His words stung.
“That’s not true.“
“Isn’t it?” He stepped towards me. “The Troublesome Trio brought you with them to save you from being unable to help your cousin. Yuna saved you in the cemetery. I saved you at the warehouse. Do we even need to get into last night? But tell me again how it’s not true.” His eyes blazed challengingly.
I stared at him.
He was right. Everyone had been saving me. Even last night.
“Are they right, George?” His voice was quiet, and silky tails wrapped around us, enclosing us from my dream world. There had to be more than nine, with the way they wove together and interlocked to shut out everything else. The fur acted as a furry barricade between us and everything else and I could see nothing past the fluffy white. It would have been suffocating, if Merric hadn’t been in the furry prison with me.
“Are they right, when they tease you for your bad decisions and your lack of skill? You can read fortunes, only you don’t heed them. You found me, only you didn’t know how bad of an idea it was. You’re here, letting people care for you, and to what end? So you can let them down? So you can sit back and let them take care of things while you throw a tantrum in the woods?” he sneered the words and my stomach clenched.
“No I’m not–“
“So keep at it, George. They’re already discussing where to leave you so you’ll be safe. You can’t hear them, but I can. It’s been six days since you went missing, and you know they might not survive the night. But what do you care? They’ve saved you so many times….what’s a few times more?”
“I don’t want them to save me,” I breathed.
“Yes you do.”
“No I don’t!” I yelled, but I was in control of myself this time. “I’m not useless! I don’t need you all to save me anymore!” I grabbed one of his tails, throwing it off my waist as his grin widened.
“And you are going to help me! I won’t let you out of our deal, do you understand?” When his tails pulled back, I found that we were in my room, not the forest any longer.
“Then you better hurry up,” Merric advised. “Because you’re running out of time, and so are they.”
“I will find a way to help,” I promised.
His eyes glittered. “I suppose we shall see.”
He disappeared, just as my eyes opened and I sat up with a gasp.
I was in my bedroom. The sun shone bright through my window, painting bars of light on my bed and I looked around almost frantically.
Everything was exactly how I’d left it.
My thigh bag sat on the dresser, and my phone was plugged in beside my bed.
I grabbed it, swiping the screen to see my missed messages. Had they left me something? Anything, in case I woke up and wanted to come help?
Cian’s was at the top of the list, and it had just been sent to me a few hours ago.
Don’t worry about us. Just focus on feeling better. We can take care of this ourselves, and we’ll let you know when everything is done.
I’m sorry for putting you in danger.
The words burned me and I dropped my phone onto my bed. The crystals at the base of my bed winked in the sunlight, drawing my resigned gaze. He was gone. He didn’t trust me to help. None of them did.
Cian always made it so easy by saying things like that. He was giving me a way out, again, and made it seem like I wasn’t a part of this.
“Oh hey, you’re up.” Aveline stepped into the room, smiling. “I thought you’d sleep longer–“
“Where are Cian and the others?” I asked, looking up at her.
She hesitated. “They asked me not to tell you anything.”
My eyes narrowed. “What?”
“They aren’t mad, but after what happened they don’t want to put you in any more danger.”
“That’s not fair!” I stood up and grabbed my robe to tie around myself. I was still bloody and very much needed a shower.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s for the best,” Aveline hedged. “You uh, had a really bad few days.”
“And?” I snapped.
“And maybe this is more their level than yours.”
I stopped, turning to look at her slowly. She met my gaze levelly, unflinching. “You really think that?”
Aveline nodded. “Yeah, I do. Just let them handle it, and then we can all get together at Euphoric again.”
Looking in the mirror, I was shocked to see Merric in the corner, gazing at me curiously.
When I turned, however, there was no one there.
“You’re wrong,” I said at last, turning back to the mirror.
Merric smiled, then vanished.
She shrugged. “Wrong or not, I don’t know where they are. What are you going to do, drive around looking for them?”
I rolled my eyes, but didn’t answer. Hadn’t I walked around New Orleans looking for her when she was in trouble? Hadn’t I gone to a bayou with vampires to save her? What level had that been on? “I’m going to take a shower,” I announced at last.
She visibly relaxed. “Good. Okay. I’ll start making something to eat and we can watch something, okay?” When I didn’t answer, she prodded, “George?”
“Whatever.” That wasn’t okay. That was not what I’d be doing.
I needed a plan, and this time I was going to make sure that it didn’t end up backfiring in my face.
Chapter 27
I showered quickly, scrubbing blood and forest dirt from my body while my mind raced. Part of me whispered arguments; that Cian and the others would be fine. That they’d survived this long without me, so why did they need me now?
Perhaps that was true, but I wasn’t
