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“What if we didn’t make it?” Flint asks as Luca helps him lower Calder to lay on a patch of grass.
The others exchange a look. “Yeah, well, we weren’t ready to talk about that eventuality yet,” Jaxon answers, speaking for the first time. He moves closer, out of the shade cast by the early-morning sun and one of sepulchres, and I can’t help but notice that he looks even worse than he did at graduation.
He’s lost weight—again—so that his cheekbones seem like they’ll punch through his skin at any moment. The circles under his eyes are worse, and the coldness I’ve felt radiating from him for weeks has grown to arctic levels.
“Thank you for coming for us,” I tell him as I pull him into a hug.
He hugs me back, and as he does, I can feel the desperation and the fear coming off him in waves. “It’s okay,” I whisper as I hold him close. “I’ve got the key. We can save you.”
He blows out a long breath, buries his face against my neck, and my heart breaks wide open. Even before I turn and find Hudson staring at us with eyes—and a heart—that are just as shattered.
When Jaxon finally pulls back, he stumbles a little. And Hudson is right there to slide an arm around his shoulders, to hold his little brother up even as his own world is crashing down around him.
“I’m sorry,” Jaxon whispers.
Hudson shakes his head. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry about.”
An awkward silence descends as our friends look anywhere but at the three of us. At least until Calder moans and starts twitching on the ground.
“Is she all right?” Macy asks, eyes wide as she moves to crouch next to the manticore.
“She took one of the Crone’s flowers,” Flint answers as he stretches his back. “She’s been out for hours.”
“But she’s not the blacksmith,” Eden says matter-of-factly.
“No, the giant left before you showed up,” Hudson says. “His magic is what Macy felt.”
“So you just happened to bring someone else along for the ride?” Mekhi asks skeptically.
“It’s a long story,” I answer. “We’ll tell you someday when it’s not so…”
“Fresh,” Hudson finishes for me. “It’s been one hell of a day.”
“Apparently,” Eden tells him. “You look like—” She breaks off, shakes her head. “I don’t think I’ve even got a word for that.” She gestures up and down, from his head to his waist, with a disbelieving shake of her head.
“She’s right, man,” Luca agrees. “You look rough.”
“I feel rough,” Hudson answers with a laugh.
Calder groans again, but this time her bright brown eyes pop wide open. “I’m not dead,” is the first thing she says.
“Definitely not,” Flint tells her with a grin. “Considering I’ve been carrying you around for the last two hours.”
“You lucky boy,” she purrs.
Luca looks shocked, but Flint just laughs as he reaches a hand down to help her up. “You’re right. I am.” And then he wraps his hand around Luca’s waist and pulls him close, whispering something that has his boyfriend’s jaw relaxing.
Once standing, Calder pats him on the head and says, “Thank you for getting me out of there.” Then she smiles her sexy grin at Luca. “You’ve got yourself a good one here.”
It’s the most sincere I’ve ever seen her—except when she’s talking about herself, of course—and Hudson and I exchange surprised looks. Right up until she spots Mekhi and says, “Well, hello there.” She tosses her hair and focuses her gaze on him like she’s achieved missile lock. “How are you this fine morning?”
Mekhi seems completely overwhelmed under the onslaught. Not that I blame him. Calder is a lot in regular mode. Now that she’s in spotted-a-hot-vampire mode, she truly is something to see.
“I’m good, thanks,” Mekhi says after clearing his throat about five times. “How are you?”
“I’m fabulous,” she tells him with another flip of her hair. “But I guess you already know that, don’t you?”
“I’m, uh—” He glances to us for help, but we’re too busy trying not to laugh to give him any.
Except Macy, who slides her arm through Calder’s and spins her slightly away from Mekhi, just enough that he can break away from Calder’s mesmerizing eye contact. “You are fabulous,” Macy tells her with a bright smile that maybe doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “Your hair is beautiful.”
“It is one of my best features,” Calder agrees. “But then all my features are my best features, you know?”
Eden cracks up, just full-on cracks up.
