Page 26 of Aberrant Monsters
Probably wise, because I wouldn’t put it past Telarion to go back for a midnight snack. Speaking of Telarion, there was no sign of him.
I guess the drug was still strong in my system.
“They said it would wear off,” Nandi said. “She’ll be fine, right, babe?” She looked to me for confirmation. “You’re okay, right?”
I sat up on the sofa, nursing my head. My stomach cramped and hot bile rushed up my throat. “I’m gonna be—”
A bucket appeared in my lap in time to catch a jet of vomit.
Nandi rubbed my back in circles as I ejected bile.
“You need food,” Uncle Fred said. “And a glass of milk to settle your tummy.”
“We could get Chinese food,” Archie said hopefully.
“It’s fucking five-thirty in the morning,” Nandi said.
“Donuts then,” Archie suggested.
I covered my mouth with the back of my hand. “I don’t think I could stomach anything right now.”
“Toast will be fine,” Uncle Fred said, handing me a glass of milk. “The drug they used on you takes a toll on the digestive system. It’s almost erosive, which is why it’s not a long-term solution.”
I sipped the milk. “Five-thirty, huh? How long was I out?”
“Three hours after they dropped you off,” Nandi said.
“Did you see Telarion at all?” He should have been back, merging with me for dawn.
“No. Can’t you feel him?”
I shook my head. “Not yet.”
“You will once the drug wears off,” Uncle Fred promised.
I fixed an accusing gaze on him as everything Genevieve had told me came back to me. “You know about the drug. You knew my mother was dead. How much more did you hide from me?”
He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he pressed his lips together. “I wanted to protect you.”
Which was exactly the line I’d given to Genevieve, but I needed more from him. “By lying to me?”
“By not taking away your hope.”
“So instead you let me believe that she’d abandoned me. That she just…left? Have you any idea what that’s done to me all these years? How that…” I choked on the emotions swelling up my throat. “You should have told me. I would have been upset, devastated, but at least I would have had closure.”
“That your mother was probably murdered?” His eyes glistened with unshed tears. “You think that would have been better? No. It would have propelled you into the Order, because I know you, August, you would have wanted to walk in her footsteps, to understand, to find out who hurt her and why.”
“Damn straight I would. And that would have beenmychoice. Mine.” My eyes burned with anger and betrayal.
He looked away, throat bobbing. “I wanted to keep you away from the Order, away from that life. It’s what your mother would have wanted.”
“Too late now.”
He looked up at me with an expression of raw devastation and my heart squeezed in sympathy for him.
He’d been trying to protect me, and his actions, however misguided, had been born of good intentions. I squeezed my eyes closed, wrangling my indignant rage into something manageable.
“I thought you were dead,” he whispered. “I thought the Order killed you…”
