this whole ‘rebellion’ thing as long as everyone else, but I thought a little vacation would be kind of nice.”
“Don’t you really mean you think it would be nice for all of us to get away from Solomon’s mood swings?” Darcia said, picking up two cards and shifting them around.
Mina thumped her teacup down. “If you’re going on a trip, you can’t leave him out. If he decides not to go, that’s fine, but you can’t exclude him.” She tapped her cards on the table. “Why don’t you just apologize for whatever it is you did, Mathieu?”
“Because I didn’t do anything! One minute we’re fine, the next he won’t say two words to me. Although I prefer the silence to his thinly veiled contempt.”
Elise’s brow furrowed. “Yes, even Nathan is worried.”
“I heard about that.” Avanon said. “Supposedly, Solomon flipped out so badly that he broke a table at the head quarters. He was fine and talking with Alykih one minute, then snapping the poor furniture in half the next.”
The pink-haired woman nodded. “I heard the same thing.”
Mina frowned. “Okay, that’s a little extreme, even for him.” She admitted.
“Gin.” Mathieu said, setting down his hand. “Maybe it is me.” He frowned. “I mean, if he’s never been like this before…?”
Avanon cleared her throat. “Now that isn’t exactly true.” She said. “He’s been this way twice before that I can remember. The time that Mina was in a coma, and the time when Mathieu wasn’t coming out of his room after Avian passed. Both times he got randomly violent, and both times he was pretty stressed.”
Darcia considered. “Actually, you’re right, aren’t you? Mathieu, walk us through what happened right before he got mad.”
Mathieu sat there for a moment, thinking. Solomon had been being normal until Enak had taken an interest in him. And then he’d said…what was it…”Instinct.” He said out loud.
“What was that?” Mina asked.
“Right before he started to get all weird with me, we were in the Sky Pillar and Enak knew I was there, even though Solomon tried to hide me. He got all ubёr protective and then when I asked what it was about, he said ‘instinct’. Since then, he’s been acting all weird and violent…” Mathieu rubbed his brow.
“Enak is the kid with the god, right?” Avanon asked, clearly not completely in the loop. “Why were you hiding?”
“So you’re saying that after—“ Mina was cut short by Elise standing suddenly, eyes flicking around the room in a panicked fashion. “Elise? Elise what is it?”
Elise’s teal eyes were unfocused, and her breathing was uneven. No one moved, and when Darica made to stand, Mina’s hand caught his arm. She shook her head. Time seemed to stop until Elise collapsed back into her seat, eyes clearing. “It’s Nathan. Something’s wrong.” She grabbed Mina’s hand, looking into her eyes.
Mathieu called for Nikola with his mind, pulling her to him. She scampered in with a half eaten flower hanging out of her mouth. Whaat?
“Nikola, I need you to get us to Nathan. Now.” He looked down at the Shadowrider. She dropped the flower and skittered to him. A pool of darkness was already opening around them.
“And hurry.” Elise said, her voice high with worry.
Chapter
Fourteen
They arrived at the house a few minutes later. Elise took one look around the house, saw no Nathan, and started up the stairs on hurried feet. She practically busted through the door, only to find Solomon and Nathan playing a game of chess; they were sharing a bottle of brandy as they played. Swallowing hard, the others just behind her, Elise pulled up a chair beside the redhead and smiled at him in a way that hid the terror that had been on her face just moments before they’d entered the room.
“Who’s winning?” Elise said, laying her head on his shoulder in a sisterly way.
Unwilling to be around Solomon, Mathieu turned around and went past Avanon and Darcia, going downstairs. He looked around and spotted Adele in one of the sitting rooms, sans Josette, reading a book. Considering the rarity of her being alone, he wound through the house to where the blonde was curled up. If Elise had seemed something bad happening, he was sure it would happen; now, however, they were here just in case and there was just no use worrying about it until it happened. “Hey Adele, how are you?”
She looked up and smiled, gold hair shining. “Hey, Mathieu. I’m good, how are you?”
“Fine enough. Where is…uh, Josette?”
Adele laughed sweetly and swept her