“Huh.” Aiden tilted his head to the side.

“You see, Hyperion was gunning for Josie. Seth made sure she got here, and some shit went down, but Seth kept her real safe,” Solos continued. Next time, I wasn’t going to stop when I had my boot on his throat.

Alex eyed me intently. “I feel like I need to say thank you. I mean, she’s family. Which is kind of weird. And actually,” she paused as she scooted forward, “there’s a lot I need to thank you for.” She glanced at Aiden. “A lot that we—”

“That’s not something we need to do.” I was off the wall in a nanosecond. “I’ve got to go.”

I didn’t wait for a response. I stepped out of the room and headed through the relatively empty lobby. The door didn’t swing shut behind me.

“Seth.”

Fuck me.

“You keep walking,” Aiden said. “I’ll keep following.”

Of course.

Tipping my head, I swallowed a mouthful of curses before I turned around. “What do you want?”

Aiden walked up to me, and for a couple of moments, we just stood there, nearly toe to toe, neither of us speaking. How many times in the past had we ended up in this stance? More times than I could count. Usually we’d be seconds away from going at each other’s throats. We did not have the greatest past together, but the last time I’d seen him . . . I saw a man who was broken.

Now I saw a man who was whole.

“There’s a couple of things I need to tell you, and then there’s something I need to ask you.” Aiden lowered his chin as he spoke. “I know you aren’t exactly thrilled that we’re here, but Alex has been waiting to see you since she found out what you did. I know you don’t want to hear it, but I’m going to say it, and the next time Alex goes to say it, you’re going to let her do just that.”

I opened my mouth, but he went on. “We owe you everything and we know that. And I know you don’t want to hear this, but thank you. Thank you for what you did for us.”

Mouth clamped shut, I fixed my gaze on the wall.

“We won’t forget that,” he added, and then after a pause, “even if there are days—months, and probably years—where I wish I could forget that.”

I huffed out a laugh as I looked back at him. “I really don’t like you, Aiden.”

His lips twitched. “Good. Because I still don’t like you either.”

“Perfect.” I started to back up. “Anything else, Saint?”

“Yeah. Just one more thing.” Aiden’s eyes turned gunmetal gray. “Are you still connected to Alex?”

“Why don’t you ask her?”

“I’m asking you.”

I drew in a deep breath. There was no point in lying. “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

CHAPTER 15

Josie

“This is kind of weird,” Colin stated as he stared out over the nearly empty cafeteria. “It’s like a ghost ship. Well, maybe a ghost cafeteria.”

Holding my plate of bacon and bottle of apple juice, I had to agree that this was weird. Normally there were a lot more students in the cafeteria on Sunday morning. Right now, I could count on both hands how many were actually in the room, and they were pures.

Pures who watched us warily as we sat at a small round table near the windowed wall overlooking the statues of the eleven remaining Olympian gods. I could feel their stares as I screwed the lid off my juice.

What was also weird was that Luke and Deacon were normally waiting for us in the lobby of the dorm or, if one of us was late, they were already in the cafeteria. Luke was an earlier riser, meaning he’d drag Deacon out of bed even if the boy was half-asleep.

They weren’t here.

Of course, it sort of made sense. Deacon was probably spending time with his brother. They might even end up here. And from what I gathered, Luke was super close with Alex. The whole gang might walk in at any moment. So it made sense, but it was also just weird, because we were missing people.

And Seth?

Seth had stopped coming to breakfast the day he’d stopped training me. I was still getting used to it.

“You think everyone is in hiding?” Colin asked, scooping up his egg whites. Ew. Who just ate eggs without the yolk? The yolk was the best part. “Or was there a massive party last night and we weren’t invited?”

“And everyone is hungover now?” I smiled as I picked up a slice of bacon. “It’s possible.”

He snorted as he rested his elbow on the table. “We’re just that uncool.”

I was feeling pretty uncool and in desperate need of a pity party, but I didn’t know Colin well enough to be comfortable with me turning into a whale-sized baby in front of him. “Probably has to do with the fight yesterday. Maybe people don’t feel entirely safe right now.”

“True. I like the idea of there being a big party, though.” He chewed his eggs. “Or it could be the fact we now have two more demigods roaming around campus.”

The yummy-tasting bacon turned a little sour in my stomach.

“You guys are like mogwais fed after midnight,” he continued.

I cracked a smile at that. Though none of us were as cute as a mogwai.

Colin finished off his eggs and then moved on to his whole-wheat toast. All the butter in the world dumped on that bread wouldn’t make it taste like anything besides cardboard. “So, do you know those two? Aiden and Alex?”

Shaking my head, I put my bacon down, no longer hungry, which was a crime when it came to bacon. “No. Yesterday was the first time I’d even seen them.”