“Thank god,” he grumbled, burying his face in my neck. “Thank god you’re safe.”
I felt the tears welling again, and I quickly refocused my attention on hugging him back so that I didn’t start bawling in earnest. I clutched at his shoulders, passed my fingers through his hair and whispered nonsensical pacifications into his ear until he seemed to calm, lowering me to the floor.
“I should… ugh… you need… damn, I’m pissed at you. I’m really pissed. But I’m more pissed at myself, for obvious reasons. And… I thought you left us. I thought you ran away, and then we found Miro’s car, and I was sure you ran away… but then… then Silas…”
Noah wasn’t the most lucid speaker, and I was already aware that his speech became even more stilted when he was particularly emotional, so I filled in all the blanks for myself and then sat down on the desk, pulling my arms loosely over my stomach.
“I’m not back, Noah,” I said gently. He stopped talking immediately, and started pacing, his forehead pulled into a fierce frown.
The door opened again and I braced myself as Cabe and Quillan stormed into the room, slamming the door again behind them. Quillan halted the second he saw me, but Cabe strode forward, pulling me into his arms with the same ferocity that Noah had. My ribs were beginning to protest, but I hugged him back, and this time I was the one to start shaking. I had been too focussed on my own emotion earlier, but now I was beginning to become more aware, and I could feel the rapid pace of Cabe’s heart against my own. It was too fast, and his emotion swirled with it, travelling straight into me and affecting my body more than what I thought was possible. I could taste his fear and relief on my tongue. I pulled away from him confusedly, attempting to differentiate between him, Quillan and Noah. I could feel their heartbeats, and I could even feel the faint buzz of their emotions, but Cabe was the only one who pushed his feelings onto me like a cloak. Somehow… it made sense to me. Cabe was simply that sort of person.
“What have you done?” Quillan asked from the doorway, his voice steady. I had always loved the sound of Quillan’s voice, but on this one occasion, it seemed to seal my fate, and I hated that.
I drew away, retreating to a corner of the office to give myself the space I suddenly needed. I could feel their attention on me, heavy and fearful, and I tried to block it out, my fingers curling over the windowsill, my eyes screwing shut.
“The messenger put a bomb around my neck,” I said, my eyes trained on inconsequential details in the landscape beyond the school as I sorted through details that I could share and details that I couldn’t share. If we were in Quillan’s office, which I suspected that we were, there was a good chance that the messenger had snuck some kind of recording device in at some point.
I continued carefully. “He gave me until midnight to leave Maple Falls—”
“The room isn’t bugged.” Quillan spoke lowly, apparently reading my mind. “I combed it just this morning.” He was still using that tone of voice that dropped dread into my stomach. “You should have told us, Seph. You should have told… me.”
I could hear his quiet footfalls as he moved closer, and then I could feel the heat of his body hovering right behind me.
“I couldn’t.” The two words sounded strangled, and I cleared my throat, trying to speak normally. “I couldn’t. You would have stopped me. You would have tried to come with me. He’s never tried to kill me before. I… we… I couldn’t risk his reaction.”
I spun around, facing Quillan directly. His dark eyes were heavy and guarded, the usual drag of his heart was painful as it slapped against me, a physical reminder of how much I had hurt him, or maybe how much he had been hurt in general. I hated that I had contributed to it.
“I would have done it anyway,” I said. “I had to save Silas. You know I did. We all did, and this was the only way.”
“It’s not saving anyone if Weston figures out what you are. He’ll blow that pretty little head of yours right off your shoulders before the messenger can so much as reach for a detonator.”
I was aware that Quillan had a point, and I was aware that his intention hadn’t been to compliment me, but… he thought I had a pretty head?
Not important right now!
I shook my head a little, pushing back the strands of hair that spilled over my face. There was something seriously wrong with me if I was getting hung up on that fact to the exclusion of others. “Weston’s not going to find out. I know how to keep him out of my head.”
“Dammit, Seraph!” Quillan jerked away from me, turning and slamming his fist into the wall.