shoulders sagged as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “They were threatening to send my mom to Carcerem. If it came down to giving up their location or her going to prison, you’re damn right I’d give them up.”
No one said anything. No one had to. It was an impossible choice.
9
Being a fugitive and on the run wasn’t nearly as glamourous as the movies made it out to be.
It’d been one full week since I told off the Council, and it still felt great to no longer have to deal with Virgil Graves and his merry band of dark elementals that’d taken over the governing body.
But it totally and completely sucked not being able to see my guys every day. After bringing Bryan back from the void, I had no choice but to leave them before the invisibility spell wore off and the Council found them with me. It was me they wanted, not them. If we all went on the run, there’d be no one left to fight the dark elementals closing in.
So, reluctantly, we’d agreed to break up.
At least that was the rumor.
No way would I ever be able to truly break up with my guys. Not only were we bonded by more than the wards, we were connected mind, body, and soul. I couldn’t separate from them any more than I could separate from my own self.
We had to make the Council believe we were no longer together, or they’d never trust any of the guys. As it was, they probably didn’t trust them now. At least with us breaking up, that just might give them an in. Exes, especially bitter exes, were usually the first to sling shit over the fence to clean their own yard. They’d give up intel on their exes in a heartbeat to make them suffer.
That was exactly what we counted on.
Clay needed to remain at the academy and cozy up to Alec to get the dark elemental to reveal his end game to him. It had to be more than becoming the new headmaster at Clearwater. That wasn’t nearly important enough for Alec. He believed himself to be the supreme elemental, which meant he’d be after something supreme. The headmaster position was small potatoes. He had to be planning something bigger, and it was Clay’s job to find out what.
Rob and Leo would stay with the Council, patrol the academy grounds and protect the students, and do whatever they could to buddy up with those closest to Graves. Rob, as much as he didn’t want to, had agreed to make nice with Vanessa. Just not too nice.
Bryan refused to leave my side, despite how much I’d tried to convince him otherwise. Syd wouldn’t let anything happen to Rose, and we both knew that. If Bryan had stayed behind, the Council would never leave them alone. The best way to protect her was to go on the run with me.
Now here we were, staying in a dive motel under fake names as we contemplated our next move. Each day, we tried finding Renee’s coven again. Stace had to be with them. If we could just convince them to join us in our fight against the Council, we might stand a chance. After seeing what they’d done to Stace, surely Renee would have a change of heart. And each day, we came back to the motel emptyhanded.
It was time to come up with a plan B.
If only I could talk to Cressida. She’d know what to do. But, alas, she was back at the academy—correction, she was the academy—which made her off-limits. In the course of a week, I’d lost my mentor, my confidante, my title, my employment, and my place on the school’s roster. To say I felt defeated would be an understatement.
“Hungry?” Bryan held up the box of day-old pizza. I shook my head and went back to feeling sorry for myself. “Yeah, I don’t think I can take another day of stale pizza either.”
We sat at the small table, staring at the fake wood surface. I’d missed posting this week’s webisode with no sketch pad, no computer, and no internet. Would I ever be able to post another? Would my webcomic die now that I was on the run? If I posted, the Council would be able to trace the IP address back to my location. I’d have to piggyback on hotspots across the island to stay hidden. Was it worth it? Was posting Amethyst and Onyx’s latest battle worth the risk of getting caught? Maybe it was time to hang up my sketch pad.
I’d already been forced to carry a burner since I had to destroy my phone, which was wildly inconvenient. Who memorized all the contacts in their phone? Then again, who actually contacted all the contacts in their phone?
“Maybe we should try to find the coven again,” Bryan offered, his voice full of hope. He was just as bored as I was.
“It’s better than sitting around here waiting for the Council to raid the room. You do realize being on the run with me makes you a fugitive too, right? All those years walking the line, never stepping one foot out of place, avoiding all things dark… All that was for nothing. Siding with me blew that right out of the water. I’ve been labeled dark, an enemy of the Council, which makes you guilty by association.” And it weighed on me every second of every minute of every hour. “You know, there’s still time for you to go back. You can tell them I took you against your will, that you were my hostage.”
He reached across the table and took
