I trodded up the driveway, my mother's Ford looking comfortably familiar. The backdoor seemed like a portal to another world, and I wasn't sure I would be allowed to step through.
I felt so numb.
Jay leaned against a willow tree and closed his eyes. His body was trembling lightly, and next to these familiar surroundings, the blood soaking him looked ghastly.
Right then, Dreamer jumped down from the tree, circling me before leaning against my shoulder and pressed a kiss to my cheek. It surprised me, and I flinched back.
"Silly scaredy cat, scaredy cat, scaredy cat," Dreamer chanted next to me.
"I am," I said.
"They'll be writing songs about you by nightfall," Whisper said, eyes filled with pride.
"I bet there would have been twice as many if I had been killed like you planned, right?"
Whisper's eyes widened. "That's not..."
I cut her off. "If Absinthe was going to help me, she was going to wait until I was a dead body."
"I'm leaving," Jay said. His eyes looked filled with so much emotion that it made my stomach lurch. "I won't hold a grudge against you, any of you, but this ends now."
"I never meant to use my magic on anyone, especially not you." I reached out my hand to comfort him.
I didn't get far. He grabbed my wrist with his hand, twisting it hard. Dreamer gasped, jumping away from us.
When he spoke there was no anger, no sarcasm, no sadness. His voice was strangely empty. "Don't touch me. I won't hold a grudge on you, any of you, just let me go."
Then he dropped my hand. I was shaking, too proud to cry, too miserable to speak.
Whisper looked at me wide-eyed. "Well, Artemis, tell him he can go. He says he won't hold a grudge, and that's generous."
"No," I said, louder than I intended to. They all looked at me in surprise, although quickly Jay's eyes darkened.
I was scared, but I had to explain. I turned to him, careful not to touch him again. "Please come inside. You can clean up your cuts. I just want to explain a few things. You can leave after if you still want to."
His eyes blazed with rage. For a moment, I thought he was going to kill me before I could manage to explain anything. Then I thought he might just walk away anyway, daring me to stop him. But neither of these things happened.
"Fine, I'll come in, Artemis." Somehow he made the words sound hurtful, cutting deeply into my heart.
Whisper blinked up at Jay, apparently unable to control herself from shuddering. Dreamer watched them from a safe distance away.
"Ruby will need to know what had happened tonight," Whisper said.
"You can leave," I said. "We can talk later." I took the spare key out from underneath the glass bird fountain, and I opened the door as quietly as I could. The house was dead silent. I shivered, bad choice of words.
Jay followed me into the kitchen, and the sight of him carefully closing the backdoor and filling a Hooters glass with water from the tap was so out of place, I had to stop and stare. He drank like he never had a drop of water in his life. He must have seen me staring because as he finished the last of the water, he looked in my direction.
"Did I do something wrong?" He asked.
"No, it's alright. I'm just going to make some coffee. Uh, the downstairs bathroom is there." I pointed into the hall. "There should be bandages under the sink."
