27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Lexia

I blink furiously, trying to ease the stabbing pain in my eyes. When they water, I cover them with my hands and rub them. When the pain stops, I carefully peel them open, only to realize I'm back out in the desert. Beside me, Lumen and Ves sit in similar positions as me, as if they too were just tossed out on their butts. They both look as stunned as I feel.

"Was that real?" I manage to ask.

They turn their heads toward me slowly, and it's creepy as hell. Both look at me as if they don't know what I am or why I'm talking.

Recognition passes over Lumen's face first and he shakes out of whatever he was in and gets to his feet.

"What happened?" he asks.

I lean forward to look past him and gaze at Ves. "Are you okay?"

"I am okay," he answers, but still seems confused.

"How did we get out here?" Lumen says. "We were just inside, weren't we?"

"What do you remember?" I ask, taking Lumen's hand when he offers it to pull me up to my feet.

"The waterfall," Lumen says as the three of us start to walk away from the mountain.

"Flowers," is Ves's response.

"Did you see the man down there?"

"Man?" Lumen asks. "I didn't see anyone down there but us."

I pinch the bridge of my nose, recalling everything that happened. I remember the way Hades waved his arm so I could see Ves and Lumen. The way they were staring at those flowers, like they had them hypnotized.

Maybe they did…

"Hades has a lot of tricks up his sleeve," I comment. "You didn't see us talking?"

"You talked to Hades?" Lumen asks, sounding doubtful.

"Yes."

"We did not see that," Ves adds.

"Great," I mutter, brushing my hands along my butt to rid it of the sand. "So then, how do I know it really happened?"

"What did he say?" Lumen questions.

"Not much. He kind of freaked out when I mentioned the prophecy. Then threw a fit when he realized we all weren't here."

"So, he knew Slate was missing?" Lumen asks.

"He knew someone was missing. He kept saying that he wouldn't be able to get her back unless all four of us were there. I don't know who her is."

"I'm not well-versed on gods," Lumen says, running a hand over his head.

"Neither am I," Ves adds.

"I'm not sure it matters," I say, looking around. "Knowing who she is won't help us. He was adamant about there being four of us. There's no point in going back unless we have Slate." Neither of them says anything, but I feel them watching me. Finally, I stop and face them. "I think we need to go back to the house and wait for him."

"And if he never shows?" Lumen asks.

"Then I guess we'll have to try this again in another lifetime."

It feels good to be out of the sun and in an air-conditioned house. I'd considered going for a swim but decided on a cool bath instead. I want cold air all around me and a break from the sun. Once I'm out, I dry off, and notice the sunburn on my skin in the mirror. It's not the worst I've had, but my skin is pretty red, and I can already feel the pain.

I get dressed in a pair of shorts and a cami before making my way to the living room.

"My love, what has happened to you?" Ves says from the couch, causing Lumen to glance my way.

"It's just a sunburn."

"A nasty one," Lumen says, walking toward me and leaving the food he was prepping on the counter.

"It's not so bad."

"I can heal it," he says.

"You can?"

He presses his hands to my shoulders and runs them down my arms. The slight burn that was there is now gone. I smile up at Lumen.

"Thank you."

"It is still red," Ves says with a frown.

"I shouldn't have said heal," Lumen explains. "I took the pain of the burn away, but I cannot take away what it has done to her skin."

"It's okay, Ves. It'll go away in a few days." I drop onto the couch beside him and snuggle up to his side. "What are you making?" I ask Lumen.

"Chicken kabobs. I was going to grill them but may air fry them inside. It'll be faster."

"Faster sounds better," I say. "I'm starving."

"Air fry it is."

He gets busy in the kitchen while Ves scrolls through the list of movies, looking for something to watch. Coming back to this normalcy makes it seem like our whole adventure today didn't happen. I mean, did we really climb a mountain in Vegas, then travel to the underworld, all to be home by dinnertime? The thought is a little nuts, but that seems to be my life lately.

When the food is done, we eat. When we're done eating, we make our way to the couch to finish the movie Ves chose earlier—Divergent. I've never seen this one before, but I like it. If only I didn't have to keep forcing myself to pay attention, I bet I'd like it more. But my mind keeps wandering back to Slate, and wondering where he is.

I'm somewhere between worried and angry. Talking with Lumen made me think what happened wasn't all that bad. That whatever his excuse is, is a good one. But Slate not coming back makes him look guilty—or like a liar. I don't know what to think about it and don't want to think about it at all. I want to take a break for the rest of the night, watch this movie, and deal with all this crap tomorrow. Or maybe in a week. So that's what I do. At least, that's what I plan to do, but the universe has other plans.