The Power
Page 99
“Dammit,” I heard someone say. Deacon? I had no idea when he’d gotten there. “He’s taken the damn SUV.”
Something cracked in my chest.
Pivoting around, I walked back into the house and I kept walking, even when Alex called out my name. I needed space. I needed a couple of minutes where I could think. I needed to be alone.
I passed Aiden in the stairwell. He said something, but I didn’t really understand him. Climbing the steps, I headed into the bedroom Seth and I were supposed to share. On autopilot, I stripped off the clothes and left them where they fell by the bed. In the bathroom, I cranked on the hot water, waited as steam filled the room. Sliding open the stall door, I stepped under the pelting hot water, arms limp at my sides.
And I stood there for what felt like forever, my head bowed and eyes closed. I stood there until that wave of emotion that had been crawling up my throat finally broke free, burning my eyes. The tears came again and they didn’t stop. Not for a very long time.
Everything was a mess and Seth had finally told me he loved me.
Then he had left me.
The mood in the living room was tense, even after Luke had explained that Seth hadn’t injured him, had even seemed regretful of his actions. The same with Gable, who was currently holed up in his room. It didn’t change the outcome though.
I sat on the couch, beside Alex, as everyone debated what to do next. Alex and Aiden wanted to continue to Canada to retrieve Demeter’s daughter and let Herc deal with the runaway Seth issue when he returned. Deacon and Luke were mostly quiet, and no one really asked for my input.
Probably a good thing, because I’d spent the better part of the day absolutely numb and riddled with guilt. I shouldn’t have let them put Seth in that room, or at least, not by himself. My instincts had urged me to stay with him, but I’d caved to the advice of others without saying anything. That was weak, and I’d failed him.
I was a pretty big fail when I punched him after he admitted what he done. Granted, he’d deserved that, but when he apologized and when he’d asked me if this was it, I’d said nothing. The only thing I could do at this point was to move forward. Not without him. No. Never without him.
Where could he have gone, and where could he be going? I racked my brain the entire morning and afternoon, latching onto the mystery so I didn’t slip into a soul-crushing downward spiral. And I was so close to doing that, wanting nothing more than to throw myself face-first onto the bed and sob until there was nothing left in my body.
“So, you guys are totally okay with letting Herc handle things with Seth?” Deacon asked, leaning against the fireplace I doubted was ever used. “We’re just going to forget about him?”
Aiden looked over at him. “We’re not forgetting him, but we have to find the rest of the demigods before the Titans do. Atlas might be gone, but the rest aren’t.”
“I think we need to find Seth,” his brother challenged. “We need him when they do come back, especially since he’s all kinds of special sauce right now. I don’t want to see what happened to . . . to Solos happen to anyone else.”
“I don’t want that either.” Twisting the heavy length of hair in her hands, Alex shook her head. “We need the other demigods to defeat the Titans.”
Luke cocked his head to the side. “Agreed, but we need Seth too. We need as much firepower on our side as we can muster, and he has the ultimate power, by the looks of it.”
“But . . .” Alex looked over at me, trailing off. Her shoulders tensed and she appeared to choose her words carefully. “I don’t think Seth is going to be of a lot of help right now.”
Deacon’s lips pursed. “You know, I’m just going to address the two-hundred-pound Apollyon God Killer elephant in the room.”
His brother arched a brow.
“What you all are not saying is that you think Seth’s gone all dark side again, right? That he’s hopped up on aether and is going to go on a killing binge again, but like a legit, ‘kill everything in his path’ spree this time. That’s what you’re not saying,” he said, eyes narrowing. “But the thing is, Seth immobilized Luke and Gable, but he didn’t hurt them, and you all know damn well, if he’d wanted to hurt them, he would’ve.”
Deacon paused, looking at me. I’d told them earlier that Seth had seen me before he’d left. Of course, I didn’t go into details about what we had done, because seriously, that would be a little TMI, but I’d told them that he’d seemed normal. Which was true. Needless to say, Alex and Aiden both had looked at me like they doubted my sanity since I hadn’t alerted anyone to the fact Seth was roaming around.
“And he didn’t hurt Josie,” Deacon continued. “He didn’t feed off her. He basically stayed with her until she slept, said goodbye to her, and then left. Does that sound like an out of control, aether-sucking killer Apollyon?”
“Try saying that fast,” murmured Luke.
“He lost his shit because of what happened to Solos. Can we really blame him for that? None of us were hurt. We need to find him,” Deacon stated, his chin lifting. “Before he does turn into that and starts blowing up islands or something.”
I stiffened. What had Deacon just said? Blowing up islands? Holy crappers, the islands. I blinked. Would Seth really go home? He hadn’t been there since he’d been sent to the Covenant in the UK as a teen, but he’d talked of wanting to go back there. He’d mentioned it once, but to even speak of a place that had been so cold to him, it had to be important. It was a wild guess, completely out there, but it was a very real possibility. His family home was surrounded by nothing by trees and sand. He would be alone there, away from everyone. But would he go that far, halfway around the world? Would he go to that kind of extreme?
