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“He’s speaking of the Fae.”
“Huh?” Parker said. “No, it’s not fairies. It’s like—”
“Yes,” Lucian said. “Shadowy figures who loom in your bedroom at night? Your body is completely paralyzed. All you can do is watch?”
“Yeah,” Parker said. “But it’s a chemical thing. Like your brain gets you halfway to a dream state and immobilizes your muscles. The problem is you’re still awake, so it lets you see into some version of reality you’re not supposed to see.”
“Yes,” Lucian said plainly.
Parker was looking at Lucian with the startled eyes of a conspiracy junkie who had never met somebody who tried to one-up his conspiracy with something even crazier. Lucian just looked deadly serious.
I covered my mouth, smiling a little. Knowing Lucian, he was either screwing with Parker, or I needed to add the existence of shadowy fae creatures to my growing list of “shit that isn’t supposed to be real but actually is real.”
I waited patiently while Parker grilled Lucian with questions, which Lucian answered. When the two of them were through, Lucian joined me on my walk to campus.
We didn’t talk for most of the walk to my morning classes. I’d learned not to really bother Lucian when he was in direct sunlight. Even being indoors when sun was filtering through windows was hard for him, I’d discovered. He wouldn’t answer any direct questions about it, but I was fairly sure it was getting harder for him every day, like he wasn’t able to completely recover from being in the sun because he was having to do it so much. Or maybe it was because he was having to steal little bits of sleep during my classes and on Anya’s couch while I fiddled with samples of my bond-rich blood.
He started walking more slowly when we were about two minutes away from reaching my building. Then he slumped, falling to one knee.
“Lucian?” I said, crouching beside him and putting my hands on his shoulders.
His head was hanging, and when I looked closer, I saw his skin looked blistered.
“Oh, God,” I whispered. “We need to get you out of the sun.”
I tried to tug on his arms, but he was heavy. Ridiculously heavy.
“Come on!” I hissed.
Lucian shook his head. He tried to say something, then winced in pain.
We had walked the back way through campus, which meant we were on a seldom used path that cut over a bridge and through some trees. I looked around for anyone who could help me drag him inside, but there was nobody.
Lucian was just grunting and breathing heavy, apparently unable to even speak.
I pulled out my phone and decided he could get pissed at me later, but I was calling in help. I sent a group text to Zack, Niles, Mooney, and Parker asking them to come as soon as they could and told them where to find us.
Zack and Mooney were already on campus and only a couple minutes away in the gym. I waited by Lucian’s side, trying to use my body to shield his face from the sun as he writhed, and the blisters grew redder and more numerous.
“Please hang on,” I said. “The guys are coming to help me move you.”
I got up a few times and uselessly tried to yank him toward a patch of shade that was only a short distance away, but he might as well have been solid stone for how much I could move him. All I accomplished was getting myself sweaty and out of breath and he hadn’t moved an inch.
Zack and Niles finally came pounding heavy-footed up the path toward us.
“What’s wrong with him?” Zack asked between heavy breaths.
“He needs to get inside,” I said.
Mooney and Zack could see that Lucian was in trouble, even if they didn’t have any idea why. They thankfully decided to hoist him up between themselves with Mooney taking his shoulders and Zack taking his legs. They jogged with him toward the closest building, drawing concerned looks from students on their way to class.
“This guy is fucking heavy,” Zack groaned as they backed their way through the doors leading inside to a long hallway lined with doors on one side and big windows on the other.
“Anything would be heavy with those twigs you call arms, bro,” Mooney laughed.
“He needs to be away from windows,” I said, trying a few doors until I found one that was unlocked. It thankfully opened to a dim, unoccupied lecture hall.
The boys put Lucian down, then stepped back to look at him. “Uh,” Zack said. “Is he allergic to sunlight or something?”
Lucian’s eyes were squeezed shut and his teeth were showing as he winced in pain. I cringed when I realized his canines were elongated. Shit.
I’d only seen him feed one time, and he’d seemed healthier and more energetic after he did. How long ago had that been?
