Page 4 of Deliver us from Evil

Zach turns on them with narrowed eyes. “The fuck you will. We’re sticking with protocol until Gabriel’s tied up in that fucking cabin. Got it?”

Apollo nods, even dropping his gaze. Cass scoffs and gives him a dismissive wave. “Fine, whatever.” But there’s a shift in his eyes I’ve seen too many times not to know what it means.

The moment they’re out from under Zach’s watchful eye, they’ll meet up. They might even walk together anyway, despite what he says. Because although he’s taken command, Zach doesn’t control us.

I guess, after going through what we did, we’ll neverlet someone have that much say in our lives.

Apollo and Cass leave, and I make to go after them, to warn them. Because they might not like it, but Zach’s right. We have to be careful. If Gabriel slips through our fingers again…

But a hand catches my arm, squeezing my bicep hard, almost cruelly.

And I have to let the other two go.

I glance over my shoulder. Zach’s face is stone.

“Gotta run some things by you,” he says.

Code for “I need you.” Always has been.

So I stay.

We smoke a cigarette together. We have a shot of whiskey. And we listen to each other recite exactly what we’ll do to our Ghost the day we find him.

Chapter Three

Cass

Where the fuck is Apollo? I’d have stuck with him after we left the library, but he said he needed to take care of some shit. I thought he was being literal—I wasn’t hanging around for that. But that was ages ago, and he’s not answering my calls.

I need to make sure he’s okay, and that’s pissing me off.

Ihateneeding things.

Sleep.

Sex.

Coffee.

Sleep replaced the heroin. Coffee replaced the adrenaline. And sex replaced…Huh. I guess it didn’t replace anything. I suppose my brothers need things too, but they’re not addicts like me.

The least I can do is fucking own that shit.

Denial’s for pussies.

I could slip into the kitchen and make myself a cuppa. That wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows for Cassius Santos, the Hall Monitor. After, I’ll track down Apollo and find out why he ditched me.

The kitchen’s pretty bare. Can’t even find a kettle. Looks like everything’s been locked up for the big exodus. Guess then there’s less stuff to dust off when everyone gets back after summer break.

One of the kitchen guys comes out of what I assume is the pantry with a bag of what could only be potatoes and calls out, “Hey, man,” when he sees me.

I walk over. “Hey. You seen that blond guy who works here?”

The kitchen guy frowns. “Apollo?”

“Yeah, him.”

Kitchen guy shrugs. “Nah, man. He was supposed to be here to help me with this shit.” Kitchen guy cocks his head to the bag of potatoes.

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