Page 97 of Aberrant Monsters
We piled into the house and Uncle Fred got to work on opening cans of soup while Archie put the kettle on.
“I need to brush my teeth.” Nandi made a face. “I can still taste puke.” She headed into the main house while I took a seat, suddenly bone-weary.
The sound of the back door opening had us all looking across the room because, hey, we were all here, right?
Except we weren’t all here.
Quentin entered, dusting raindrops off his shoulders. “It’s all under control.” His warm azure gaze settled on me. “Good work, August.”
I stared at him blankly as the anger I’d set aside toward him unleashed itself and bubbled up to help me find my voice.
“Good work? No, I didgreatwork. We all did, all except you, who couldn’t even be fucked to answer his phone.”
He blinked sharply.
“What the hell happened to being a team and being there for me? You’re supposed to be on hand for shit like this. That means making sure you fucking answer your phone. What happened this time, huh? What were you doing this time that you couldn’t answer my call?”
It was his turn to stare at me blankly. “You called me?”
I threw up my hands.
“That’s why I had to come and get you,” Uncle Fred said. “She called and you didn’t answer her.”
Quentin dug into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and stared at the screen. “I have a missed call.”
“Well duh,” Archie said.
Quentin shook his head. “I didn’t hear it.”
“Maybe put your phone on loud for next time,” Archie said.
“It is on loud. Always. I was in my room working. Just in my room.” He frowned. “I should have heard it.”
“Whatever.” I was done with this. “Get your ears fixed, or your phone fixed, or whatever, because the next time you fail to be there for me when I need you, I’ll be asking Genevieve for a new handler.”
“August—”
“I amnotgetting killed because you can’t do your job.”
His chest heaved and he nodded. “I have a meeting with Genevieve in a couple of hours. I can request a new handler for you if that’s what you want.”
For fucksake. “So you’re quitting now?”
His gaze shot up to tangle with mine. “No. I just…I failed, and you’re right, it could have cost you your life.”
“Then do better.” I shook my head. “Don’t run away. Just be there next time, okay?”
His throat bobbed. “Okay.”
“Because I need you to advocate for me, to help me control what the hell’s happening to me.”
“Something else happened, didn’t it? You hurt the eldritch without your blade. The hemorrhage Telarion mentioned…”
Uncle Fred and Archie had no idea what I could do, how I’d changed, but maybe it was time they did. They had a right to know what they were living with.
“I siphoned its energy. I fed off it. I must have ripped a hole in it somehow.”
Uncle Fred sucked in a sharp breath.
