28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Lexia

Breaking glass has the three of us jerking awake. All I see is darkness, besides the blurry numbers on the clock. Vesperon is already out of bed, rushing for the door. I hop out of bed too, reaching for my glasses and shoving them on. Lumen is in the doorway, holding out his hand in a stop gesture so I can't get out.

I wasn't planning to go anywhere, I just wanted to see.

Lumen pops his head around the door frame, and whatever he sees has him running out there. Of course, I follow, because now I need to know what's going on.

Lumen is kneeling on the ground, leaning over an unmoving Slate.

"Oh, my stars," I gasp, covering my mouth.

"Is he dead?" Ves asks, standing on the other side of Slate.

"No," Lumen answers. "But he is hurt."

"How is he hurt? He can heal himself," I say.

"I don't know, but he is." Lumen stands, lifting Slate and moving to the kitchen table to lie him down. I flick the lights on and gasp again when I see blood covering his exposed skin.

I put the pieces together now. Shattering glass. Slate unmoving. Bloody skin.

Someone threw Slate through our window.

Or he threw himself, which is unlikely but possible.

Looking at the now broken window, I notice the couch and how the cushions have been tossed about.

"Ves," I whisper.

He looks where I am looking and hurries over. He scours the area, running his hands along the couch and underneath it. He tosses every pillow and cushion off.

"The journal is gone," he says, standing up straight.

"Damnit," Lumen hisses under his breath. "We can't worry about that now. He needs help. Darling, please get the med kit in the bathroom. Ves, I need some wet towels."

Begrudgingly, Vesperon goes to the kitchen sink and wets some of the dish towels. I hurry to the bathroom and go under the sink to pull out the kit.

"Take out the antiseptic solution," Lumen says when I put the kit down on the table. He is already dabbing at spots on Slate's body with the wet towels.

"Are you sure he's alive?" I ask frantically, my fingers shaking as I get what Lumen needs.

"He is breathing," Lumen answers, brow furrowed as he focuses on Slate's injuries.

I hand him the antiseptic solution, to which he squirts all over Slate's arms, and is more careful when he applies it to Slate's face. He tears his shirt open, and there are a ton more cuts there. He squirts the solution there too.

"I need tweezers. Gauze. Tape," Lumen fires off.

I pull the items out and hand them to him.

He hands the tweezers to Ves. "Start on his face. Carefully remove any pieces of glass you can see."

Ves gets to work and I have to step away. I've always been squeamish but seeing something like this happening to someone you care about… it's so much worse. I have to give my back to them so I can have a moment to breathe.

I get a flash of my father, dead , and I whirl back around to Slate. "What if this is another situation like my father? What if this is fake? What if he's pretending?" I shout.

Lumen shakes his head. "This is real blood."

"But he isn't even human. How can he die in a human's body? It's a trick."

"It's not a trick," Lumen grounds out. The tone of his voice tells me his patience is wearing thin. He's never snapped at me like that before, and it hurts my feelings. I'm only trying to help by offering my opinion so this situation doesn't get worse. The last thing we need is for this to get worse! I'm not sure what I can believe and who I can trust.

While they work on cleaning up Slate, I do the only thing I can think of to keep myself busy. I work on cleaning up the couches, sweep the floor of glass, then go to the recycling to pull out pieces of cardboard to cover the window. I dig around in the junk drawer in the kitchen for the duct tape. I get to work covering the window with the cardboard and taping it so it stays in place. It isn't going to keep anyone out, but clearly even a locked window couldn't do that. Nothing can keep these shadows out, if they are, in fact, the ones behind this.

Lumen didn't bother putting up wards here because he knew they wouldn't hold and it would take away from his energy, having to always keep them there. So really, it seems nothing is keeping these shadows out at all.

"What if we try to reach out to my father?" I ask when I'm all done.

Lumen just shakes his head, working on covering Slate's wounds with gauze.

"Lumen, my father could help. He could—"

"Your father can't help us!" he shouts.

"You don't know that," I argue.

"Yes, I do, Lexia. Please, just trust me." His eyes are pleading, so I let him be. He's stressed, that much is obvious. Maybe he needs some space. So that's what I give him. Problem is, when I sit to do that, my head reels with questions and worry.

How is it he's dying if he isn't human? Why would the shadows throw him through the window? Why did they take the journal now and not before?

No matter what trail of questions I go down, I always go back to Slate dying. How?

That's what has me the most messed up. I want— no , I need Slate to be okay. He can't actually be dying, can he? I mean, humans could live through being tossed through a window, so certainly he can too, right? Right?!

It seems like forever before Lumen speaks again.

"He needs rest. Maybe he'll be better in the morning."

I nod slowly. Lumen offers me his hand and tugs me up and pulls me to his chest.

"I'm sorry for shouting," he says softly.

"I'm sorry for asking so many questions."

"No, darling. Don't be sorry for that. I was caught off guard and let my emotions get the best of me. It wasn't fair to you."

I nod as he lets me go. "Let me make him up a bed on the couch, this way he won't be disturbed."

"I will stay with him," Ves offers, which has me shocked. He must see it on my face. "I would rather be the one to watch him in case he tries anything funny. Besides, I am no longer tired."

I grab a pillow and an extra blanket from the bedroom and fix it up on the couch. Lumen carries Slate to the couch and lays him down. We work to get him comfortable while Ves stands off in the corner, looking exactly like the intimidating shadow he is. For some reason, I find it insanely attractive.

Before going to bed, I kiss Ves. "I love you, Vesperon," I tell him.

He cups my cheek. "You are my everything," he responds.

I take Lumen's hand and we head toward the bedroom.

"Hopefully he'll be better in the morning," I whisper.