When Atlas doesn’t immediately kick off, he continues, “He’s constantly trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between the two of you, but the risk of setting Nox off again is too great, at the moment.”
Atlas scoffs and kicks his toes against the concrete on the ground, a little plume of dust billowing around his shoe. “So he's fine to just sacrifice Oli?”
I shrug. “No, he trusts that I am not lying when I say that I'm fine and I can deal with him… which I am, by the way.”
Gabe shrugs. “I think if you were handling Nox differently, North would have stepped in by now. We were all around for the last time that Nox was sent off the deep end and, to be honest, you don't understand, Atlas. You can't understand, because you weren't here and you didn't see it. I'm not willing to sacrifice Oli, but if she’s fine figuring this stuff out for herself, then I'm happy to leave it up to North. He’s never led us astray before. For someone that everybody insists has to be a monster because of his Gift, he is awfully good at doing everything he can to help his community.”
There's a warm glow in my chest at hearing one of my Bonded speak so highly of another. Even though I already knew that Gabe had a great relationship with them all, it still brings me comfort to know that they look out for each other in some way.
Knowing that Atlas is also finding his place in the group, even with his incessant questions and picking things apart, is also a huge relief. I know that it’s his own response to his childhood and his parents that has him being a pain in the ass to the rest of them. He has to question everything and get to the root of every issue just to make sure that we're both safe.
Maybe someday, if I can convince Nox that I’m not an evil, manipulative Bonded who wants to take over his life and control him, I'll also be able to convince Atlas to give him a break.
Asking for two miracles at once isn't such a big deal, is it?
After an hour or so, we've cracked open all of the boxes that we need to, and Gabe and I have shifted to the tiling work itself. Gabe is good about letting me pull my own weight, and Atlas watches us both for a little while until he is sure that there's nothing left for him to do in the room before he moves on to put up Sheetrock in another room. He's much better at that than the fussy work of tiling, and I find myself comforted by the repetitive motion of laying the tiles.
Gabe is happy to work in silence, the two of us getting lost in our own heads and the work as we move together across the room. We’re almost to the door when I feel it, a sharp pain in my shoulder that can only mean one thing.
One of my Bonded has been injured.
“The last time I let you convince me to take you on a little adventure, Fallows, I almost lost my job, all of my friends, and my life, so no, I don't think I'm going to take you anywhere.”
I have to physically hold my bond inside of my chest with every inch of my willpower as I convince it that I can get this situation sorted out and get us to our Bonded.
Both of my Bonded can feel this war happening internally, and Gabe gives Kieran a look. “You're about to get your soul sucked out if you don't do what she asks, because her bond is not happy with you right now.”
Sage glances between them nervously, her brows dropped down low over her eyes, and she glances up at Kieran. “I mean, this time you're at least taking her to North and Gryphon. They can't be that mad about it, right?”
He gives her a very insulted, “Really? You're really going to side with Oli over your Bonded on this?”
She gives him a sheepish grin back. “I kind of have to. It's part of being besties.”
I scoff at their banter, but it's hard to concentrate on what's being said around me when my bond is feeling so vicious. The ache in my shoulder is still there, and it is proof that whoever it is that has been injured has not yet been healed.
My bond is pissed.
“So, what are you going to do? Get there, heal him, then just… come straight home? I need to know what your plan is if I'm going along with it this time, Fallows. I also need to know that you're going to stick to it and not just disappear on me the first chance you get.”
I take a deep breath, trying to ignore the ghost of my Bonded’s pain in my shoulder, and say as calmly as I can, “I’m going to go and find whichever one of them has been injured and heal them. I am then going to kill every Resistance piece of shit I can find to get the job done. I will then help with whatever recovery is required for Unser, and then we will all be returning back here as a group. I know my bond will not let me leave them there, so this is not going to be an in and out thing. This is me joining the mission… and all of you as well.”