Page 21 of Witches Be Damned

I rubbed my chest, missing her, hoping she kept her promise and returned to the prison. She deserved to spend a few days or a week with Raze when they were separated for almost two months.

Needing to work off those thoughts, I moved around the room in a circle and tested my legs. Kick. Knee in the balls. Yep, they still worked. Oops. Knocked a patient clipboard from Serena’s bed. I picked it up and replaced it.

Overall, I lost a few points in the strength department, my muscles groaning with complaint after a month of lesser use. Nothing a little gym training wouldn’t fix. Then I’d be back, baby! Bigger and better than ever.

“Tor!” Another bark from Knoxe.

Excuse me for taking a moment to celebrate my good fortune.

I shook off my distraction and reoriented myself. Raised voices. Arguments. A lot of irritated glares directed my way. Serena reclined in a gurney with bandages wrapped around her middle. Machines monitoring our leader’s heart rate and blood pressure. An IV drip feeding her painkiller.

Knoxe blocking Loco from killing me. Pascal resting in the adjacent bed, facial muscles ticking at every cross word.

Ah. Right. Fallout from our mission. Definitely still in Hell.

I crossed back to my team, holding onto the foot of Serena’s bed, leaning on it. The vamps got her good and tore a deep gash across her chest. Loco was lucky to get her back to the prison when he did. Guilt cramped my ribcage for dragging them into the crossfire. To Hell with my promise to Hades not to annoy him for an eternity. He was supposed to keep us safe!

I reaffirmed that I made the right choice. Supergal was alive and well, albeit with a few scratches and mental scars. And as a bonus, Knoxe had superpowers, and I didn’t need a damn wheelchair.

I did, however, owe the team an apology for dumping them into the proverbial shit. I cleared my throat and began, “I’m sorry I haven’t been present for this conversation. I, ah, got a little distracted.”

Serena gave a grim smile, the pseudo-mother of our group. “You got your legs back. That’s something to be grateful for.”

Knoxe’s harsh mouth softened at that.

I nodded and went on, “I want to apologize to everyone for dragging you all into this.” I made sure to meet all their gazes, besides Pascal’s, who stared at his tuning forks, clicking them with his thumbnail, which he did when conflict arose. “I panicked and didn’t make a smart choice.”

Story of my life. I made more of a villain arc than a superhero one. I guess they were always more interesting, anyway. That also meant I was destined for Hell, if I wasn’t already in it.

“I’m willing to accept full responsibility and take whatever punishment is coming,” I told my team. “I’ll tell the warden you had nothing to do with this.”

Serena brushed the sheet and blanket over her torso. “We were just discussing how to explain all this. We can’t exactly inform the warden that we summoned a god.”

“Avatar,” Pascal corrected.

The increasing tempo of his twitching said he grew edgier the longer we maintained the ruse when he couldn’t lie to save himself… except when he dosed on Elysian nectar.

I squeezed his shoulder to comfort him. “You missed out on meeting Hades, buddy.”

His gaze drifted to mine, a slight smile stretching his mouth wide. “Tell me about it, later.”

Abso-fricken-lutely. Play-by-play breakdown.

I returned to Serena’s point. Normally, Vartros gave us free rein to travel wherever we needed to on missions, so long as Knoxe recorded variations in his mission report. In comparison, Vancor was stiff and strict on teams following protocol. Although, he liked to bend rules, like when he sent me out with unapproved exoskeleton technology or put Pascal at a disadvantage without his magick, when technically, he should have been locked up in maximum security like Loco.

I tried not to think about our potential discipline for this or my guilt for dragging them into this mess. My mind whirred at a hundred miles an hour, trying to find a suitable explanation for reasoning away our little detour.

“How about we tell him the truth?” I proposed. “That I broke protocol and went to save Astra. You followed me… shit. No. Then I can’t take all the blame.” I rubbed my forehead.

Loco removed the pen from the clipboard and rotated it over his fingers in the absence of his beloved knife. “We can’t swing it any way other than it is. I would have gone regardless, to save my daughter.”

His support didn’t ease the tightness in my chest that they were all going down with me, “Thanks, Dad.”

The pen came to a stop and dropped into his clenched palm. “I swear, boy, if?—”

“I know, Dad,” I stole the thunder from his words. “You’re gonna kill me.”

Serena cracked a slight smile.

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