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Theo had been home for three days when the first knock startled him out of a fitful sleep. All sleep was fitful now. Just like all food tasted like dust and every day was an eternity of long, empty hours, during which he rehashed every way in which Phoebe had betrayed him.

He shuffled to the door, running a hand through his tangle of curls. A thick stubble coated his face, and the last time he had dared to look in the mirror, dark circles hung beneath his eyes. It pleased him that his outside looked as shitty as his insides felt.

He yanked open the door and found Ruby and his fucking brother Rafe standing on his doorstep.

He greeted them with a grunt and padded into the house. Rafe and Ruby followed him in uninvited.

“What?” he asked, when he turned to face them.

Ruby’s nose was wrinkled like she’d smelled something sour and Rafe’s gaze scanned the room, a crease forming between his brows. The room was dark. Theo hadn’t bothered opening the curtains in days. Clothes and empty food containers were scattered around the room. The room was stuffy and the air was stale.

“It’s disgusting in here,” Rafe said.

“Did you come by to comment on my housekeeping, or do you have an actual reason for being here?”

Rafe blew out a long breath.

“Be nice,” Ruby whispered, as though Theo couldn’t hear her.

“We were … worried about you.” Rafe managed to choke out, a look of extreme discomfort on his face.

“I’m fine.”

“You look like shit.”

“Rafe,” Ruby hissed.

He cleared his throat. “You don’t seem fine.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint everyone once again, but this is me being fine. So … you can get the fuck out now.”

Rafe glanced down at Ruby like he was running out of ideas.

“We just thought…” Ruby started. “We just thought maybe you might want to come into town with us. Come hang out at the bar or something.”

Theo huffed. The last thing he wanted was to be around people.

Ruby glanced at Rafe and then tried again. “Or we thought you might be with Fee⁠—”

“Don’t fucking say her name in this house,” he growled, and Rafe growled in return.

“Don’t fucking speak to Ruby that way.”

“Boys,” Ruby snapped. “Calm down.”

They both stopped, her tone too much like that of their mother to ignore it.

“Sorry,” Theo muttered.

“It’s okay. But really, Theo, what happened?”

“She betrayed me, that’s what happened. Lied to me.”

Ruby frowned.

“You should be mad at her, too!” Theo said, ignoring the words echoing through his head. “She lied to all of us. We could have found Lena a week earlier if she’d told us!” He was practically shouting now, but how did they not see it? Why were they not just as pissed as he was? Phoebe was a liar. She had made them all look like idiots, running around chasing Lena when she was hidden in plain sight.

“I was mad. At first,” Ruby told him, her face still filled with so much pity he wanted to scream. “But … I don’t know … maybe it was the right thing to do.”