Page 132 of Somnium

Her brows pinched together, and she wondered if Kai had already started trying to flood the place. A small pit began to take shape in her stomach at the thought of Elias in the middle of all that chaos.

“He’s gonna be fine, right?” she muttered, turning to look down at Cuba. The dog lifted her head and let out a small whine.

“That’s not helping,” Cadi said, but Cuba just scooted closer, stretching forward to lick Cadi’s hand.

A faint buzz drew her attention to where her phone lay next to her on the couch cushion, and every muscle in her body pulled taut as she stared at the illuminated screen.

No one should be texting her right now.

Her stomach dipped when she saw Elias’s name appear. She sat forward, earning an irritated grumble from Cuba, but she didn’t care. Tapping the message alert with shaking hands, her vision began to tunnel as she read.

“Something is wrong. Sera needs you at the temple. Now.”

What? No, he—this didn’t make any sense.

Her pulse thundered in her ears as she scrambled to type out a reply.

“Gah!” she cried when she mistyped the same word for the fifth time, then tapped the phone icon next to his name to call him instead. The line didn’t even ring before his voicemail kicked on.

“Fuck,” she swore as she pushed up from the couch and began to pace in front of the TV, a steady buzz growing beneath her skin. She tried Sera.

The sickening feeling in her gut grew with each ring that went unanswered, until⁠—

“Hey, you’ve reached Sera⁠—”

Cadi let out a ragged growl of frustration as she jammed her finger against the red button on her screen, then tried again. What the fuck was going on? This time, the line only rang twice before three beeps in her ear told her the call had been silenced.

“What the—no!” she yelled, threading her fingers into her hair.

None of this felt right. She was completely cut off. Why hadn’t she gotten Seth’s number? Or Kai’s? And now Sera might be in trouble.

Before she even realized she’d made up her mind, Cadi was moving. She stepped around the couch and reached for the spare set of keys next to the door, but her feet slammed to a stop when Cuba darted in front of her, blocking her path.

“Cuba, no I—this isn’t playtime,” she said as she reached for the knob. Cuba’s lips curled back, a low growl rumbling free. Cadi froze, her eyebrows shooting up. This dog seriously had her on fucking lockdown.

“Really?” she said, panic rising with every second she spent trapped in the apartment instead of on her way to the train station. Elias’s insistence on driving her everywhere had just gone from minor annoyance to massive fucking inconvenience. She pressed forward, took Cuba by the shoulders, and strained against her weight. But the dog didn’t fucking budge.

“Cuba, move! Mom is in trouble!”

Cuba just huffed at her.

Cadi took a step back, her throat constricting from all the emotions assaulting her all at once. She had to get out, had to get to Sera. If something had happened to her, if Oneirios⁠—

Cadi squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to think about that. She had to get to the temple, but first she had to get around this damn dog.

Pulling in a deep breath, she blew it out slowly, then let her shoulders relax as much as possible into what she hoped was a convincing posture of resignation.

“Okay, fine. You win,” she said as she slipped back around the couch to where Cuba had dropped her fox. It was a cruel trick, but she hadn’t given her much choice. Cadi pressed the squeaker embedded in the fox’s head, and hope surged at the way Cuba’s ears perked up, the little nub above her butt beginning to wiggle back and forth.

“Do you want this?” Cadi teased, swinging the toy back and forth. Cuba stood, her head following the smooth motion with a predatory focus that told Cadi she had the dog hooked. Pulling her arm back, she hurled the toy as hard and high as she could, sending it soaring over the metal railing of the upper level.

“Go get it!”

Cuba tore after the flying fox, and Cadi made her move, yanking open the door and dashing out into the hall before the dog had even made it to the top of the stairs.

Cuba’s panicked barks chased after her as she sprinted to the stairwell that would take her outside. The sound clawed at her heart, but she couldn’t sit back while her friend was in danger. She wouldn’t.

She wasn’t hiding anymore.