Page 14 of Warrior

While Reese watches over Artemis,I am holding vigil at Antonio’s bedside.

He hovered the line between life and death for too long, but six days and two surgeries later, his doctors are optimistic. His wife, who has remained at his side the entire time, finally agreed to go home for a few hours. She deserves a shower and a hot meal.

His kids have come home, too. I know I’m a terrible person, but I can’t remember any of their names. They all look alike, even though there are a few years between all of them. One, who I want to guess is named Anna, is asleep in the chair on his other side.

We’re waiting for him to wake up and tell us his side of the story.

Another development: Kade has disappeared.

It’s not surprising. What Reese and I overheard is essentially that he and Gabriel have been working together.

They’re both part of this gang that has moved into West Falls and made our lives hell.

Once Anna—shit, or is it Hannah?—stirs, I tell her I’m going to step out for some fresh air. Outside, I make a call to Jace King.

He’s a pain in my ass. He clocked my angry, self-destructive tendencies early on after the love of my life died, and he essentially ordered me to move in with Artemis. She was asked, but it was with full expectation of her saying yes.

It was a kindness, I think. It was meant to be.

But fuck, living with someone else immediately following her death hurt. I resented Tem to the fullest extent and made her miserable. In my head, we all deserved it. We let Elora die.

It’s unfair. I see that now.

Every barb thrown in Tem’s direction comes back to needle at me. I haunted her, unaware that she’s been haunted by Terror for a decade.

I’m an asshole.

Jace answers my call on the third ring, and I run my hand down my face. When I called Antonio’s wife, Vittoria was a mess. When I called Apollo…

Jace and Wolfe had to drag him out of the room she’s in with Reese. He wanted her about as far away from him as possible, convinced he was the reason she wouldn’t wake up.

Reminding Tem’s brother that Reese was literally in the same position didn’t help.

“Any update?” Jace asks.

“Not really.”

“Yes or no,” he says. “Apollo is glaring at me. Is she awake?”

Guilt strikes a chord in my chest. I should’ve popped into their room—it’s right down the hall from Antonio’s. Strings were pulled to get them on the same floor. But I went in the opposite direction, unable to bear seeing her unconscious.

“I haven’t heard if there’s been a change,” I settle on. “You are aware of the Cyclopes, right?”

He grunts, which is a poor affirmation.

“What are you doing about them?”

“At the moment? Nothing.”

“Why—”

“We can’t find them.”

I stop and cock my head. “What do you mean, you can’t find them?”

My attention goes to the street across the lawn. It must be the lunch hour, with the sun high overhead, because there seems to be an unordinary amount of traffic. The cars rush by. Do they know how many sick people are in this hospital at any given moment? Do they give a shit?

“We went to look for the roadblocks the past few nights, but there’s nothing. No patrol either. It’s not that I don’t believe you—I do. Sincerely. But even Madness seems to be running straight-laced. We went in and asked for Gabriel, and the bartender didn’t blink an eye.”

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