The next evening Dylan drove up to Aiden’s house with a heavy weight in his stomach. Was Aiden still mad at him? Would he turn down a ride? Dylan had considered calling or texting earlier that day, but he didn’t know what to say. He’d already apologized.
Aiden walked out the front door. He didn’t seem to be angry, but he did look apprehensive. “Hi,” he muttered as he got in the car.
“You okay?” Are we okay?
“I talked to Nuala last night. Are you still okay with… the plan?”
“Yeah, totally.” Dylan would do practically anything for Aiden.
His friend relaxed a little. “Good. Nuala says it should work if we each make a potion and combine it.” Aiden bit his lip. “I uh, already started mine.”
From the way he said it, he didn’t mean the night before. “Really?”
“Just… you know… just in case the council said yes. Then we could have had a head start. And if I decided not to do it, I could have dumped the potion out.”
Dylan waved a hand. “You don’t need to justify it to me.” He was actually impressed.
“If you start tonight, the potion will be ready in a month.” Aiden made a face.
“Shit, that’s a long time.” Although Dylan had already started the blood potion that morning when he got home after warden training. Creepy shivers of déjà vu had run through him as he sat on the floor and pricked his finger over a jar of water. The first drop had curled and spread, creating patterns that Dylan stared at until they faded away.
“I know. We’ll just have to pray the extremists don’t attack in the meantime.”
Dylan wondered what would happen if Morgan and his pals returned before they could do the spell. Did the wardens and the council have a plan? And if they did, would it even work? The dark fae had broken into maximum security like it was nothing, easily batted aside all the magic thrown at them.
Dylan tried to reassure himself that the truly powerful people in Shadow Valley hadn’t been there. Like his mom and Principal Nejem. Even Mr. Johnson.
But the extremists had more allies now too. All the worst, most powerful criminals—at least the ones the wardens hadn’t outright killed instead of arresting.
“We should go before we’re late.”
Dylan realized they were still sitting outside Aiden’s house. “Oh, yeah.”
While they drove, Dylan’s thoughts turned to their argument. He wondered if he should bring it up. Aiden wasn’t acting like he was still mad at him, so maybe he should just let it go.
“I wish I would’ve come out sooner.”
Well, that was random. “What?”
“I wasted all that time worrying when I could have been open about myself. I could have been holding hands with Tiago, going on dates. We could’ve gone to prom.” Aiden frowned, and Dylan wondered if he was remembering that prom had ended up a disaster. “Maybe I could’ve started dating Tiago sooner. I might’ve had another year with him. Even another day… Why was I such a coward?”
“Dude, no—”
Aiden turned toward him, eyes wide and desperate. “We could die tonight, and I cheated myself out of all that time.”
“We’re not gonna die. How much terrible shit have we faced? And we always come out of it, right?”
“We’ve been lucky—”
“It’s not just luck. We’re a couple of badasses. And we look out for each other.” Aiden meant more to him than Dylan could say, and he wasn’t going to let him wallow in despair. “You know I’ve got your back, and I won’t let you die.”
That got a small, reluctant smile out of Aiden. “You’re going to keep me alive with sheer stubbornness?”
“Damn straight.”
Aiden was quiet for a while. Finally he said softly, “Thanks. It’s hard to stay positive with everything going on.” He took a deep breath. “But we’ve got a plan, right?”
Dylan nodded. “We’re gonna even the odds, whether the council likes it or not.”
* * *
It was their only school night off from warden classes, and as much as Aiden wanted to go home and relax, he’d asked Dylan and Tiago for a study night. Tiago was doing well in most of his classes but still needed help. Dylan was struggling due to all the time and energy warden training took up. Aiden was struggling too.
Thinking about all the homework and reading he had to do made Aiden want to freak out. He wasn’t in danger of failing, but he didn’t want to screw up his grade point average and hurt his chances of getting into a good college. Thinking about college also made him want to freak out.
Mr. Johnson had promised to work things out with Aiden’s applications when the time came, but he wouldn’t even explain when that was, let alone what he was going to do.
Tiago had already gotten an acceptance from the University of Wisconsin. The campus was only a few hours away from Shadow Valley, which would make visiting easy. But then again, Aiden didn’t know if he would be staying in Shadow Valley. Mr. Johnson might send him and Dylan all over the country to check up on certified people or hunt down supernatural lawbreakers. It seemed more likely Aiden and Dylan would stay in town though. Would Mr. Johnson really send a pair of eighteen-year-olds with no experience out into the world?
That was all assuming, of course, that Morgan and the extremists didn’t kill them all.
That got Aiden thinking about his meeting with Nuala the night before. “Oh, hey,” he told Dylan. “I forgot to tell you earlier. Nuala says dragons are from Faery. Did you know that?”
Dylan sat straighter, eyes wide. “No. My mom never mentioned anything about that. Seriously? We’re from Faery?”
Aiden nodded. “And I guess they’re still around over there.”
“They aren’t all dead? Holy shit.” Dylan looked pale.
“Is that bad?” Tiago asked.
“I don’t know.” Dylan stared off into space for a moment. “Are there dragonkin over there too? Or people that are part dragon and part fae?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think to ask. She just mentioned that when I told her you were…” Aiden looked over at Tiago with a little stab of guilt. He hadn’t yet told his boyfriend about the plan and wasn’t sure if he should. Tiago knew about the council rejecting help from the light fae but not about Aiden’s decision to bring them over anyway. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tiago, but he didn’t want him to be involved.
“What?” Tiago frowned, gaze flicking between Aiden and Dylan.
“The—” Dylan stopped, looking at Aiden. “Do you not want him to know?”
Well, crap. That wasn’t suspicious at all. “Are you okay with telling him?”
Dylan blinked. “Yeah. Cat Boy knows everything else already. I mean, if you want to tell him, I’ve got no problem.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Aiden took his boyfriend’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m going to do the ritual anyway, and Dylan is going to help me.”
“The ritual to bring your birth mom over from Faery?”
Aiden nodded.
“Oh. Do you want me to help too?” Tiago had already offered his blood when they’d both talked to Nuala. Now he was doing it again, even though it went directly against the council.
“No,” Aiden said too quickly.
Tiago dropped his gaze. “Guess I’m not strong enough to matter, huh?” He didn’t let go of Aiden’s hand, but his fingers loosened.
“That’s not what I meant. I just thought it would be safer if you weren’t involved. If something goes wrong… I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“But you asked Dylan for help. He’s been in more trouble than I have.” Tiago sighed. “It’s okay. You don’t have to try to make me feel better. I get it.”
“You can help if you want to.” Crap. Now he’d made Tiago think he was worthless.
Tiago shifted a few feet away. “It’s fine.”
“Don’t get all pouty, Cat Boy. He just wanted to protect you.”
“I don’t need protecting!” Tiago looked surprised at his outburst.
Aiden reached for his hand again. “I was wrong, okay? I shouldn’t have made the decision for you.” If the situation were reversed, Aiden would have been hurt too.
Tiago was quiet for a long moment. “So how do you do this ritual thing?”
Aiden hoped that meant Tiago wasn’t mad at him anymore, but tight bands of fear squeezed his chest. If he and Dylan went down, now Tiago was going to be dragged with them.