The Struggle
Page 41

“I get that, but what then?” I looked around me, my gaze settling on Alex before I twisted toward Seth. The sharp motion did not sit well with my stomach. I guessed the food hadn’t helped. “I’m not just going to sit here and do nothing for the rest of eternity. The Titans are still out there, and I wasn’t the only demigod Capri Sun they were keeping prisoner. They already killed one of the demigods, and if we don’t do something they’ll kill Mitchell. He’s still there.”
Alex straightened. “You saw them?”
Shooting Seth a look that promised we’d so be discussing this later, I focused on Alex. “Yes. One of them was named Lauren. She . . . she died. They drained her and left her to die.”
“Gods,” Aiden muttered.
I took a deep breath and ignored the rapid twisting my stomach was doing. “Mitchell was in bad shape. He’s not going to last much longer. We have to get him out of there.”
Seth’s jaw locked down.
“We’re not leaving him there to die.” I scowled at him. “Did you really think that I’d be okay with that?”
Topaz eyes met mine. “No, I don’t expect that. I know you don’t want to hear this, but if he was in such bad condition, he may not be alive.”
“We don’t know that,” I argued. “We can’t give up and not—” A bitter knot moved up my throat and I slapped my hand over my mouth. “Oh God.”
“What?” Seth was immediately off his stool, standing in front of me.
Alex and Aiden faded together into the background as my stomach heaved. I slid off the stool. “I . . . I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Vomit sick?” Surprise filled Seth’s face.
“Yeah—oh God.” I swallowed, and immediately regretted it. “Where’s a—?”
Seth wrapped an arm around my waist, and it felt like only a second passed before I was inside a bathroom. Pulling away from Seth, I dropped to my knees and lifted the lid of the toilet.
Stomach heaving, all those eggs and bacon came right back up. Gagging, I clutched the sides of the toilet. My eyes watered and it just kept coming and coming. Vaguely, I was aware of cool hands on my forehead, scooping my hair back.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity in a fresh circle of hell, there was nothing left to throw up. “Oh God,” I moaned.
“You all done?” Seth asked.
I winced. “I think so?”
Seth gently tugged me back from the toilet. I heard it flush and then I was cradled in his lap, my cheek resting on his shoulder as I concentrated on taking deep, even breaths. Several minutes passed as he rubbed the center of my back. Holy crap, I threw up. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had puked. When I was a child?
There was a knock on the door and I heard Alex ask, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Seth called out. “Just give us a few moments.”
“How are you feeling?” He smoothed my hair back off my clammy forehead.
I forced my eyes open. “Better. Stomach’s a little . . . wonky.”
“We need to get some water in you. Do you think you can handle that?”
“I think so. Oh man.” I tipped my head back. “That was so, so gross.”
Seth’s gaze found mine. Concern etched into his striking face. “Josie, you’re . . . you’re a demigod. You shouldn’t be sick.”
I stared at him, unsure of how to respond to that, because I had obviously just gotten very, very sick. “Maybe I just ate too much after not eating a lot?”
“I don’t know.” Seth didn’t sound like he thought that was the case. His gaze dropped, and I followed to see that he was looking at the bands on my wrists. “Maybe.”
If the bands were blocking my abilities, could they be slowing down how quickly I could recover? Could they be making me sick? My poor stomach dipped.
Could they be making me mortal?
Chapter 22
Once we exited the bathroom, the breakfast had sort of fallen apart. I kind of felt bad, because threatening to vomit all over the counter had probably killed their appetites. But once Seth got some water in me, I felt a hundred percent better.
The bracelets around my wrists hadn’t tightened, but they felt like they were going to cut off my circulation. The feeling was all in my head, but what if they were making me mortal—susceptible to viruses and serious injuries? I was going to keep that suspicion to myself, because Seth would wrap me up in bubble wrap if that idea occurred to him.
Then again, his hawkish gaze alluded to the fact that he probably already suspected the same.
A small army of staff had appeared out of nowhere to clean up the kitchen, so we ended up in the largest living room I’d ever seen. I curled up in a comfy, overstuffed chair, my feet tucked under me. My stomach was feeling pretty stable and no one was really looking at me like they were waiting for me to hurl again, but tension had crept into the airy room. Alex and Seth were arguing about something, but I wasn’t sure what exactly. I was tired after touring the house, eating the large breakfast, and vomiting my guts up. I wanted nothing more than a nap, and that was a wee bit concerning, because I’d been asleep more than awake recently, even when Hyperion had a hold of me.
Sighing, I looked up and saw that Seth was watching me from across the room. My stomach hollowed as I remembered the kiss from the cliffs. He probably wasn’t thinking about that since he had just been holding my hair back while I prayed to the porcelain god.
His amber eyes hooded, and I felt my cheeks flush in response. Okay, he most definitely was not thinking about what happened in that bathroom. Good to know he wasn’t repulsed.
Alex sat on the loveseat and leaned back, clapping her hands over her stomach. “Man, I think I have a food baby.”
I coughed out a tired laugh and then something occurred to me. “Can you two . . . have kids?” The moment I asked the question, I cringed, because whoa, that was a private thing to stick my nose in. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that. I—”
“It’s okay.” Alex grinned as she knocked her hair back from her face. I swore I saw a faint pink splash across the heights of Aiden’s cheekbones. “We honestly don’t know. I mean, I’m not a normal demigod. Neither of us are, so we don’t know if one day it could happen. We haven’t been trying, but we . . .” She trailed off, shrugging.
But they also probably haven’t been using protection.
“The mere idea of you having a child actually frightens me,” Seth commented dryly.
“You and me both,” Alex muttered under her breath.
Folding my arms across my waist, I snuggled into the cushions. Seth hadn’t been sure if that could happen for us, so he’d always used protection. Well, except for that one time. My nose wrinkled. Before Seth had left me, he’d found me in the library, and I was pretty positive he hadn’t used a condom.
My stomach dipped and then roiled slightly as I tried to figure out when my last period was. Not that I was seriously worried about getting pregnant, because it was seriously unlikely, and not because I sincerely believed I couldn’t get pregnant from one episode of unprotected sex. With my luck, that was a hundred percent feasible, but after everything with Hyperion . . . ? There was no way a pregnancy would’ve survived that.
Ugh. I shifted in the seat, uncomfortable with my train of thoughts. I was way too young and things were way too crazy to even entertain the idea of popping out a baby Seth.
A baby Seth?
My eyes widened.
I might puke again.
Seth walked behind my chair and placed his hands on my shoulders. “You okay?”
Tilting my head back, I smiled despite the fact my thoughts were on an extended trip through Crazy Land. “Yep,” I said. Pushing those really weird thoughts aside, something occurred to me that I hadn’t thought about. “We may be facing a really big problem—bigger than we realize. To entomb the Titans, six demigods needed to be brought together and whatever wards were binding their abilities would be removed. They still need their icons, but I know where they are,” I said, knowing they were stashed in the library and guarded by Medusa. “I was unbound because my—because Apollo did it himself and that weakened him, so I doubt the other gods will do that. There’re not six demigods anymore. Only five.”