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“I don’t know, but I can try. With everything that I am, I will try to stop whatever has made you so upset. But I can’t do that until you talk to me. So calm down. Talk to me.”
It was horrible. I said through our bond.
Cherie. Tell me.
I slowly described everything I’d seen—from the Orangina breaking to how I ended the fight with Luciana.
He stayed quiet for a long moment when I was done, and then sucked in a big breath. “Okay.”
I pulled back from him. “Okay? What about that was okay?”
“Nothing. Nothing about that was okay. But okay—now we can work to change it. If you hadn’t seen that, then it probably would’ve happened, but now—we prepare. That gives us something to watch for. And there are markers along the way. So, as long as I never drink that Orangina, then none of this will happen.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay. So no more Oranginas for you.”
“Hate the stuff. Never touching it again. Especially on pizza day.”
I huffed a small laugh. It was pitiful, but something. “I can’t do it. Watching you die… It was the worst thing ever.”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “It’s not going to happen.”
“It can’t.” I thought for a second. I needed someone who knew more about magic and visions to tell me that this could be changed. Going to the brujos that were still here seemed the most obvious choice, but Claudia was in Peru and I didn’t know the rest well enough to tell if they’d blow steam up my ass or tell me the truth.
Cosette would. Even if she might be a little more harsh than I could handle, her brand of truth would be preferable. I had to know how to prepare. Or if we should just give up now.
“Do you think Cosette might know anything about visions? She’s mentioned a few things here and there—and I know she said that she didn’t really know much—but I get the sense that she’s not telling us everything.”
“She’s fey. Of course she knows more than she’s saying.”
“Who do you think the guy is?” If the fey were fighting with us against Luciana, it would definitely make a difference. I’d only seen Cosette and the one dude, but they’d been the only ones who weren’t getting their asses kicked in my horror show of a vision. We needed more of them. We needed every advantage we could gather.
“I don’t know, but the fey have strings. I don’t want to say they’re not welcome, but they’d add another layer of complication.”
I chewed on my lip. I couldn’t believe I was actually going to suggest this. “We should talk to Cosette. Ask her point blank. See if we can get some fey backing, too.”
“We can try. She’s not a bad person. Just very fey.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I’d do anything—anything—to stop that vision from happening.
I started to get up and then realized that I was soaked. “You threw a bucket of water on me?”
Dastien brushed the hair back from my face. “What was I supposed to do? You were screaming. It was tearing me apart. The water’s there in case someone loses it during sparring… I figured it would shock you out of the vision.”
“It was a good try. But now I have to shower again.” And I wasn’t going back to sleep anytime soon. Not after that vision. Until Luciana was dead and Dastien was safe and sound, that image was going to haunt me.
I couldn’t—wouldn’t—let it come true.
***
After a long, hot shower, we went in search of Cosette. It was still early, but I’d wake her up if I needed to. We walked from my dorm back across the quad to the admin building. Light broke through the trees, sending God-rays down on us. If I could’ve felt peaceful, I would’ve, but I couldn’t. The image of Dastien’s head rolling into the hell mouth was burned into my brain.
I blinked, trying to focus on the trees. On the ground underneath my feet. On Dastien’s hand warm in mine… He’d barely let me out of his sight to shower and change, and I didn’t mind that one bit. I was feeling more than a little clingy.
Stop thinking about it, his voice came through the bond.
I’m trying, but I can’t help it. I’m really scared. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I don’t want to die. And I definitely don’t want you to die.
Your fear is drowning everything else out. You have to let go of it. It’s not going to do us any good.
