I don’t even know how to address this other than to say, “But I’m not whoever that other Creator was!”
“I know. So when he started accusing you right away, especially in light of Kel’s hallucinations—”
“Wait. What about Kellan’s hallucinations? Was I in them or something?”
He squeezes my hands again. “Are you sure you want to know?” I am impatient with my answer, but he takes his time telling me. “Please remember this was a hallucination and nothing more. My brother was, as you are well aware of, extremely tired, over-taxed Magically, and dangerously dehydrated and hungry.”
“Jonah. Just tell me!”
He closes his eyes for a good second before opening them to look right into mine. “He thought you stabbed him in the heart at one point, with some kind of red sword you created while he wasn’t looking.”
WHAT? “He . . . he . . .!” is all I can manage.
“If it’s any consolation, the next thing he hallucinated was that he was surfing in Idaho, and the waves were bigger than any we’d ever seen before.” He shakes his head. “There were potatoes in the water.”
STILL!
“He honestly doesn’t remember any of that, so it isn’t fair to be angry at him for things that were beyond his control. You thought you were best friends with a rabbit—”
And the hits just keep coming. “I what?”
Jonah chuckles. “All I’m saying is: cut the guy some slack. He had no control over what he saw, just like you didn’t. And he certainly couldn’t ever know that Jens would take a couple of minutes worth of hallucinations as some kind of proof that all Creators are inherently evil. But to answer your earlier questions, when I put my foot down and insisted Jens cease his ridiculous accusations, he dug his own grave by going against protocol and defying a Council member’s orders. That’s why he sent Karl in, hoping that I’d somehow back down and let Karl take your memories.”
“And the meeting you went to?”
“I’d warned Belladonna that if he continued, I’d make sure he paid. Astrid and Kate called a special Council session to discuss Jens’ breaking of Guard protocols. When he dared to accuse you of murder on the floor, I had him stripped of his position.”
I have to close my eyes. Everyone knows. All of my colleagues heard this lunatic accuse me of who knows what, and I wasn’t even there to defend myself.
“I won’t apologize for trying to protect you,” Jonah says flatly. And it’s almost funny, because normally he is so good at reading the nuances in my emotions.
“I’m not upset about that.” I open my eyes. “I would’ve done the same for you.”
“I know you would,” he says, and it makes me really happy to know he truly believes that.
“Those people,” I tell him, and it hurts to even think about them. “Earle. Nividita. Harou. They’re still missing, and I feel awful—guilty, I guess. Because here I am, sitting at home with you, safe, and they’re not doing the same with their loved ones. I couldn’t protect them, Jonah.” I swallow the large lump in my throat so I can admit the horrible truth to him. “When push came to shove, I made sure Kellan was safe. Nobody else.”
“It wasn’t your job to protect them. It was their job to protect you. And they did, Chloe. Those three made it so Kellan could get you out of there.”
My eyes sting. He can think that, say that, but the truth is, three people are missing because of me. And I may not have been the person who did the actual deed, but if in fact something did happen to them, I am the reason why.
Maybe Jens has a point after all.
Later, Jonah tells me that there is a last minute Council meeting scheduled to select a new person to run the Guard. “It’s not the entire assembly,” he explains as he gets ready to go. And then I’m given a meaningful look, one far too easy to interpret.
“You don’t think I should go.”
He bites his lip. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Jens will be there; he’s appealing the process, even though he has nowhere to go. I’ve made sure of it. Also . . .” He looks apologetic. “The subcommittee meeting requested you not attend out of fear your presence might incite more accusations and distract others from the task at hand.”
Oh. So it’s not just Jonah who doesn’t want me to go. I feel oddly numb by all this.
He shoves his wallet in his back pocket and pulls a coat out of the hall closet. “Besides, Kellan is on his way over here so you two can hang out. Which, you’ve got to admit, is more fun that Council business, right?”
“I’m sorry, what?” I say, positive I’ve misheard him. Because, I know we all agreed that Kellan and I were going to be friends, but . . . But am I ready for this? Are either of them?
Jonah sits down on the coffee table in front of where I’m lounging on the couch. “We’ve got to start sometime, right?”