Page 66 of Deceiver

I nod. “He can. He’s here. And stronger.”

Wilder brushes my hair from my forehead. “You saw him here?”

“Talked to him.” I cough, and Wilder hands me a glass of water, helping me drink it. “He said he’s stronger than the witch knows. He said he… he borrowed energy from?—”

My voice cracks again, and Wilder mutters, “Shit. He borrowed energy from the other spirits.”

I nod. “Yeah, he said something like that.”

“Fucking hell,” Wilder grumbles. “I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong and how he was able to get here, but I’ll need confirmation.”

“I need to go to my place.”

“I think you should rest a little bit more.”

I shake my head. “No. I need to go to my house. I need to be there.”

“What for?”

“Because I said. I don’t need a reason.”

Wilder raises an eyebrow. “Keagan, I think you’re being manipulated. For now, I think you should just?—”

A sudden surge of rage grips me. I sit up abruptly, wrapping my hands around Wilder’s collar.

“Stop telling me what to do. I’m a grown man, and I can go to my own house if I want to. I’m not a prisoner.”

Wilder’s eyes go wide, but he nods, holding his hands up in surrender. “Right. Of course you can go there if you want to.”

“Okay then.” The tightness in my chest subsides. “Now.”

“You should probably put some clothes on.”

I look down at myself, naked except for a towel wrapped around my waist. “I’ll get dressed.”

“I’ll call Calliope.”

“Calliope doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing.”

The words burst out of my mouth, startling me as much as they seem to startle Wilder.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came from.”

Wilder watches me with a concerned look on his face.

“I’ll get dressed. Be right back.”

“I’ll be here.”

I trudge up the stairs with a sense of disconnect from my own body clinging to me. I have no idea what’s going on right now, but I do know that I have the strongest feeling that I need to be back at my own house. Obviously, Wilder can’t protect me from here anyway, and my dad can go wherever he wants.

As I dress, I rub the center of my chest. The tugging sensation is different now, but still there, still making itself known.

Maybe if I just do what my dad needs, he’ll find peace. Then he can go back to where he’s supposed to be, but he needs me right now. This is probably my only chance to get closure on this part of my life, and I need to seize it, even if it’s a little dangerous.

Chapter 18

Wilder