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He strokes Maddy’s cheek, tracing the trail of her tears made through the dust on her skin, and she takes a deep breath and sighs. Even unconscious, she’s worried. It’s a sound he recognizes almost as easily in her as in himself now.
Now that the danger has passed, weariness pours through Caleb, and he’s not sure he’ll be able to carry Maddy into the now-conquered mansion. Still, he won’t let anyone do it. He takes her limp form into his arms as they arrive and carries her into the mansion.
The sun beats down overhead. It feels like it should be days after they portaled here, but by the position of the sun, it’s only been a few hours. A breeze blows through, pushing the earlier clouds aside. Even the spires on the mansion don’t look as menacing.
No one speaks, and the whole of the valley is silent. Order members gather the dead and move them into piles according to their associations. They may have won the battle, but it cost them all something. As Orion’s control ebbs, so many more will begin to wake up and find the mess of their lives left behind.
Much like Sylvan and his wife. They’ll all need more than a little help after they recover from their injuries. They all will.
Kenna joins him as Caleb walks into the mansion, carrying Maddy into the living room and carefully laying her on the couch. Caleb adjusts her positioning on the cushions and fusses with her clothes, but she doesn’t move other than her chest rising and falling in deep, even breaths.
“How did the battle go down here?” Caleb asks Kenna after he takes a seat on an upholstered cushion next to the couch. “It looks like we lost a lot of our people.”
Kenna grimaces. “The numbers are better than they could have been for as outnumbered as we were.”
Caleb doesn’t add anything else, but he already feels the deaths as wounds on his soul. Ones he’s not sure will ever heal. Moreover, he’s not sure theyshouldever heal. Those who made the ultimate sacrifice should be remembered forever.
Kenna takes a deep breath and sighs. “We were losing until Gabby and Colt arrived.”
“Gabby was the one who flew us up to the rocky outcropping.”
Gabby strolls into the living room with Colt trailing behind her, barely able to fit through the door frames with their wings.
“We made it to the other side,” Gabby says. “Didn’t we?”
Caleb nods, and he’s not sure he can maintain his composure and answer her. She points to Maddy on the couch. “How is she?”
Caleb glances to Kenna, and she gives him a sideways grin.
“She’s fine,” she answers.
Marlowe and Rachel enter the living room from the kitchen. “We brought more of the Order members and that helped turn the tide,” Marlowe says. “Once Orion’s hold started loosening, it made it a lot easier to get others to join the fight.”
Caleb processes Marlowe’s words. “Is everything okay now?”
Marlowe nods. “Better than okay. I’m sorry everything was so wrong before.”
Isabelle, Kade, and Land troop in from outside as well. Isabelle limps slightly, and she shakes her head as she moves into the living room. “We’ve got some nasty shifters out there, but they’re all gathered on the front lawn.” She turns to Kenna. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”
“Work?” Caleb asks, barely able to hang on to a coherent thought. Each passing minute makes it harder and harder. The long day is catching up to him. “What are you two working on?”
Kenna nods to Isabelle. “I’ve got a working fix. We’re going to start injecting the evolved shifters so they can turn back into what they were before Malcolm and Orion got ahold of them.”
Isabelle nods. “We’re going to help her get everything settled. It’s easier for a shifter to approach a shifter.”
Caleb scowls. “Where did the injection come from?”
Kenna shrugs. “It’s something they created with my help while Malcolm had me captured and made me work with Vera.”
Caleb scans the battle-weary faces. “Has anyone seen Quinn?”
“I’ll get her,” Isabelle says, and she jogs out. When she returns, Quinn marches into the room after her.
“Hey, Caleb,” Quinn says, and her shoulders droop. She’s clearly as exhausted as they all are. She tucks an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “What happened to Maddy?”
“She’s sleeping off our fight in the bunker.” He doesn’t want to tell anyone that Kenna did something to her, and he doesn’t yet know what.
“Did you get him?” Quinn asks.
