Chapter 20
PRUE
I am waiting for the guys to bombard me with questions or lecture me about control—something. But both of them come inside and head into their respective rooms. They don't say a word and they disappear for the rest of the evening.
Great. Silence. Because that's exactly what my anxiety needs right now—more fuel for my overthinking brain. Even when being attacked, and technically saving their asses, my brain won't let me stop over-analyzing every action and consequence. Their silence feels like a comment on me. Did I do something wrong?
I spend the rest of the evening replaying everything that happened. I don't even bother trying to sleep so when morning hits and by the time I've showered and poured my third cup of coffee, I'm ready to scream. Anything to break this maddening loop going on in my head.
It's 5am but I am going to wake the guys. Because if I have to be awake and miserable, so do they.
I march to Emmett's room and bang on the door straight away. "Emmett," I say, pushing the door open. "I need you to get up." I flip the light switch, and he flashes me a look of complete disgust, one eye open, his hand in front of his face trying to block the light out.
"Prue, what the hell?"
"Get up," I instruct.
"What time is it?"
"5AM."
"Prue-"
"Emmett, for fucks sake we need to talk about what the hell happened. Get. Up." I slam the door and retreat heading upstairs to Grayson's room.
I don't even bother to knock on Grayson's door. I swing it open, turn on the light, ready to face his brooding silence. But the room is empty. The bed is still unmade, but there's no Grayson in sight.
"Grayson?" I call into the empty space. Silence. Not sure what I expected. Him to magically appear? I head back downstairs, a knot forming in my stomach.
Emmett's pouring himself a cup of coffee when I return to the kitchen. He settles at the table, his eyes half closed.
"Grayson isn't in his room," I say, trying to keep the worry from my voice.
Emmett tilts his head, considering me. "Why'd you get me up?" Evidently he isn't worried about Grayson not being here this morning.
"I need to talk about yesterday."
"We will."
"No, now." My voice comes out sharp, but I can't hold this in any longer. "What did you think I woke you up at the crack of dawn for?"
"Prue, Grayson should be here for this."
"We'll catch him up." I reach across the table, placing my hand on top of Emmett's. "Please." I don't have to say anything more, Emmett lets out a breath, takes a sip of coffee and motions for me to go on with his hand.
I try to organize my thoughts. "When Cole and I were linked, I pushed my magic back into him. Kind of like what I did when I made you feel what the different time streams could have been with my mom and your dad. But instead of me making him feel something, I forced him to show me what he wanted."
"And?" Emmett's voice is cautious.
"Darkness, Emmett. That's all he wants." My hands clench involuntarily. "Turns out Cole's not interested in power so much as just nothingness."
"I don't get it." Emmett's lack of reaction throws me off balance. I take a deep breath, it's early and he is clearly not a morning person. Give the guy a minute.
"He wants there to be nothing. No universe, no worlds, no magic. Nothing. Except for I guess Marissa?" The words tumble out, my voice rising with each syllable. "Basically, Cole's gunning for the universe's biggest lights-out party with Marissa mixed in there somehow."
"That can't be right." Emmett's brow furrows, and he scrunches his nose.
"But, it is. That thought wrapped around me, there was nothing else that came off of him." My certainty surprises even me.
Emmett goes unnaturally still, he doesn't even blink. "Maybe you read him incorrectly."
"I didn't!" Frustration bubbles up inside me. I reach towards Emmett again, closing my eyes. I can do this. I push my magic up and in my mind I can see his golden time stream, I cling to that and channel what I dragged out of Cole. I make him feel the time stream that Cole is working towards, one that is a very real possibility.
Emmett's sharp intake of breath tells me he's seen it too and that I was right.
"This isn't what we thought he was after." His voice is slightly higher than normal. He runs a hand through his hair and then drops it back to the table. "He is supposed to be after your power."
"He is, but he doesn't want it for control, he wants it for destruction." The words come out more accusatory than I intend.
"Well, that's something." A voice cuts through our conversation. We turn to see Grayson standing at the kitchen counter. He's in exercise clothes, his hair is a mess and his cheeks are flushed. He grabs a bottle of water from the fridge before joining us at the table. He has an uncanny ability to enter a room and not make his presence known.
"Nice of you to join us for this early morning crisis meeting." I say to him and gesture at the table.
Grayson ignores my comment. "I caught the critical parts." He sits down at the table and stares at me as if expecting to me go on. Technically, I do have one more part to tell them… Marissa wasn't affected by my magic at all. But I bite back the urge to reveal that. I'm not ready to share that piece of information quite yet. Instead, I move the conversation forward.
"So, what's the plan?" I ask, trying to keep my voice steady. "How do we stop Cole from turning the universe into his personal void?"
Emmett and Grayson exchange a look that makes my stomach drop.
"I have to go," Emmett says quietly.
"What?" The word comes out quickly and a sharpness stabs through my chest.
"I need to find the focal point of the time stream damage," Emmett explains, his eyes not quite meeting mine. "It's the only way we can fix this."
"No," I shake my head, my voice rising. "No, you can't leave. We need you here. Are you really going to leave me alone with Grayson?"
Emmett huffs out a laugh at that.
"Prue," Grayson interjects, his voice firm. "This is necessary. We can't move forward without knowing where the damage is centered. This is what Emmett was always supposed to be doing."
His tone is slightly accusatory, as if insinuating that Emmett staying to help me with training was the never the plan. I turn to him, ready to argue, but the fierce look in his eyes stops me. This isn't up for debate
"How long will you be gone?" I ask Emmett turning from Grayson and hating how small my voice sounds.
"I don't know," he admits. "It could be days, maybe weeks."
The thought of being without Emmett for that long sends a wave of anxiety through me. I like having him here, his presence is stabilizing to me.
I don't know what else to say and Emmett just reaches forward and grabs my hand giving it a small squeeze. He is trying to reassure me, it's like a wave that comes off of him and settles into me.
"We need to get back to training," Grayson says, standing up and interrupting the moment. "The sooner we start, the better."
I nod numbly and watch as Emmett rises too.
"I'm going to go pack."
I don't move. I sit at the table, not really wanting to do anything more than just keep sitting there. I certainly have no desire to attempt to control my powers today. Almost twenty minutes later and Emmett appears, a bag in hand. He really is leaving me here with Grayson…
I rush to hug him. He wraps his arms around me, and I let myself feel safe.
"Be careful," I whisper.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do while I'm gone, Prue."
"That doesn't narrow it down much," I reply, and he laughs and breaks the hug. He doesn't say anything else, and I watch from the window as he climbs into his car and disappears down the driveway.
"Prue," Grayson's voice catches me off guard. "We should start training."
He never lets up.
"Can we... can we just take a breather? You know, process everything that went down?"
Grayson's expression softens slightly. "Five minutes," he concedes. "Then we need to get to work."
Fucking fine, I'll take the five minutes Grayson seems to think is so generous.