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“What if Cort is staying with me?”
“Cort, any experience using a gun?”
Grey could feel the therapist flinch next to him, and Grey squeezed his hand in support. “Unfortunately not.”
“Nothing wrong with that. If you’re willing, I’d like you to get some training in with Dane or Baer. They’ve spent time on the range and been hunting. They can get you comfortable with a gun at least.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.”
Grey slid his free hand up Cort’s arm and across his shoulder, following his body up to his chin rather than risking poking him in the eye. The touch was enough to get Cort to look at him in the face. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I don’t like the idea of shooting anyone, but I know I won’t be able to sleep at night if I don’t know how to protect us both.”
Grey wasn’t thrilled either, but he knew his limitations. He would have preferred to protect Cort, but right now, that wasn’t an option for him.
“All right, then. Let’s cast this spell,” Clay declared.
“I’ll grab the spell book.” Wiley’s voice was full of excitement. There was a thunder of quick footsteps as he ran through the house toward the main staircase. Last he’d heard, most of the spell books were being kept in Wiley’s office next to his and Baer’s bedroom. The artist was splitting his time between working on comic books as his day job and poring through the spell books for ways to give the Circle an advantage over the pestilents.
“Flo and I will come with you. We won’t be able to do much,” Jo said.
“But I think we can strengthen your spell a little, give you a little more range at least,” Flo added.
With Cort’s help, Grey walked with the rest of the Circle out to the front of the house. Wiley rejoined them a minute later and quickly spaced them out before teaching them the words of the spell. He might have felt a little silly, but considering that he’d actually managed to work a simple protection spell in the last battle, he couldn’t deny that this magic shit was real.
After a couple of practice rounds, Wiley had them attempt it for real. And it didn’t work. The aunts added some more instructions. They had Cort move out of the spell circle. Then back in.
Six freaking tries, but they finally got it.
Cort even tested it to prove that it worked. The ringing in Grey’s head wasn’t insanely loud, but it would surely wake him from a dead sleep if someone stepped onto the property, and it dissipated after about a minute. There would be no mistaking it.
Grey swayed a little on his feet. He felt absolutely drained. As if someone had plunged a straw into his chest and sucked out all the energy. Cort’s wonderful scent washed over him a second before the tall man wrapped a supportive arm around his waist.
“You okay?” Cort asked.
He slowly nodded. “Yeah. Just feeling really tired all of a sudden.”
“Don’t worry about it. Everyone looks like that. The spell seems to have taken a lot out of everyone. And I’m not seeing those goddesses around.”
“Yeah, they tend to come and go pretty quickly.”
“Like disappearing into thin air quickly?”
“Yeah, definitely. Were Dane and Wiley able to help?”
“Yep. Though Clay looks like he’s about to toss Dane over his shoulder and carry him into the house.”
Grey could only huff a nearly silent laugh. He didn’t have the energy for more. Around him, he could hear his brothers murmuring that they planned to crash for a little while before working on the house. It couldn’t have been close to noon, but Grey was ready for a nap.
“Wanna take a nap with me?” Grey murmured.
Cort pressed his forehead to Grey’s temple. “That sounds like an excellent idea.”
While leaning against each other, they started back toward the house. Falling asleep with Cort beside him and waking to the man’s sweet voice sounded like heaven to Grey.I really hope the Soul Weaver didn’t betray us.…The stray thought stopped Grey cold. A chill swept over his flesh as if a bitter winter wind had slammed into him. His heart skipped and for a moment he couldn’t even breathe. He knew where the thought came from. He’d been in Clay’s head so many damn times over the past few months, he’d recognize Clay’s thoughts anywhere.
But this?
The Soul Weaver betrays us again.
How…how could he even think that? And again? Grey had never betrayed his brothers in the Circle. Clay thought he could possibly be a traitor.
“Grey? Are you okay?”
Grey forced himself to draw in a deep breath and nod. It didn’t help to get rid of the panic or pain those words caused, but he forced himself to give a weary smile. He didn’t know where Clay was. They were all so spread out that he couldn’t be sure that the Earth Weaver had gone into the house or if he could see Grey’s face. He didn’t want Clay to know he’d overheard his thoughts. At least not yet.
