Page 146 of Illusory

I flashed her a grin. “Thanks, Tess.”

She tried to return my smile and then dropped her head back onto her arm, having used up the entirety of her energy stores for the day.

“We should take it easy today and hold off on any training or activities until after your Ascension,” Gabriel suggested, without acknowledging my birthday.

“Oh.” My hands twisted in my lap. After a few moments, I met his eyes again. “Are you worried that…something might happen? That it might go badly?”

He faltered for a beat and then shook his head. “No. I don’t expect it to be all that different from Invocation, but of course, we won’t know for sure until the time comes.”

“Right.” I picked up my glass of water and gulped down half of it, my throat suddenly as dry as a desert. Setting it back down, I pushed away from the table and stood. “I’m going to continue working on Elspeth’s grimoire and see if I can find any spoilers,” I decided, having lost all semblance of my appetite.

“We’ll join you then,” said Dominic as he rose from his chair with Trace right behind him.

“You guys don’t have to follow me around all day,” I said, meeting each of their gazes. “I won’t go up in flames if you take your eyes off me, you know.”

“Well, that remains to be seen,” said Gabriel as he stood up from his chair and nodded his head at Trace and Dominic, a silent order for them not to let me out of their sights. “Until your Ascension is over, it’s best that we play it safe and stay close.”

“I think I’m going to throw up,” announced Tessa, drawing everyone’s attention back down to her.

She’d taken the words right out of my mouth.

* * *

After taking Tessa to the bathroom to puke her guts out, Gabriel escorted her back to her room to sleep off her hangover while the rest of us convened in the living room and waited for him to return. Even though there hadn’t been too much awkwardness at breakfast (between Trace, Dominic and myself, anyway), I still had a hard time meeting either of their gazes after what had gone down in my bed this morning.

I couldn’t stop feeling like I’d done something very, very wrong, despite how good it had felt.

With the grimoire in hand, I flopped onto the sofa and cracked it open. I didn’t bother picking up where I had left off yesterday. Instead, I flipped ahead, hoping to find something about the Ascension or its aftermath. Honestly, anything that might ease my mind evena littlewould be a win.

“We have a surprise for you later,” informed Dominic as he settled into the chair by the fireplace with a book in hand and a playful smirk curling at his lips.

“A surprise?” My gaze flickered between the two of them.

“For your birthday,” said Trace as he tossed his pencil down onto the open science textbook and straightened.

I chewed the inside of my cheek. “What kind of a surprise?”

“Well now, angel, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if we went ahead and told you, would it?”

My heart rate sped up erratically, making my stomach feel woozy. “I don’t think I’m a fan of surprises,” I informed, having just realized it then. Too many unknown variables. Too much anticipation.

It was giving me anxiety.

“Can I at least get a hint?” I asked.

“We each have something planned for you tonight,”offered Trace, his eyes studying me as if he could sense my apprehension and wanted to ease it without giving too much away. “Separately.”

“Separately,” I repeated, not entirely sure if that made my anxiety better, or worse.

“Well, she’ll probably live to see another day,” announced Gabriel as he trudged into the living room and dropped into the empty chair beside Dominic. “I don’t know if this is some kind of phase she’s going through, but I’ve just about had it with her antics.”

As much as I wanted to laugh at his comment, I held back.

“It’s not her fault,” I said instead, defending my sister since she wasn’t here to do it herself. “She’s not used to being cooped up like this. This is probably her literal definition of hell.”

Honestly, I probably wouldn’t be far from the edge either, if not for Trace and Dominic being stuck in here with me. That line between heaven and hell felt like one big blur, and I had only the two of them to blame. Or thank?

“Yes, well, it isn’t exactly paradise for the rest of us either. That still doesn’t excuse her behavior. Or yours,” he added pointedly, reminding me that I wasn’t off the hook just yet.

---