Page 116 of Gift from the Nexus

“Franklin wants to see you. He’s causing Codi and the others trouble, so he called me to let me know what’s going on,” I tell her.

She looks taken aback for a second. That wasn’t at all what she thought I was going to say. And fuck, I wish there were something else I could’ve said.

“He hasn’t hurt any of them, has he?” she asks a little frantic, more concerned about everyone else’s safety.

“No, everyone’s fine. He’s just throwing a tantrum, breaking all his things in the room, refusing to eat, and constantly screaming, apparently,” I say.

The thoughts running around in her mind are practically visible to me. I’d be the same way. If the roles were reversed, I’d want to know what it is he has to say.

“You knew what I was going to decide. That’s why everyone’s already here,” she says, arching a brow at me.

“Just a feeling.”

She snorts and shakes her head, but she can’t hide the worry creeping into her eyes. Yeah, she may be curious, but she’s dreading seeing him.

“Should…” she trails off.

“If you want to call him and ask if he wants to join, you can, little warrior,” Tillman tells her and it’s easy for me to piece together, she wants to ask Lyker to come.

There’d be no other random him Tillman would be referring to.

Although with a little bit of hesitation and nervousness, she calls Lyker and informs him of what’s going on and what we’re doing. Of course he easily agrees to meet us there. So within a few minutes, Willow and Oakly have everyone’s research put away in Gaster’s secret room, which I still don’t have access to, and we make our way out of the archives.

“Ready?” Tillman asks.

“As ready as I ever am to see that man,” Willow murmurs.

“We’ve got you, Primary. One wrong move and I’ll end him,” Caspian says seriously, making her laugh.

By the time we arrive at Rebel Castle, Lyker, Aria, Lennox, Kyan, and Zane are already standing out front. Willow’s gratitude and happiness at their being here flares in my bond as soon as she sees them. Finding out you have a blood brother is quite an adjustment, but I think because of the instant connection she felt to him, even though she assumed it was because she needed to save his life, has helped both her and him accept this more freely.

They all approach her, giving her all their attention and easy hugs before even acknowledging the rest of us, and I can’t help but mentally chuckle. She really is collecting her own family, and it just keeps growing. At this point already, anywhere the three of our Nexuses go, plus Gaster, that’s sixteen people having to get closer to one another because one Primary said so.

“What do you think he wants?” Lyker asks her as we make our way into the Castle kitchens.

“I have no clue. Probably try to convince us to let him go or some shit. He made it clear he wasn’t going to give us any information on the Summum-Master or the society, so I don’t know what he’s up to.”

“You lost the bet,” Trex tells Codi as we walk into the kitchen.

Against my wishes and pushing, Willow convinced us that he should be able to be free during the day to roam around the Castle with Codi, be put to work or something instead of being locked away in a cell. I surely didn’t want to give in, but she insisted. We had a serious conversation with Codi, and he agreed to take full responsibility over him.

“What bet?” Willow asks.

“Codi didn’t think you’d come today. I said it would only be a few minutes,” he says.

“Don’t place bets on my Primary,” Caspian says coldly, while Draken growls, and I pinch the bridge of my nose. Tillman just shakes his head, and Willow smirks like it’s funny.

“Do you have any inkling of what he wants to talk to me about?” she asks.

He instantly wipes the smirk off his face and grows serious. His whole demeanor change makes the hair on my arms stand up, and I’m ready to transport her right on out of here.

“Not exactly, but it can’t be good. He probably has no choice at this point,” Trex says, and immediately, his nose starts bleeding.

Codi’s quick to grab him a cloth and Aria walks over and lays her hand on his head.

“We should’ve come back before now. There’re cracks along my rune. Why didn’t you tell anyone?” she asks Trex.

“It still felt sturdy to me. The only change was the nose bleeds are happening now even if I just think of something important.”

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