The Edge (Book 5 of The Claiming Series)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Where is everyone?

Why can't I remember?

Sirens.

Sirens mean a state of emergency.

Sirens mean everyone who is able must take action.

That's why Eli is gone.

That's why everyone else seems to be gone.

But Eris, too? We had all agreed that if this were ever to happen, Eris would stay with me. Just in case. Charlie had actually suggested it.

Charlie.

I step over to his door and bang on it.

Movement comes from inside. After about half a minute, the door creaks open, and Eris is blinking at me with half-asleep eyes. "What's wrong?"

I shake my head, and then tears start pouring from my eyes before I can stop them. She opens the door wider and ushers me inside.

Charlie isn't there, so he must be where everyone else is.

Eris guides me to the bed and has me sit on the edge. She takes the crying baby from me and disappears from the room for a moment. She returns with a diaper bag slung over her shoulder and shuts the door behind her. "Your mom left this by his bassinet. She said it has everything in it. Do you not know what... I'm sorry... but do you know what you're doing? You're about to give birth yourself any day now."

I shake my head. "It's not that—It's—I don't know what's going on. I can't remember—anything."

"What do you mean?" She holds Levi in the crook of her arm as she digs in the diaper bag.

I take in a huge breath and let it out in shudders. "I don't remember anything after the dinner last night," I say.

Eris's eyes round. "Nothing?"

I shake my head. "I felt so weird waking up, and then I was in so much pain. It went away, but I still feel a little strange. Where is everyone?"

"Bayfell attacked us last night," she says.

I hold my breath. While I expected something like this, I didn't want to actually come to terms with that. Eli's out there facing his nightmare, and I couldn't do anything to help him prepare.

"You were acting a little strange," Eris says. She lays the baby on the bed and starts to change his diaper. "Like, you weren't reacting to much of anything, and you were staring off into space. When Eli left you, he was real worried, but he didn't know what else to do. I told him I'd get you to bed and you'd be okay. Your mom asked you if you'd take Levi, and when you didn't respond, I said you would."

"Okay, but what about Aria?"

Eris bites her lower lip but doesn't respond. She finishes up Levi's diaper change and gets to her feet. She holds him close to her and starts bouncing him as his crying starts to ease.

"She's not... She went to fight?"

Eris locks eyes with me, and I know.

"She's just a child," I say, my voice echoing off the high ceilings. My fingers curl around the comforter of the bed.

"She wouldn't take no for an answer," Eris says. "Eli tried to get her to stay here, and so did your parents, but she's so headstrong. You know that. She said she'd fight and took off with a squad of guards already heading out."