I didn’t like it, but he had a point. With my powers blocked, I was more hindrance than help. “Fine.”
An almost painfully stunning smile appeared on his face, warming his otherworldly beauty. “Is it a deal then?”
“It’s a deal, Sethie.”
Chapter 23
Seth
The following evening, Josie fell asleep on the couch while waiting for Alex and Aiden to come back in after Aiden received a call from one of the communities in Georgia. They’d only been gone five minutes, and she was already fast asleep.
Sitting at her hip, I brushed her hair back from her cheek. Her skin was too cool. Jaw working as frustration rose inside me, I looked over at a nearby cabinet. Lifting a hand, I willed the door open and tapped into the air element. A soft, thin blanket flew across the room. I snatched it up and then twisted back to Josie, draping it over her body.
Restlessness stirred within me like a slow-moving storm coming ashore, a sure sign that I would need to feed in the next day or so. I could probably go longer, but I didn’t want to let my levels slip. Not when Josie was in such a vulnerable state.
My gaze dropped to those damn bands. We had to get them off. Since the gods had created the damn bracelets, I suspected only they could remove them.
Drawn by approaching footsteps, my gaze flickered to the doorway. A second later, Alex popped her head in through the doorway. I held up a hand. Turning back to Josie, I bent over and kissed her cheek. She didn’t stir as I rose and joined Alex just outside the living room.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Alex peeked into the living room once more. “She’s asleep again?”
Rubbing a hand across my chest, I nodded. “She fell asleep about a minute after you guys walked out of the room.”
Concern pinched Alex’s features. “She hasn’t gotten sick again, has she?”
“Not since this afternoon.” I glanced into the living room as one of the white-robed servants bowed and then passed by in the hallway. Josie had eaten a late breakfast this morning and was sick again. She hadn’t vomited, but she’d been rocking cold-green for a while. “It has to be those bands on her wrists. I . . .” I trailed off, because what could I say? There was something wrong with Josie and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
Alex placed a hand on my arm. “We’ll figure something out.”
“So I’m guessing we haven’t heard from Marcus?” Last night, I’d had Alex call her uncle to see if he’d heard of these types of bands before. He hadn’t, but he had access to the massive library with a ton of ancient texts. There had to be something about the bands in there.
She shook her head.
Aiden rounded the corner, slipping his cell into his pocket. “You know I’ve been checking in with communities in the southern states. I just heard back from one outside of Atlanta. Other than sporadic daimon attacks, they haven’t noticed any suspicious missing persons.” He leaned against the wall, crossing his legs at the ankles. “I also heard back from the communities in Phoenix and Scottsdale. Thought to check this out since Josie said it was really hot.”
Alex tilted her head to the side with a slight frown. “There are trees in Arizona?”
Both Aiden and I turned and looked at her. He raised a brow. “Yes, babe. There are trees in Arizona.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know there are trees, but she said it was heavily wooded.”
Aiden’s lips twitched. “There are a couple of national forests there.”
“Huh,” Alex murmured. “Learn something new every day.”
I shook my head. “Anyway, any leads there?”
“No, but I did speak to one of the guards in Baton Rouge. They haven’t had a lot of missing pures, but interestingly, they’ve had what I suspect were shade attacks.”
That was something. “Where there are shades, there are Titans nearby.”
“The thing is, though, that Josie said she felt like she was kept in a basement of some sort,” Aiden said. “I don’t think a lot of homes or businesses there would have basements.”
“Maybe it wasn’t a basement,” Alex jumped in. “Maybe it just felt like one to her.”
She had a point. “It needs to be checked out, but I’m not leaving Josie. She’s not going to like hearing that, but that’s not going to change.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. “You might want to try to discuss it with her in a less dickhead way, and she’d probably be more understanding.”
I shrugged.
“You could pop me there, couldn’t you?” Aiden asked. “Would only take a few seconds. Then I can see if I can catch me a shade and . . . convince it to talk.”