Page 119 of Take You Home

In the end, he doesn’t even make it to the prison door.

39

Obie lunges through a rift into Cass’s house, his heart screaming in his chest. “Cass?” he yells, whipping around to look for him. “JJ?”

“Obie?” Immediately, JJ appears at the end of the hallway and jogs towards the living room, his eyes sharp with concern. “Obie, what’s wrong?”

What’s wrong?Obie almost laughs. Right now, there are too many things wrong to even list. “We need the crew here.Allof them. Where’s Cass?”

Obie could kiss JJ for not asking any questions. He just whips out his cell phone, taps a few buttons, and presses it to his ear. “Picking up groceries while Desi naps. I’ll get him back here‍—you get Ez and Roma.”

Obie’s hands are shaking. Clumsily, he manages to fumble his phone out of his pocket and swipe into the screen.

His phone app still has Maggie’s contact pulled up. Swallowinghard, he taps back to the keypad and hits Ez’s number on his speed dial.

She picks up in two rings. “Obadiah, to what do I owe the pleasure of‍?—‍?”

“Grab Roma and rift to Cass’s house right now,” he cuts in.

He can practically hear Ez straighten, the playful lilt dropping from her voice. “Is it the soul damage?”

Shit.Cass and JJ aren’t even at full power right now. This jailbreak might be more complicated than Obie thought. “No. Just‍—just get over here,” he says, and he disconnects the call.

JJ hangs up at the same time. “Cass is just finding somewhere out of sight to open the rift, and‍?—‍”

There’s a flash of purple-gold next to him. A moment later, Cass stumbles through the rift with three shopping bags slung over his arm. “What’s wrong?” he demands, his eyes snapping to Obie. “JJ said it’s an emergency.”

“We’re just waiting on Ez and Roma,” JJ says, still looking at Obie like he’s a bomb set to explode. “They should be here in‍?—‍”

Another rift billows open. Ez and Roma stride out of it side by side, Ez’s eyes sweeping the room to check for threats.

Roma has her favorite ax in one hand. With a start, Obie realizes that JJ already has an escrima stick held unobtrusively by his side, too.

Ready and willing to fight for Obie, even though they don’t know why yet. A little bit of the roaring tension behind Obie’s sternum eases at the sight. “We need to break into the Sanctum’s prison. Maggie’s been kidnapped.”

Cass’s eyes widen.“Maggie?Maggie Khan?”

“Do weknowanother Maggie, Cass?” Obie snaps.

Cass doesn’t hide his flinch in time. JJ shifts the slightest bit closer to him, his eyes noticeably colder than before. “Obie‍?—‍”

Obie tastes bile. “Sorry,” he stammers, stumbling backward and pressing a hand to his mouth. “Sorry, I’m sorry, I‍?—‍”

How did this all go wrong so quickly? Last night was so perfect, between watching Cass propose to JJ and Chester admitting his feelings for Obie and everything that happened afterward.

And then this morning came. How could Obie have been stupid enough to leave Chester alone? Hawthorne and Massimo outright told them about the high-priority demons arriving in the morning! Obie should have remembered that, should have never left Chester’s side, should have pulled every string to find out what was going on‍?—

Instead, he let his goddamn hurt feelings get in the way. Between Chester’s devastated expression when Obie left him this morning to the catch in his voice when he answered Obie’s call‍?—

Don’t think about that.Obie takes a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m sorry. It’s‍—it’s been a really hard morning.”A really hard year.

The hurt instantly leaves Cass’s face. He waves Obie’s apology away. “Already forgotten. So Maggie Khan is in the Sanctum’s prison. How long has she been there?”

Always the soldier. A wisp of calmness settles into Obie’s chest, soothing some of the anxiety there. “Not sure exactly. The Sanctum said they were getting new prisoners ‘on the overnight,’ but they didn’t specify when. Could’ve been anytime between two and eight a.m.”

JJ’s eyes meet Roma’s. “If she’s potentially been there for almost nine hours already‍?—‍‍”

“‍—‍then that’s areallybad sign,” Roma finishes, her razor-sharp gaze finding Obie’s. “How did she even contact you?”