Page 72 of Take You Home (Redwater Demons #3)

C hester?—?!” JJ lunges forward, just a second too late to grab Chester before he disappears. JJ’s right hand swipes through the rift, and he hastily jumps back, checking his arm for burns. “No. No, no, no, no? ? —?”

Obie’s pulse screams in his ears. It feels like his insides are liquefying and his blood is crystallizing and his soul is trying to claw its way out of his chest, but??—

But watching the love of his life run headfirst into another damn dimension in a futile attempt to save him is somehow worse than everything else combined.

And his splintering headache didn’t spike higher when Chester stepped through the rift. Can it just not get any worse? Does the binding spell not work between dimensions?

Or is Chester dead already? “No,” Obie croaks, desperate tears finally burning their way out of his eyes. “No?— please? ?—? ”

Instantly, Ez is at his side, smoothing his hair back. “He’ll be okay,” she says, but it doesn’t sound like even she believes the words. “ The Fount of Blessings was close to the rift?—I saw it right there. He’ll just run over and come straight back. He’ll??—?”

“Everything moves in Tamaros, Ez,” Cass hisses, his voice strained. “Nothing stays in the same place for more than a minute or so, and there are thousands of rifts that could transport him halfway across the dimension. What if he can’t find the Fount? What if he gets lost? What if he??—??”

“Let’s shut up with the worst-case scenarios, please,” Sawyer snaps. She looks visibly nauseous. “He’ll?—he’ll be fine. He’s a quick learner. He’ll figure out how to survive.”

Naomi slips her hand into Sawyer’s, squeezing once.

Cass and Ez don’t look the slightest bit convinced, avoiding Obie’s eyes even as they stay close by his side.

JJ and Roma are standing shoulder to shoulder, shaky and scared and struggling to process everything that just happened; Micah and Gregorio are off to the side, unsubtly trying to catch a glimpse of Chester through the rift; Maggie is hovering just next to the bed with her arms folded over her chest, like she wants to help but doesn’t know how; and Bryant??—

Bryant looks from JJ’s right arm?—his unburned right arm, Obie realizes with a jolt?—to the rift and back again. Her eyes flicker back and forth, back and forth, for a long few seconds before finally coming to a rest on Obie.

Sizing him up.

Calculating her odds.

Figuring out exactly how much she’s willing to risk?—and who she’s willing to risk it for.

Eventually, she heaves a sigh. “Goddamn it, Locke,” she says, and before anyone can react, she sprints through the rift after Chester.

“Bryant!” Roma screams, jerking forward. “Bry??—?”

“Oh, this is so not good.” Micah presses his hand against his mouth, horrified. “This is so, so not good??—? ”

“How did she?—??” Gregorio’s eyes snap to Maggie. “Doesn’t she have half of your soul?”

Maggie’s jaw works. “Yes. So I guess a demon with a half-human soul can’t go back to Tamaros, but a human with a half-demon soul… can?”

Without a moment of hesitation, JJ looks at Roma.

Roma looks back at JJ.

And Cass and Ez seem to realize what’s about to happen a split second before Obie does. In unison, they bolt forward.

“Julian, don’t? ? —?!”

“Roma, I swear? ? —?!”

Roma grabs JJ’s hand. “We’re not leaving them behind again,” she says, her voice low and vicious, and before anyone can stop them, she and JJ race into Tamaros.

In a flash, Micah is standing in front of the rift, blocking anyone else from going through?—blocking, Obie suddenly realizes, the two remaining hunters from going through.

“Don’t even think about it,” he snarls at Sawyer and Naomi, harder and angrier than Obie has ever seen him.

“We’re not losing any more humans today. Not happening.”

Sawyer looks both taken aback and sincerely touched. “Aw. You really do care.”

“Shut up. You know we do,” Gregorio says grudgingly.

“And we’re not losing any humans at all today.” Naomi’s shoulders are hunched, but her voice is firm. “Strike Team Kappa is the best there is. If anyone can find the Fount of Blessings and bring Chester home alive, it’s them.”

Silence falls. Micah moves away from the rift, still eyeing Sawyer and Naomi suspiciously. Gregorio leans against the side wall, his eyes fixed on the glimpse of Tamaros just out of reach. Maggie starts pacing .

“Ez.” Cass’s voice is smaller and more scared than Obie has ever heard it. “Ez, what if they don’t come back?”

“Don’t think about it.”

Don’t think about it. The words reverberate through Obie’s head, bending and twisting and spiraling into a mantra, becoming the only thing that exists, the only thing that’s real??—

Don’t think about it.

Flying through Tamaros, everything vibrant colors and gleaming light and ringing sound, spending time among his people because he’s their god and only wants what’s best for them??—

Don’t think about it.

Screaming as his fellow gods tear him away from everything he’s ever known and let him burn up in the atmosphere of a dimension made of gravity and matter and shadows??—

Don’t think about it.

The tentative, mischievous smile of the teenager who crept to the outskirts of camp to meet him, a newborn strapped to her back and a stolen piece of caribou in her hand??—

Don’t think about it.

His first brush with the true grief of death when Ada passed away, but the overwhelming light of watching Kai and his children and grandchildren carry on her spirit??—

Don’t think about it.

Blood and pain and screaming as the binding spell burns its way into his skin and the hunters slaughter the only family he’s ever known before turning their weapons on him??—

Don’t think about it.

Sensing the first demon who’s summoned to Earth and finding her, teaching her how to create a human facade for herself, fighting back tears when that form looks a lot like Ada??—

Don’t think about it .

The blur of millennia weaving together as he travels the world, watching the beauty and the hatred humans bring to every continent they touch??—

Don’t think about it.

Cass’s rich laugh and Ez’s gleaming smirk across the table in a bar on the eve of the War of 1812, his first time meeting the demons who’ll become his best friends??—

Don’t think about it.

Seeing Nack Bar George walk into Redwater Bowl with a cane for the first time and vividly remembering when Obie carved a staff for an elderly Kai to lean on as he watched his grandchildren play??—

Don’t think about it.

The hard, furious eyes of the Sanctum interrogator who tried to put another binding spell on Obie and bound them together instead??—

The easy way Chester fit in with Obie’s bowling team, with his best friends, with his family? ? —

Chester’s laughter ringing through Obie’s head as he pushed jokes through their telepathic link just to see him smile??—

Chester’s fingertips tracing over Obie’s skin and scales in the drowsy silence of early morning, soft and sweet and almost reverent??—

Don’t think about it.

I love you.

I love you.

I?—

Don’t think about it.

He didn’t say it back yet.

He needs to survive long enough to say it back.