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And with that, he was gone.
It wasn’t like how Van disappeared with Cosette. I didn’t feel any magic in the air. No spell brushed along my skin, so it wasn’t witchcraft. It was like he was never there. Even the scent of jasmine had disappeared, leaving me choking on the sulfur again.
“What the hell was that?” Dastien’s anger beat at me. “What did he say to you?”
I stumbled as I stepped back from the tree the guy had been leaning against, bumping into Dastien.
“Tessa!” Dastien spun me to face him. “What’s going on?” He held on to my shoulders and gave me a shake, but I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t think. I felt like I was floating outside of my body as the enormity of what Eli had said hit me.
The apocalypse? Seriously? How was this possible?
What had the Seven done to start off this chain of events? I knew that they needed new members, but the way Eli talked about it, the problem was bigger than that.
If the fey leaving was part of this broken seal, how the hell was I supposed to bring them back? I didn’t have that kind of authority. I wasn’t sure anyone did.
I didn’t know where to start. I wasn’t even sure if what he said was true. If the world was falling apart and for some insane reason it was up to me to fix it—
No. This was insane. He had to be lying. Maybe he really was a demon and he’d faked his scent and killed some of his own to save the werewolves in some sort of ploy to gain my trust. All to mess with my mind. To mess with all of our minds.
But what if he wasn’t?
Astaroth—one of the Great Dukes of Hell—had somehow tied himself to me. How was I going to break it? What cost would I pay to stop the apocalypse?
The realization that I would do way more than I thought I could made my stomach churn.
Suddenly, the sulfur was too strong. Too real. I turned and ran through the woods. I had to get out of here. I needed off this land before I had a total meltdown.
The next couple of hours went by in a blur. My movements were more rote than anything else as I got in Dastien’s car with him and Chris and headed back to campus. I ate with them in the cafeteria and I know they talked, but I stayed quiet. Overwhelmed didn’t seem to cover the spread of emotions I was feeling.
I just wasn’t sure how to process everything that’d happened in the last thirty-six hours. Between nearly drowning, Muraco’s murder, my visit to the black abyss with one over-possessive demon, and then the hot guy-archon-whatever thing in the woods…
It felt like I was back in the ocean, twisting and turning, trying to find which way was up. I couldn’t see the light. There was no end. At least not one that was pretty.
As I got into bed, I was waist deep in my pity-party, but then something else occurred to me.
Everything wasn’t lost. Sure, I might have been thrown into the deep end, but I was good at digging my way out of messes. This mess was worse than most, but I could do it. I just had to snap out of it.
I had a name. Astaroth.
I was going to have to do some research to confirm it and everything Eli said, but it was a start. And if I could get ahold of Claudia and some of those Peruvian crystals, then maybe this wasn’t going to be as hopeless as I’d thought.
I also had information that something the Seven had done by not having Seven members had started this off. That was another big clue. And I was super lucky. I knew Donovan and Mr. Dawson. Two excellent resources.
If I could somehow reach Cosette and convince the fey to come back, then I could make this all work out.
The last one was probably going to be next to impossible, so I’d start with the easiest stuff first.
I wasn’t sure when or how I’d need Eli’s help, but if I did and he wanted to make a bargain? Well, then I’d just have to figure that out.
And with that thought, I snuggled up against Dastien’s warm body and was finally able to fall asleep.
Seven
The morning woke me up six hours later. The light cut through the curtains in Dastien’s tiny cabin, and I was still exhausted, but I had to deal with everything. It was time to get up. I needed to grab some food and start digging up everything I could about Astaroth.
Dastien was sleeping soundly next to me. His soft, even breaths told me that he was in deep REM. The cabin was basically a studio apartment. Along the back wall was a kitchen with a breakfast nook. The countertops were wood instead of granite or la
minate like the ones in other houses I’d been to, but they worked for the cabin. I could sneak and make breakfast, but that would make too much noise and I wasn’t sure if there was any food stocked. Plus, I didn’t want to wake Dastien, and if I was being honest, I didn’t really feel like cooking again. Not when the cafeteria was a short walk away.
