“Fair enough.” The old man nodded frantically. “Let’s pack up and get under cover, hmm?”
#
Mira
I got Lilas to sleep and had gone into my room to clean up when Kerry and Rome came storming in.
Well, Kerry stormed. Rome strode in with a distracted look on his face.
“Can anything else go wrong?!” Kerry thundered. “I don’t need anyone else getting in my way, but now, here I am, saddled with an old man! I was already saddled with—”
I didn’t know what was going on, but I was not in the mood for another one of his tantrums.
“Us?”I snarled. “You know, wearetrying to help you, right? You can’t even be grateful for that?”
“I was gonna say a kid. Meaning Lilad.” Kerry scrubbed his hands over his face. “Look, I admit that at first I thought I should ditch you all and go it alone. Ever since I was little, I’ve only had myself to rely on and no one I could trust. It’s hard to change that way of thinking in a few months.”
I understood what he was talking about, but it still hurt that he thought of us as burdens.
“But Iamgrateful to have you all here,” he went on. “Your support means more to me than I can explain.”
“Good. I’m glad you realize that.” I shot him a narrow-eyed glare. “Now what is going on?”
Rome explained, and I frowned.
“Can we afford to trust he’s telling the truth? For example, how did he find us?”
“The Bishops told him where we were.” Rome came closer and took my hand. “There’s no way he’s the traitor. He is not physically capable of jaunting about as much as the traitor must be doing. You’ll see when you meet him.”
“He could be working for or with the traitor.” I squeezed his hand and looked up at him.
“Anything’s possible,” he agreed.
“We don’t have much choice. We need a base, and it has to be safe for Lilas. We need to find out what happened to Hank and Gina and meet up with Jax and Gigi and—”
Kerry interrupted himself with a string of curses.
“Rome, check in with Spin and Chance! I forgot all about them.”
Rome immediately pulled out his phone. Kerry dropped onto the edge of my bed, bowed his head, and dug his fingersinto his hair. I gave Rome a look that he must have interpreted correctly; he nodded before going into my bathroom to make his call.
I sat next to Kerry as he rocked back and forth. His breathing became harsher and his body trembled. I wanted to hug him, but that probably wasn’t healthy.
Should I go get Gemma’s backpack? I don’t want to get my scent on it, but it would calm him down.
“Hey, it’s okay. We’re gonna figure this all out,” I told him. “If your teacher ends up being a bad guy, we’ll take care of it, okay? Don’t stress so much about it.”
He buried his face in his hands and rocked faster.
“I want my girl,” he whimpered. “Please.Please.I just want my angel!”
Sudden tears burned my eyes. If there was anything I could do to end his misery, I’d do it in a second, no matter the cost.
“Kerry, I’m going to put my arm around you.”
He didn’t respond, so I hugged him around his shoulders and pulled him closer. He tensed up for a second, then melted against me. His face still in his hands, he folded over, laid his head in my lap, and wept.
“I’ve got you, Kerry. Go ahead and cry.”
