Page 123 of Illusory

Nervously and without meeting Gabriel’s eyes, I put my hand up, mostly because I didn’t want to leave my sister hanging out on the ledge all by herself.

“And all in favor of staying right where we are,” asked Gabriel, his jaw muscle practically punching a hole in his face as he put his hand up, with Trace following closely behind.

Tessa and I turned to Dominic. The tiebreaker.

‘Apologies, angel. But I won’t risk anything happening to you’, said Dominic to my mind and then raised his glass.

Seriously? Thanks a lot, traitor.

“There you go. The nay has it,” said Gabriel, leaving no room for confusion or argument. “We’re staying right here where it’s safe. That’s the end of it.”

“Aye, aye,” said Tessa, saluting him. Though something about the mischievous look in her eyes was telling me that wasn’t even close to being the end of it. “Whatever you say, Captain Killjoy.”

* * *

The second I slipped away from the watchful eyes of Trace and Dominic, Tessa was on me like a rash, shoving me into the downstairs bathroom and then locking the door behind us. Thanks to my quick reflexes, I’d caught myself two seconds before I ended up face firstinthe toilet bowl, saving my sister from the hell she was going to have to pay had I stuck the landing.

“What the heck is wrong with you?” I barked, eyeing at her like the crazy person she was.

Her hair was still a complete mess and sticking out of the ponytail every which way, as though the whole thing were being held together by a flimsy piece of yarn. I could hardly take her seriously looking like that.

“We’re going out tonight, Jem. I have a plan,” she said and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Does it involve checking yourself in somewhere because I have to tell you, Tess, you’re really starting to worry me.And what is this exactly?” I asked gesturing to her hair and wrinkled two-day-old outfit. “Are you even showering anymore?” I asked more quietly.

“Do you want to hear the plan or not?”

I thought about it. Then thought about it some more.

“Fine.” She crossed her arms. “If you want to spend the last night before yourAscensioncooped up in the house with the three wardens from Hell, then I won’t stand in your way.”

I quirked my brow at her.

“But I’m going out tonight. With or without you.”

“Do you really think that’s a good idea, Tess? Maybe Gabriel was right. This isn’t a good time. At least we know we’re safe here with the house warded.”

“It’s not like we’re being hunted down, Jemma. The Council’s waiting to make a move, probably for you to go to them, and the Sisters are obviously only concerned about the Incubator’s spawn. Things are quiet for once. It’s the perfect time to get away. Besides, no one will even know we’re out. We’ll dance, we’ll drink, we’ll have fun and then we’ll be back before anyone even notices we left.”

She seemed to have it all figured out.

“I don’t know, Tess,” I said and bit the inside of my cheek. As much as I wanted to get out of this house and have a normal night of fun for once, I couldn’t shake the icky feeling that we were doing something wrong.

“Jemma,please. You don’t understand,” she said, her voice turning ragged and pleading. “Ineedto get out of this house. I feel like I’m going crazy here. I can’t take another night of this. I…I don’t even feel like myself anymore.”

I stared at her, unable to argue that because she definitely had been out of sorts lately. Could I really blame her, though? Tessa was used to a nomadic life, always moving, always hunting something, and now because of me she was stuck inthe house like a castrated dog and honestly, it hadn’t served her well at all.

Frankly, this house arrest was not serving any of us very well, but that was beside the point.

After all the sacrifices my sister made for me, was I really going to deny her one little night of blowing off some steam? What could it hurt? We were Slayers, for crying out loud. We’d lasted an entire summer together hunting everything from vampires to demons to rogue werewolves. This was child’s play compared to that.

Not to mention it might do me a world of good to get out of the house andawayfrom Trace and Dominic, too. I desperately needed a moment to get out from their dizzying spell and sort myself out. Get my head back in the game.

“Okay, fine,” I finally agreed and then jammed my index finger at her as she grinned excitedly. “But if we get caught, you’re the one taking the fall for this.”

“Wewon’tget caught. And don’t worry, I can handle Gabriel.”

“Terrific. I’m glad one of us thinks so.”

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