Laughing, I took the candy and bit into it. “I think that’s an understatement,” I said as we pulled out onto the street and headed for home.
We barely managed to drag our asses up the stairs and into our respective showers. By the time I was clean, I felt like I had been pummeled black and blue. I had more bruises on me than I had managed in a long while, even with the workouts I was putting in at the gym. Yutani was training me in martial arts, and he didn’t pull his punches.
When I slipped into my robe, I smelled some sort of wonderful aroma from downstairs. Amazed that Angel had the strength to even work a microwave at this point, I padded down the stairs to the kitchen, my stomach rumbling.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I asked as I popped into the kitchen.
Angel grinned. She was sitting on one of the stools by the island counter with two plates in front of her. They were heaped with corn bread and smoked salmon, and artichoke dip and the rest of the peach pie also sat on the table.
“Oh my gods, how on earth did you find the strength to make all of that?”
“Grab a plate and sit down.” She handed me one of the plates, and—carrying the other—joined me at the table.
My stomach suddenly realized it was famished and began protesting with a vengeance. It rumbled so loud that Angel started to laugh.
“For heaven’s sake, eat. These were my contributions to the Lughnasadh potluck. I was going to take the artichoke dip and the cornbread. We just happened to have some smoked salmon in the fridge, so all I had to do was pull everything out and fix us a couple plates. The peach pie is left over from last night, remember?”
“Well, I appreciate it. I’m so tired I’d probably just stick my head in the fridge and scarf down the first thing I laid my hands on.” I slumped forward. “It was rough, Angel. It was more than rough. I’m really afraid what things will be like in a few months if the dragons keep this crap up. And it’s not just here—it’s all over.”
Angel stared at her plate, picking over her salmon. “I want to warn Cooper. I don’t want DJ in danger. I’m going to ask Herne if I can tell him everything that’s going on.”
“Well, you can bet tomorrow morning the news will be full of what happened. And if anybody managed to catch a glimpse of that dragon except us, you know that’s going to be hitting the air waves. They can’t keep things like this quiet.” I spread the dip on my cornbread and added smoked salmon.
“What do you really think’s going to happen?” Angel asked after a moment. “Do you think… Will we lose the world to Typhon?”
I wanted to tell her no, that everything would be fine. But I didn’t know. I had no idea what was going to happen over the next few months. If the gods could get their act together and figure it out, we had hope. If not, then I had no clue what we’d be facing.
“I don’t know, I really don’t. I want to say yes, because I really want to believe that we’ll be okay. But so many things depend on whether the gods can figure out his weaknesses and how to drive him back into stasis.” I paused to eat for a moment.
Angel sliced the remainder of the pie and handed me a plate. “Ember, if the world falls to Typhon, you’ll be moving to Annwn, won’t you? With Herne?”
I looked at her, frowning. That thought hadn’t even occurred to me. “I have no idea. I guess…that might happen, but I would think we’d be needed more than ever over here. If we do go to Annwn to live, you and DJ are coming with us. That’s just a given.”
She smiled, a look of relief sliding over her face. “Thank you. I wondered, but I felt awkward asking. If things get really bad, I want to bring DJ up here to live with us. I can find my own place, if need be—I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”
“DJ could stay here. We have a third bedroom. I don’t have a problem with that.” I polished off the cornbread and started in on the pie. “But don’t you think he’d be safer down at Cooper’s? The dragons will