Something cracked in my chest.
Pivoting around, I walked back into the house and I kept walking, even when Alex called out my name. I needed space. I needed a couple of minutes where I could think. I needed to be alone.
I passed Aiden in the stairwell. He said something, but I didn’t really understand him. Climbing the steps, I headed into the bedroom Seth and I were supposed to share. On autopilot, I stripped off the clothes and left them where they fell by the bed. In the bathroom, I cranked on the hot water, waited as steam filled the room. Sliding open the stall door, I stepped under the pelting hot water, arms limp at my sides.
And I stood there for what felt like forever, my head bowed and eyes closed. I stood there until that wave of emotion that had been crawling up my throat finally broke free, burning my eyes. The tears came again and they didn’t stop. Not for a very long time.
Everything was a mess and Seth had finally told me he loved me.
Then he had left me.
The mood in the living room was tense, even after Luke had explained that Seth hadn’t injured him, had even seemed regretful of his actions. The same with Gable, who was currently holed up in his room. It didn’t change the outcome though.
I sat on the couch, beside Alex, as everyone debated what to do next. Alex and Aiden wanted to continue to Canada to retrieve Demeter’s daughter and let Herc deal with the runaway Seth issue when he returned. Deacon and Luke were mostly quiet, and no one really asked for my input.
Probably a good thing, because I’d spent the better part of the day absolutely numb and riddled with guilt. I shouldn’t have let them put Seth in that room, or at least, not by himself. My instincts had urged me to stay with him, but I’d caved to the advice of others without saying anything. That was weak, and I’d failed him.
I was a pretty big fail when I punched him after he admitted what he done. Granted, he’d deserved that, but when he apologized and when he’d asked me if this was it, I’d said nothing. The only thing I could do at this point was to move forward. Not without him. No. Never without him.
Where could he have gone, and where could he be going? I racked my brain the entire morning and afternoon, latching onto the mystery so I didn’t slip into a soul-crushing downward spiral. And I was so close to doing that, wanting nothing more than to throw myself face-first onto the bed and sob until there was nothing left in my body.
“So, you guys are totally okay with letting Herc handle things with Seth?” Deacon asked, leaning against the fireplace I doubted was ever used. “We’re just going to forget about him?”
Aiden looked over at him. “We’re not forgetting him, but we have to find the rest of the demigods before the Titans do. Atlas might be gone, but the rest aren’t.”
“I think we need to find Seth,” his brother challenged. “We need him when they do come back, especially since he’s all kinds of special sauce right now. I don’t want to see what happened to . . . to Solos happen to anyone else.”
“I don’t want that either.” Twisting the heavy length of hair in her hands, Alex shook her head. “We need the other demigods to defeat the Titans.”
Luke cocked his head to the side. “Agreed, but we need Seth too. We need as much firepower on our side as we can muster, and he has the ultimate power, by the looks of it.”
“But . . .” Alex looked over at me, trailing off. Her shoulders tensed and she appeared to choose her words carefully. “I don’t think Seth is going to be of a lot of help right now.”
Deacon’s lips pursed. “You know, I’m just going to address the two-hundred-pound Apollyon God Killer elephant in the room.”
His brother arched a brow.
“What you all are not saying is that you think Seth’s gone all dark side again, right? That he’s hopped up on aether and is going to go on a killing binge again, but like a legit, ‘kill everything in his path’ spree this time. That’s what you’re not saying,” he said, eyes narrowing. “But the thing is, Seth immobilized Luke and Gable, but he didn’t hurt them, and you all know damn well, if he’d wanted to hurt them, he would’ve.”
Deacon paused, looking at me. I’d told them earlier that Seth had seen me before he’d left. Of course, I didn’t go into details about what we had done, because seriously, that would be a little TMI, but I’d told them that he’d seemed normal. Which was true. Needless to say, Alex and Aiden both had looked at me like they doubted my sanity since I hadn’t alerted anyone to the fact Seth was roaming around.
“And he didn’t hurt Josie,” Deacon continued. “He didn’t feed off her. He basically stayed with her until she slept, said goodbye to her, and then left. Does that sound like an out of control, aether-sucking killer Apollyon?”
“Try saying that fast,” murmured Luke.
“He lost his shit because of what happened to Solos. Can we really blame him for that? None of us were hurt. We need to find him,” Deacon stated, his chin lifting. “Before he does turn into that and starts blowing up islands or something.”
I stiffened. What had Deacon just said? Blowing up islands? Holy crappers, the islands. I blinked. Would Seth really go home? He hadn’t been there since he’d been sent to the Covenant in the UK as a teen, but he’d talked of wanting to go back there. He’d mentioned it once, but to even speak of a place that had been so cold to him, it had to be important. It was a wild guess, completely out there, but it was a very real possibility. His family home was surrounded by nothing by trees and sand. He would be alone there, away from everyone. But would he go that far, halfway around the world? Would he go to that kind of extreme?
