“I don’t know!”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“We were separated.” Garret eased back from the door, apparently satisfied that we weren’t followed and that no one lurked in the halls. “The Order swarmed the building. We had to take different routes back to the hotel.”
“Well, that’s bloody fantastic,” Wes snapped, throwing up his arms. “So the Order is out there, hunting him down, and you two blighters went and left him to die.”
At that, Faith burst into tears. Wes jumped and looked at her strangely, as if just realizing she was there. Covering her face with her hands, the girl turned into the corner and shook violently with sobs.
“My fault,” she gasped, her voice muffled. “This is my fault. Ava knew I was unhappy in Talon. She convinced me to run with her. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.” Her voice trailed off into more muted sobbing, and Wes ran a hand down his face.
“Bollocks,” he muttered, sounding both annoyed and sympathetic, which surprised me. “I didn’t even see her there. I suppose this is one of the hatchlings you went to rescue?”
“Her name is Faith,” I said, as Faith didn’t look like she could introduce herself at that point. “There’s another one out there, too, with Riley.”
“Ava,” Faith supplied, her voice small and choked with tears. “Her n-name is Ava. And if she dies, it’ll be my fault.” Turning into the corner, she collapsed into helpless sobs again.
Garret watched the crying girl for a moment, then looked at me, clearly lost. Sighing, I stepped forward, put an arm around her shoulders and drew her away from the wall. She sniffled and turned into me, hiding her face, her whole body shaking against mine.
“There was a man in the hotel,” Garret went on, looking at Wes, while I rubbed Faith’s back and waited for her to calm down. “We saw him at the bottom of the elevators. Dark, tall, wearing a red suit. He looked suspicious. Any reason we should be concerned?”
“Red suit?” Wes rubbed the bridge of his nose. “That’s just Griffin, one of Riley’s contacts. And yes, the blighter is shady as hell, but I don’t think we have to worry about him. I’m more concerned about Riley at the moment.” He looked at Garret, narrowing his eyes. “Did you say the Order was waiting for you?”
“They ambushed us at the hotel,” Garret replied. “We had to split up.”
“That’s bloody suspicious,” Wes muttered, crossing his arms. “No one knew where you were going. The only ones with that information were me and…” He trailed off, the color draining from his face. “Bloody bastard,” he whispered. “I’ll kill him. If Riley doesn’t, I’ll shoot the blighter myself.”
“Can you get a lock on Riley’s phone?” Garret asked, before I could ask who Wes meant. Apparently, that information was obvious to everyone but me. The human shook his head.
“What do you think I’ve been doing the past hour, mate?” he snapped. “No, I can’t get a signal. It’s either turned off or dead. Which could mean all sorts of things, but I don’t like the implications of any of them, do you?”
Faith hiccupped, still shaking, possibly from the effort not to burst into tears again. I grimaced, feeling sick and tense and frayed myself. I wanted to know what had happened to Riley, too, but the amount of stress and tension in the room wasn’t helping Faith and was driving my own dragon crazy. If I didn’t step away soon, I was going to snap.
“I’m taking her to my room,” I told the boys, pushing back the lock and pulling the door open. “You two stay here, girl talk only.” Garret watched anxiously from the room, then followed us into the corridor. “Garret, we’ll be all right,” I said as he frowned in protest. “Keep waiting for Riley. I’ll be right across the hall if anything happens.”
He shook his head. “No, we’re not separating anymore tonight. Take care of Faith, or whatever you have to do. I’ll be right outside the door. If St. George or Talon does show up, I’ll see them coming.”
I nodded, too exhausted to argue. We crossed the hall, and I slid the key card into the slot then pushed the door open, letting Faith into the room before looking at Garret. He leaned beside the door frame with his back to the wall, his eyes scanning the corridor in both directions before fixing on me. I gave him a tired smile.
“Thanks,” I whispered. “I won’t be long.”
“I’ll be here.”
My stomach fluttered. He was so close, gunmetal eyes intense, watching me with that protective stare. I wanted to lean up and kiss him, but Faith waited for me in the room, and now really wasn’t the time. I reached out and squeezed his arm instead, before ducking through the frame.
Faith stood in the center of the floor with her arms around herself and a dazed look on her face. “Sorry about Wes,” I told her as the door clicked behind me. “He’s a little uptight, if you couldn’t tell. Wish I could say that he’s not usually such a bastard, but…well, he is.”
The other hatchling didn’t answer. Or even look at me. Her face was streaked with tears, her eyes huge and glassy beneath the tangle of curls. She looked very young, barely a teenager, though I knew she had to be at least sixteen.
Or maybe not. Maybe she hadn’t even started assimilation, that period when hatchlings were placed with guardians in the mortal world, to learn to “blend in” with humans. It was after assimilation that Talon decided where you fit within the organization. Maybe Faith hadn’t even gotten that far, and Talon was all she’d ever known.
I hoped she hadn’t gone into shock and shut down completely. I didn’t know what I was going to do if she’d hit zombie mode.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, figuring that was a good place to start. I knew I’d be hungry if I’d gone through what she had. Come to think of it, I was. Faith blinked at me, still looking dazed, and I tried again. “Hey, are you hungry? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. There’s snacks below the television stand, or we could order room service.”
She shook her head. “I’m not hungry,” she whispered. Well, at least she was talking. “But thank you.”
“Not hungry?” The idea was unthinkable. “Are you sure? Check this out.” I opened the cupboard to display the wealth of snacks. No hatchling I’d ever heard of could resist chocolate. After a moment’s hesitation, Faith edged forward and plucked a Snickers bar from the shelf, making me sigh in relief.