Page 97 of Concluded
And then something heavy landed on Achilles with a thud, knocking him to the ground and pinning him in place.
It was a body… and gods, heknewthat body.When Dee tried to scramble off him, Achilles held him tight, ignoring the commotion of everyone else around them.
Dee must have been stunned or confused, which was understandable, but he came to his senses almost immediately, cradling Achilles’ face in his hands and bringing their foreheads together.“Achilles, Jesus, Achilles!”
Then they were both talking at once and everyone else was squawking and yelling and it was all chaotic.But Achilles didn’t care because Dee was here, in his arms, right now.
Except then he wasn’t, because Dee had wiggled free from his grasp and was frantically trying to pull Achilles upright.“Come on, come on,” Dee chanted.“We gotta go.Gimme a charm.”
“But we’re?—”
“Irina gave me a wish and sent me here but all the bad guys are gonna be royally pissed and I doubt it’ll take ’em long to pull me out so comeon!”
It took a few seconds for Achilles to process this, then he swore.“It’s not just you and me, Dee.There’s, uh….”He did the math in his head.“Ten.There’s ten of us.I think that’s all—we searched and haven’t found anyone else—but that’s a lot of people to move.”
Dee paused and then let out a noisy breath.“I think I can do it.We don’t have time to worry about it.Give me a charm, Achilles.”
That was a little problematic since everyone was naked and there were no angels or demons with convenient feathers in their group.“Hair?”Achilles suggested.
“Too insubstantial.”
Achilles was seriously considering biting off one of his own fingers when he heard a grunt, and then someone pressed something small, hard, and damp against his arm.“What’s that?”he demanded, but he got it in his hand before anyone answered.“Did someone just knock out atooth?”
“Veneer,” answered Kurt.“It was loose anyway.I was meaning to see the dentist.”
Dee grabbed the veneer away.“Hurry!”
“I wish all of us were safely out of here and….”Shit.Where should they land?“In my condo in LA.”It seemed as good a choice as any.At least Achilles had some clothing there, and some cash.
After mumbling something very fast, Dee gave him back the veneer.“Hang on, everyone!”Achilles ordered.“This may be a bumpy ride.”Then he made his wish.
* * *
Several people puked,and most of them didn’t make it to a toilet or a sink.Achilles could hardly blame them, although he was too busy to give his own nausea its due.As soon as he had his feet under him, he scooped Dee into his arms and started ordering people around.
“Mazur, get John comfortable on a couch.Abe, Kurt, and Des, raid the closet and dresser for clothing for everyone.Pandya, Lu, if you’re finished barfing, clean it all up.Buhalis, see if there’s anything edible in the kitchen.”
The amazing thing was that everyone obeyed without a single quibble.As if Achilles was in charge, which had never before been his role.As if they trusted him to know what to do.
And at the moment, he did know what to do, because Dee was out for the count and Achilles needed to make sure he was okay.He set him down on the other couch, checked him over for obvious injuries, and breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t find any.Then he covered Dee with a blanket and sat on the floor beside him.“You okay?”He brushed hair away from Dee’s face.
Dee’s eyelids fluttered but didn’t open, and he grunted softly.
“Is he hurt?”Abe, wearing a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that bunched around his ankles, handed Achilles a tee and pair of shorts.
“I think he’s just exhausted.Doing his thing saps his energy.”Achilles stood to get dressed.
“That was quite a thing he just did.”
“He’s fucking amazing.”
Without opening his eyes, Dee smiled a little.That was wonderful to see.
Speaking of which, it was surreal to finally see everyone, all of them now arrayed in the living room wearing various items from Achilles’ wardrobe.It had been years since he’d seen Kurt and Desmond, both of them now in their seventies.And John… well, it was painful to look at him.He was skeletal, his pale skin crossed with numerous angry-looking scars and his scalp bare except for a few wisps of transparent hair.He was sitting upright, though, propped by pillows, and his eyes were bright and clear.
Everything in the refrigerator had gone bad in Achilles’ absence, but with some help, Buhalis managed to cobble together enough food from the freezer and cupboards to fill everyone’s plates.They arranged themselves around the living room in chairs and on the floor, and Achilles reflected on the fact that this was, by far, the biggest gathering he’d ever hosted.In fact, it was theonlygathering he’d ever hosted.His nice condo with the expensive furniture had been his alone.It was kind of nice to have guests, even under such bizarre and fraught circumstances.
Kurt was the first to state the obvious.“I’m incredibly grateful to be here, but you do all realize we can’t stay, right?”
