“Oh God,” I whispered, leaning against the wall. I gave a little shake of my head, and it hit me fully then, what I already knew. The intensity behind the way he came to me. The heaviness in his voice. The reason he didn’t want to talk then. The softly whispered “I love you.” Oh God, what had he done? I lifted my head, meeting her gaze. “He didn’t hurt them.”
She nodded curtly. “Looks like he got hold of Solos’s blade, the one with the Pegasus blood on it. They weren’t hurt, but we need to find him. Do you know where he went?”
What I’d said hadn’t been a question, but Alex was wary—she had been wary of Seth the moment she set foot on Covenant University soil. So had Aiden, and Seth had seen that. None of that helped him, not when he got lost in his own head.
Pushing off the wall, I stepped around Alex. “He’s gone.”
“Yes.” She turned to me. “He’s—”
“He’s left.” I drew in a breath, but it got stuck and it expanded in my throat. It hurt as emotion crawled up. I took a step forward and stumbled as pressure sliced across my chest. “Oh God.”
Seth had really done it.
“Josie?” Alex put a hand on my arm. “Are you okay?”
Stepping away from her, I wheeled around and headed for the front door. Alex was hot on my heels as I reached the door and threw it open. I burst out onto the stone porch, coming to an abrupt halt as I scanned the circular driveway.
One of the vehicles was gone.
My hands fell open at my sides as I slowly shook my head. He’d really left, and with a vehicle he had hours on us, and I doubted he was planning to stay in Southern California.
“Dammit,” I heard someone say. Deacon? I had no idea when he’d gotten there. “He’s taken the damn SUV.”
Something cracked in my chest.
Pivoting around, I walked back into the house and I kept walking, even when Alex called out my name. I needed space. I needed a couple of minutes where I could think. I needed to be alone.
I passed Aiden in the stairwell. He said something, but I didn’t really understand him. Climbing the steps, I headed into the bedroom Seth and I were supposed to share. On autopilot, I stripped off the clothes and left them where they fell by the bed. In the bathroom, I cranked on the hot water, waited as steam filled the room. Sliding open the stall door, I stepped under the pelting hot water, arms limp at my sides.
And I stood there for what felt like forever, my head bowed and eyes closed. I stood there until that wave of emotion that had been crawling up my throat finally broke free, burning my eyes. The tears came again and they didn’t stop. Not for a very long time.
Everything was a mess and Seth had finally told me he loved me.
Then he had left me.
The mood in the living room was tense, even after Luke had explained that Seth hadn’t injured him, had even seemed regretful of his actions. The same with Gable, who was currently holed up in his room. It didn’t change the outcome though.
I sat on the couch, beside Alex, as everyone debated what to do next. Alex and Aiden wanted to continue to Canada to retrieve Demeter’s daughter and let Herc deal with the runaway Seth issue when he returned. Deacon and Luke were mostly quiet, and no one really asked for my input.
Probably a good thing, because I’d spent the better part of the day absolutely numb and riddled with guilt. I shouldn’t have let them put Seth in that room, or at least, not by himself. My instincts had urged me to stay with him, but I’d caved to the advice of others without saying anything. That was weak, and I’d failed him.
I was a pretty big fail when I punched him after he admitted what he done. Granted, he’d deserved that, but when he apologized and when he’d asked me if this was it, I’d said nothing. The only thing I could do at this point was to move forward. Not without him. No. Never without him.
Where could he have gone, and where could he be going? I racked my brain the entire morning and afternoon, latching onto the mystery so I didn’t slip into a soul-crushing downward spiral. And I was so close to doing that, wanting nothing more than to throw myself face-first onto the bed and sob until there was nothing left in my body.
“So, you guys are totally okay with letting Herc handle things with Seth?” Deacon asked, leaning against the fireplace I doubted was ever used. “We’re just going to forget about him?”
Aiden looked over at him. “We’re not forgetting him, but we have to find the rest of the demigods before the Titans do. Atlas might be gone, but the rest aren’t.”
“I think we need to find Seth,” his brother challenged. “We need him when they do come back, especially since he’s all kinds of special sauce right now. I don’t want to see what happened to . . . to Solos happen to anyone else.”
“I don’t want that either.” Twisting the heavy length of hair in her hands, Alex shook her head. “We need the other demigods to defeat the Titans.”
Luke cocked his head to the side. “Agreed, but we need Seth too. We need as much firepower on our side as we can muster, and he has the ultimate power, by the looks of it.”
“But . . .” Alex looked over at me, trailing off. Her shoulders tensed and she appeared to choose her words carefully. “I don’t think Seth is going to be of a lot of help right now.”
Deacon’s lips pursed. “You know, I’m just going to address the two-hundred-pound Apollyon God Killer elephant in the room.”
His brother arched a brow.
“What you all are not saying is that you think Seth’s gone all dark side again, right? That he’s hopped up on aether and is going to go on a killing binge again, but like a legit, ‘kill everything in his path’ spree this time. That’s what you’re not saying,” he said, eyes narrowing. “But the thing is, Seth immobilized Luke and Gable, but he didn’t hurt them, and you all know damn well, if he’d wanted to hurt them, he would’ve.”