My whole body tenses, threatening to burst apart at the seams. Every muscle aches with the behemoth effort of holding myself together. Shrugging, a weird noise is the only answer I can give my sister.
“They won’t let him in. He’s not family.”
“¡Puta madre!”Her eyes flare, hotter than the sun. I know that look. She’s going to scorch the damn earth until someone gives her the information she needs, and I bet she won’t so much as break a nail while she does it. I’m pretty sure she has a titanium rod where her spine should be.
“Let’s go.” She turns toward the door, pausing I guess when none of us make a move. “What is it?” She eyes me, waiting for an answer as to why there isn’t an Apollo-shaped hole in the wall from me trying to find out about my girl.
Tears burn then trickle down my face. I can’t form the words to enunciate the grief rattling at the back of my throat. I should be stronger than this. I should be able to straighten my spine and go find out what I need to know, but I’m paralyzed.
What if the answers that lie outside that door are answers I’m not ready to hear? What if I don’t get to share the discovery of my heart with the woman I love? What if I never hear her laugh again? Or see that single brow raised in exasperation at my grouchy ass?
What if she never even speaks again? Can I live for the rest of my life without ever hearing her voice?
Athena marches toward me, an accomplishment in itself considering I’m only a few feet away from her, but she’s most definitely marching. She grasps me by both shoulders and squeezes while she shakes. Don’t these people know I fucking hurt all over?
“Shelve it.”
I open my mouth, but she glowers so hard my mouth snaps shut.
“I know you’ve had a traumatic experience, and you’re sore, and tired, and scared, but right now...” She swallows.“Lo siento, hermanito. But this isn’t about you. You love her, right?”
Fuck’s sake. Did everyone know but me? I nod, mute.
“Then you’ve got to step up. I know you’re falling apart inside. I know it’s scary and consuming, but you’ve got to stand up straight, loosen your jaw, and walk out there like you own this place. You need to tell them youareher family, convince them, and then go to her. You need to sit with her and hold her hand through whatever shit storm she’s facingbecauseyou love her.”
I don’t know where I was on the day they handed out strength to my siblings, but I seem to have been at the bottom of the pecking order. Chin still trembling, hands still flexing by my sides, I follow my sister out into the corridor, not really ready to ride into whatever war I need to so I can lay eyes on Edith.
Athena’s right. I can’t fight a battle I can’t see. So I walk right up to the nurse’s station, give Nurse Ratched my most charming smile, and ask, once again, about my girl.
CHAPTER4
Edith
Ican’t open my mouth.
My lips are stuck together, and my mouth is so dry I’m scared if I force it open, my face might crack and break into millions of pieces.
A ringing sound invades, sending a dull ache thrumming through my body, and without opening my eyes I can tell I’m in a hospital from the scent. That freakishly clean, bordering on death smell that lingers in the air.
Panic snakes up my spine as I try to remember what happened, what brought me here. I was in the car with Apollo, dangling upside down, fire raging through my muscles, and someone screaming.
Was that me? Is that why my throat is so raw?
I try to clear my throat, but a groan comes out instead.
“Edith?”
My body relaxes into the sound of Apollo’s pained voice saying my name.
Apollo. Did he tell me he loved me? I could have sworn he told me he loved me. There’s more chance of an alien invasion than my best friend saying the L-word.
He says it sometimes, but it’s always followed by “butt face.”
Or in a sibling love kind of way. But the way he said it in my dream, that was... it was... definitelymore.Has to be the drugs, though from the pounding behind my eyes they may be wearing off.
I struggle to open my eyes but it’s so cozy here in the quiet darkness.
“It’s okay,princesa. Sueña.”
