“To usher in a new reality for demigods and humans.” Adrian shakes his head. “The fates have watched over demigods for millennia and saw their cruelty. They watched the newer races of supernaturals and realized there was something they had that shaped them differently than us. Mates.”
“This is absolute insanity. They have been playing us the whole time so they can right their wrong? They are the literal fates. Couldn’t they just entwine some threads together and call it a day instead of orchestrating this absolute madness?” I throw my hands up.
“There’s nothing we can do about it now, love. Whatever motives they had are theirs we just have to endure.” Jayden squeezes my shoulder.
“I’m so tired of being forced to endure based on someone else’s whims.” I lean into Jayden’s side.
“We’re almost to the end. We must see it through,” Adrian says, cryptic as always.
Taking a deep breath, I nod and stand up. “Let’s do this. We don’t have time for the meltdown I am clearly about to have if we talk about this one more second.”
The healer hands me the medical bag we always take. It has everything we need for the trip. I glance inside and find what I’m looking for, pulling it out and raising a brow at the healer.
“Just in case he has another episode and you don’t want to stick your fingers in his mouth,” the healer says with a twinkle in his eyes.
“I was going to request one, thank you.” I drop it back in the bag.
Jayden grabs the bag from my hand and swings it over his shoulder. I glance over at Kira with a raised brow. She’s not looking at me. She’s frowning, searching for Draven.
“Where’s Draven?” she asks Adrian.
“He was going to the cafeteria to pick us up some breakfast maybe a half hour ago.” Adrian stands but sways slightly.
Jayden catches him before he topples over. He won’t be fighting anytime soon. Let’s just hope we have a couple of days’ travel before we have any real battles to face as a group.
“Thad,” Jayden calls. “Help me get him out of here.”
“Sure thing.” Thad walks over and loops Adrian’s arm around his neck and they practically carry the dizzy man from the healers’ office.
“I don’t like this,” I say. “He’s not in great shape. Maybe he should stay behind.”
“You heard what he told the healer, B. There will be dire consequences if he doesn’t go.” Raven shakes her head.
“What if something happens and he’s not at his best. He could get himself killed. I don’t want anyone’s death on my conscience, especially not one of my closest friends.”
“We’ll keep him out of the fighting unless absolutely necessary.” Raven squeezes my arm.
We push open the doors to the academic building, letting the warm sun beat down on us. I don’t think I’ll ever appreciate the warmth of the sun the way I did before Artemis was taken. Draven walks up from the cafeteria to us with several bags in his hands and a raised brow.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed, bro.” Draven eyes Adrian like he’s about to fall over.
“We need to leave sooner rather than later,” I say. “Adrian has to come with us.”
“Okay, I’m ready. Do we have a plan?” Draven glances around the group.
“Nope,” I say, popping thePat the end.
“Do we have a route?” he asks.
“That would be a negative.”
“What do we have?”
“We have a direction and destination, very little knowledge of what we are facing, and the possibility of getting lost in an alternate universe.” I shrug.
“Meh,” Raven says. “We’ve beaten worse odds.”
“Right, we have. We’ve got this.” I nod, clapping her on the back.