I start to interrupt Calder’s litany on her own beauty—after six days, I’ve learned how to work with her—but before I can, she looks around and asks, “Where’s Remy?”
My look must say it all, because her face falls.
“He didn’t make it out?”
I shake my head. “No. He’s okay, but he stayed behind—at least for now. He does have a flower, though.”
She presses her lips together, and for a second I think she might cry. But in the end, she smiles and says, “Sounds like I have something to look forward to, then.”
I want to say something else, something that might make her feel better. But nothing comes to mind, and before I can figure anything else out, Liam, Rafael, and Byron come fading through the cemetery like their everything is on fire.
“We’ve got a problem,” Liam says, which—judging from the looks on all three of their faces—is the biggest understatement ever.
“Is it Cyrus?” Hudson urges.
“He’s marching on the Unkillable Beast tonight,” Byron answers. “With a whole battalion.”
“That’s fast,” Mekhi whispers. “How did he even know we would be going for the beast?”
“Charon,” Hudson and I say at the same time. The little bastard knows everything that goes on in his prison, which means he knows why we needed Vander. Nice to know he wasted no time in running to Cyrus with news of our release…and the intel that we’ve now got a key to free the Unkillable Beast.
“The river guy?” Eden asks, confused.
“Different Charon. His name is actually Charles,” I tell her before turning to the group. “We need to go. We have to get there now, which means—”
“No riding us dragons,” Eden finishes for me.
“Exactly.”
“Honestly, I’m pretty freaking glad to hear that,” Flint says. “I’m tired.”
“Okay then,” Macy says, dropping Calder’s arm and stepping away to rummage in her ever-present backpack. “Portal it is.”
“Do you need help?” Eden asks as she follows Macy over to a small clearing beneath the magnolia trees.
“Nuri and Aiden are leading the dragons to meet him,” Byron continues. “But it’s going to take time for them to get there and amass their troops.”
“Yeah,” Hudson agrees grimly. “We need to figure out a way to hold Cyrus off until the dragon army can get there.”
“Yeah, but how?” Luca asks.
We start to talk strategy, but then I realize we have another problem.
“Calder?” I loop my arm through hers and pull her a little bit away from the group as Hudson and Liam start arguing about the best way to approach the Unkillable Beast’s cave.
“Yeah, Grace. What’s up?”
“We have to go.”
She nods. “I know.”
“We’re going off to fight Cyrus. I know you wanted a piece of that, but I think Remy would be disappointed if you weren’t here when he walks out.”
She nods again. “I know.”
“I…I guess it feels wrong, leaving you here alone. Are you going to be okay?”
She laughs. “Oh, you’re so sweet. I’m going to be fine.” She tosses her hair.
Okay. Not quite the response I was expecting. Then again, maybe she hasn’t been in prison very long. Maybe she has family close. “So, umm, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” she answers. “But I’ll figure something out. I always do.”
She’s probably right. But I’m still not okay with that. “Can you wait here for a second?”
“I should probably say goodbye to Hudson and Flint and then take off—”
“Just give me a minute, okay?”
I’m afraid I’ve made her uncomfortable and that she’s going to take off the first chance she gets, so I hurry over to Jaxon and whisper, “Do you have any money?”
“Yeah, of course.” He lifts his brows as he reaches for his wallet. “How much do you need?”
“Everything you’ve got,” I tell him.
It’s a testament to who he is—and, maybe, the relationship we have even after everything—that he doesn’t hesitate as he pulls five hundred dollars out of his wallet and hands it all to me. “Is that enough?”
I stare at it and try to think. “I actually don’t know.” How long will it last if Calder needs to get a hotel room or pay for new identification or simply find a way home? “It’s for Calder,” I tell him. “I don’t think she has anywhere to go.”
Luca hears me and pulls out his wallet, too. And so do the other members of the Order. When I head back over to Calder, I have about $1,200 to hand her.
“Oh, no, I can’t take that, Grace.” She tries to push my hand away.
“Please, I can’t just leave you here. Not after everything you’ve done for us.”
“But I don’t know when I’ll see you again to pay it back.”