A line formed between his brows, and I hurried off the stage before he asked questions. Clearly
people had been keeping him in the dark about the whole gnome situation. Thank goodness.
“Jessie, a word?”
Sebastian waited a little off to the side, wearing a black suit without any flare or even a watch.
Nessa stood beside him, and their faces were closed down in guilt and grief.
“Yeah, what’s up?” I asked, meeting them.
“I know you don’t want to hear how sorry I am,” Sebastian said, and I sucked in a breath. He blamed himself for having missed the mark on predicting how the attack would go down. It was a stupid thing to be upset about. How could he have known? How could any of us have known? “I wanted to thank you for taking us in.” He gestured between Nessa and himself. Nessa nodded. “Like everyone, we found an open and receptive family with all of you. I’ve enjoyed working within Ivy House and enjoyed trying to beat my fear of shifters. But I am unsettled by how much Momar’s operations and abilities have changed and grown. He was able to protect secrets that should’ve been too big to protect. Nessa and I have work to do. A lot of work. We can’t risk this happening again. We won’t be going back to O’Briens with you.”
“What?” I asked, aghast. “Why? You can do your work from there. You don’t have to leave.”
They both shook their heads.
“We’re going to have to go mobile for a while,” Nessa said. “Serious shadow mode. We need to make new friends and do new terrible deeds. We can’t do that within the safety and comfort of O’Briens. But it’ll be fine, okay? We won’t be gone forever, and people aren’t going to be bothering you for a while. They’ll circle you. Let them. I’ll reach out with an encrypted line so you can get in touch. If you get any invitations for dinner, let me know and I’ll tell you if it’s dangerous or not. After this, you’re going to be the new big power on campus. When things rev up again, you’ll want us to be much better prepared. Until then, take a break. You’ve earned it.”
I hugged Nessa. “Thank you for what you did when I was on the edge. I felt the energy. I think you have a gift.”
She shrugged. “No more so than Janes who do healing energy, but I’m glad it worked. Sometimes it does more than others.”
I shook my head, just about to launch into a long list of reasons why they wouldn’t be leaving, but the look in Sebastian’s eyes stopped me. The hurt. The uncertainty. He needed to set himself to rights and get his bearings. I felt that about him. And I needed to support him.
For a little while, at least. There was no way I’d allow him to stay gone for too long.
So I nodded, stopped myself from crying, and hugged him tightly. “Take care of yourself, okay?
Don’t do anything too terrible. And if you need help, I’m always there. Okay? Don’t be gone long.”
I watched them disappear into the crowd, feeling like I was losing them, too.
“Today sucks,” I said, folding myself into Austin’s arms.
“The last two weeks have sucked. Let’s go drink some basajaunak brew and try to forget.”
“Sounds good.” I angled my face up for a kiss. He complied quickly. “I love you,” I told him.
“I will love you for eternity.”
NESSA
NIAMH and the rest of the Ivy House crew slowly walked toward the park, apparently not planning to drive. She and Sebastian stopped beside them.
“Okay,” Nessa said. “This is it. We’re out.”
“Wait, right now?” Ulric held out his hands like he aimed to hold them back. “No way. Let’s go to the park. You can leave when we all leave. There’s no rush.”
“There’s definitely a rush,” Sebastian replied. “Momar’s people are scattered every which way, and he’s got to be pissed. We need to get in there.”
Ulric wrapped Nessa into a tight hug, then wrangled Sebastian for one as well.
“This is stupid,” Jasper said, hugging her as well. “We never even got to bang. I thought you said you were going to save me a ride?”
“Rain check,” Nessa said, pointing at him with a grin.
“That’s what you said last time.” He pouted.
After saying goodbye to the others, she found Brochan and spread her arms. This time he actually bent to hug her. She breathed him in, feeling their energy kindle but not set fire.
“Stay safe,” he said, pulling back.