Page 110 of Daman
“But you’ve seen ours,” I said, remembering his warning about the brothers drawing their final breaths and darkness consuming the world.
“Yes. It’s one possible future. One I pray we can avoid.” Gusion stood from his chair. “We need to make preparations. Asa gathers near our borders as we speak. When night falls, he comes for us all.”
***
Alastair had called me five times and sent several text messages. The last one?
Wait for me. Please.
I stared at my phone, debating on returning his call. The energy field around the forest fucked with electronic devices though, as Kyo had pointed out earlier. And we couldn’t speak telepathically since Alastair was too far away for my mind to reach his.
Warrin sat beside me on the log in front of the fire pit, hand resting on my knee. We had just eaten dinner, keeping the meal light. If what Gusion said was true, we’d be fighting for our lives that night. Having a full stomach would hinder our abilities, slow us down.
Gray curled up on the grass in front of the fire, propping his head against Castor’s leg. “Do you think Al and the others will feel it if one of us dies tonight?”
For someone so full of sunshine and cuteness, Gray could be morbid sometimes.
“Yes,” Castor said, watching the flames. The fire brought out the lighter shades of red in his hair. “No matter how far we are from each other, we’ll feel that thread snap. Just like we did with Kallias.”
We envisioned the bond between us as a thread, a different color for each of us. That string led to wherever we were, like following our spiritual energy. Royal blue for Bellamy, light blue for Gray, gold for Castor. Mine was green. The day Kallias died, his black thread had snapped. If I closed my eyes, I could still see the frayed edges of it.
“Kallias,” Bellamy said, and an ache radiated from him. An emotion so strong, all of us felt it. “Do you think his soul…” He shook his head, the words dying on his tongue.
“Lazarus wouldn’t have let his soul be damned when he died,” Gray said. “Kallias is in the Elysian Fields waiting for us. Right?”
Again, we didn’t answer. I planned to ask Lazarus the next time I saw him though, right after kicking his ass for lying to me about Lycus.
“Think about why he lied, D.” Bellamy looked at me. “If you knew Lycus was still alive, you would’ve fought like hell to get back to him.”
“Stay out of my head, pretty boy.”
“Bell’s right,” Castor said. “Lazarus had to kill who we were so he could shape us into who he wanted us to be. We had to cut off all ties to our old lives.”
“Since when do you defend that piece of shit?” I asked Castor. “You hate him more than any of us.”
“I’m not defending him, but it’s how you make the perfect warrior. By stripping away everything they care about and beating them down, both in body and spirit. It’s why he made us kill our fathers. It was the final stage of our training.”
“I couldn’t do it,” Gray whispered.
Castor rubbed the top of Gray’s head, a distant gleam in his eyes. “Me either.”
Gray’s chin quivered. “All of this is my fault. If I would’ve killed my dad when Lazarus told me to, he wouldn’t be with Asa right now, helping him succeed where Lucifer failed. Asa probably would’ve never learned about Gusion’s key because my dad’s the one who told him about it.”
“This isn’t your fault,” Bellamy told him. “Shit happens.”
Lycus neared the fire with Hektor by his side. “Did all of you eat your fill?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
“Says the man who used to go hungry so that I could eat.” Lycus sat beside me, pulling Hektor down on his lap. “I will always be in your debt.”
“I did it because I cared, not because I expected anything in return.”
“Wow, D,” Bellamy said. “I haven’t seen this side of you before. What happened to my grouchy little brother?”
I tossed a pebble at him. “Shut up.”
Warrin’s body rumbled with a laugh.
