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From the look of him, the lines of frustration across his forehead and the way he’s sinking his teeth into his lower lip, he’s a man obsessed. He wants to go home, but I’m not helping him, not yet.
“Okay,” I say, drawing the word out slowly, “so I’m supposed to help you. How? I’m not going to do anything stupid, like give you the necklace. Because we’ve tried that, and that was bad. So what next?”
I look at the three of them. Surely they know. They’re... gods.
Don’t they know everything? Shouldn’t they?
“We need more time,” Shay says. “Time to figure this out.”
“To find the traitors on earth, we already know the great betrayer sent minions here, to capture the pendant forthemselves,” Falcon says, and the room grows even colder, the air heavy, and I realize how stupid it is of me to be thinking they’re not gods. How did I ever think any of them were normal humans? Their presence weighs on me like a blanket, thickening the air, making the whole world seem glimmery and fae.
“You don’t want me to die,” I say, feeling faint, and I’m suddenly, painfully aware of the fact that I’m surrounded by these powerful, beautiful, dangerous creatures. “Which means you can’t get the pendant. Unless...”
“I think we shift our tactics,” Falcon cuts in, giving me a meaningful look which confirms the fears I’ve spoken aloud. “We find the traitors here to buy ourselves some time and extract what knowledge they have of the pendant from them. The betrayer’s reach only goes so far, and those powers are useless up here on Earth.”
“We need to find out how Cyrus came into the building,” Shay says, a thoughtful tone to her voice. “More of them could enter. I know that we’ve lost sight of Cyrus since he vanished last night, and I’m not sure he’ll be foolish enough to try so soon, but there are others—”
“He wasn’t trying to hurt me,” Hadrion says, voice curt, “he’s doing what he’s supposed to do: protect me. Only now he thinks keeping me here is keeping me safe.”
“Yes, true, and he isn’t my main concern,” Shay replies, glancing at me. “Her sister, you say she was involved in the ones hunting her?”
“I’m right here,” I grouse.
“Her sister’s name is Emi. She was working for a rival, or the great betrayer’s agent,” Hadrion says, giving me an apologeticlook.
“So, Emi,” Shay’s expression goes grim, and the room goes even colder, my skin, “she was selling out her own blood? For what?”
“Money?” Falcon asks, the word dripping with derision. “What do mortals ever care about more than money?” Heat rises in my cheeks, and I glare at him. He has no idea. There are people, sure, that would sell out a family member, or hurt someone they were supposed to love, but we’re not all like that.
Humans have good hearts.
Gods don’t have the market cornered on caring. In fact, if I’ve studied my myths correctly, the gods are often cruel, unkind, jealous, driven by passions that make no sense at all.
But I bite the inside of my lip and say nothing. It’s probably not smart to tell Falcon, and the other two, that I don’t think very much of their kind. After all, they ripped me out of my world, and apparently planned on me giving them the pendant, without ever telling me anything at all. An uneasy thread wraps around my chest, squeezing tight.
“Well,” I say, trying to sound as normal as possible. “While this is fun, this isn’t my area of expertise, and I think I need to go upstairs and have a nap. If you don’t mind?” I turn on my heel, ignoring their surprised expressions, and march toward the back office and down the stairs. I don’t need to sit around and be insulted.
And I don’t think that it’s a good idea if I let my anger get the best of me right now.
I just don’t know what to do next.
Elenora bringsme lunch to my room, and when I ask her what’s going on, she shakes her head and just tells me the club is closed for the night, and that Mr. Mortaine has gone out. Where, she doesn’t know. His other guests? Gone with him. I spend the rest of the day by myself, eating dinner in the cavernous dining room alone, Elenora serving me quietly, and then disappearing into the kitchen. Hours pass, and silence echos in Hadrion’s apartment. It feels like no one’s home, even though the door to the office is locked tight, and the whole penthouse seems like no one has touched a thing.
It’s strange, being all by myself.
It reminds me too much of when Mom... my breath catches. When Mom first... Dad went and took off for weeks, leaving me in the trailer with Emi, who did her best to abandon me as well by going out drinking as much as possible.
The memory of those times is hard, and they make me feel sad and angry. I push them aside and curl up in bed, staring out the window at the city. The clock beside the bed shows it’s almost ten pm. I close my eyes, letting the warmth of the bed under me cradle me as I drift off into the darkness.
A whisper of noise brings me back into the room.
It’s dim but not dark, lights from the city outside illuminating the curtains. They’re fluttering in the breeze from the window.
Window.
It’s open, and the latch is unlocked. Someone is inside with me.
My heart races, and I stay perfectly still, eyes closing, trying not to breathe as I listen for another noise.
