Page 103 of Warrior

“You okay?” I stare at her.

I mean… we just had a moment. A long moment. To go from that to this, rather abruptly, has got to be unsettling.

“I just have a headache. It’s fine.” She glares at me. “Help me find Antonio.”

Reese sighs. “We will.”

“If we had cameras…” She casts another glance at Antonio’s office, then grimaces. “No, it’s fine. We can find him the old-fashioned way, right?”

“Right,” we echo.

We go out into the club, and she yells over the music, “I’ll take this level!”

Then she’s gone, worming through bodies and disappearing from sight.

What the fuck?

“Keep an eye on her,” I bark at Reese.

Then I continue down the stairs and into the mob on the dance floor.

26ARTEMIS

There’sno sign of Antonio. Every passing moment I don’t see him, my pulse jumps higher, until it feels more like a hummingbird’s wings than a heartbeat.

I wanted people to feel like they could get lost in Bow & Arrow. The hallways are dim and twisting, all glittering dark marble with gold and silver veins. The sconces on the walls cast low, warm light on the floor in shallow half-circles.

There are too many people here. The music is too loud.

I haven’t seen a single person I recognize—and that’s shocking. I know a lot of people, both from years owning Bow & Arrow or from attending Olympus religiously.

The hallways, while somewhat of a maze, always lead back to the main dance floor. Some of the halls split off into smaller rooms. Quiet ones. Although they’re regularly patrolled to make sure nothing bad happens in them—like wandering hands, for example—now they’re filled with writhing, naked bodies.

I shudder and turn away instead of trying to stop it.

I’m picking my battles.

Gabriel appears in front of me.

A flicker of fear skips like a stone across my body. He appraises me, his head cocked.

There’s a pause in the music. The end of one song, and a breath before the beginning of another.

“You don’t look so hot, Artemis,” he says in the quiet. His solemn expression suddenly cracks, a grin splitting his lips. “I’ve missed your visits. You’ve been so, so strong. That’s got to be tough, don’t you think?”

I grit my teeth. “I’m fine.”

The next song begins.

“Fineis a boring word. How do you feel?”

I can barely hear him. Wordless music, a heavy electronic beat, scrapes at my brain and vibrates in my chest. It makes me feel worse, honestly, but I can’t do anything to stop it. I won’t show weakness in front of Gabriel.

He inches closer, until his mouth is at my ear. “Do you want to climb out of your skin? Have you been able to keep food down? Pesky nausea. It’s okay to be in this position. It’s okay to fail.”

“What happened to you, Gabriel?” I exhale. “How did you become this?”

His lips move at my ear. “I blame you for what happened, but it was the waiting that killed me. Can you imagine that? Just lingering on the edge of living foryears, to no avail? I like to think I didn’t waste them—it was a good cause. But when I finally woke up, I was angry. At you, at Antonio, at everyone who let Terror remain. I simply found someone who understood—and fed—my anger.”

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