Page 47 of Inextricably Tied

“We need to talk.”

Her voice is thick with sleep. Anxiety curdles in Flint’s stomach as he pushes his glasses back on his head.

“It’s nothing bad,” she adds quickly. “Nothing life-threatening.”

Flint knows how very differently they quantify that. He turns in his seat at the table, eyes narrowing immediately to Agony across the room.

“What?” Agony tries to throw up his hands, stopped by the chains looped around his chair. “Why do you assume it has to do with me?”

“Because it always does.”

“Our connection…” Harbinger cuts in, gesturing between her and Agony. “You said it seemed different than we suspected.”

Flint keeps a tight grip on the apprehension threatening to leap out of him. Harbinger watches him like she can feel it anyway.

“It might be even different than that. More than Agony feeling me.”

Flashes of the night after the fire burn through Flint, dark and slick with heat. Immediately, he douses his thoughts until all that’s left is swirling smoke. It doesn’t get past Harbinger and her lingering look before she continues.

“I don’t know what I’m getting from Agony, but it seems like we’re connected in my dreams.”

What does that mean? What else can Agony do? Flint clears his throat. “How connected are we talking?”

“I don’t think it’s dangerous.” Of course she doesn’t. “But Agony’s able to see my dreams. To affect them. To shape them.”

“Shape them how?”

“It’s not in my control,” Agony answers. “Sometimes her dreams are from her subconscious, but sometimes, they’re from mine.”

“Related to Reid?”

“I can’t be sure. With these cuffs on — I know, they’re not coming off — but I’m constrained. We’re not able to dig deeper or change the location. We can’t look closer at anything.”

We.

Green acid eats away at Flint’s stomach.

“We wanted to tell you,” Harbinger rushes to add. “Because I thought I was just dreaming at first, but Agony’s really there. I’m conscious. I’m lucid. And nothing happened.” Her cheeks flare pink, avoiding both their eyes. Jealousy drives a spike through Flint’s chest. “But with all of these connections, it complicates things. My mind and my body aren’t just mine.” Bitterness streaks across her face before it’s gone again. “So we need to agree that if two of us know something, then we all know it. We share between the three of us. Anything that two of us do, the third has to agree first. At least until we figure out an alternative. We have to go into things knowing there are three people involved, in one way or another.”

“You mean fucking?” Gods, Agony has no subtlety. He’s practically salivating. “Trust me, you don’t have to ask —”

Harbinger and Flint cut in at once. “Yes, we do.”

“But not just that,” she continues. “Agony and I won’t do anything in the dreamscape without Flint knowing. Same goes for you two.” Not like she needs to worry about that. Harbinger looks at Agony. “Do we agree?”

He nods. She turns back to Flint, and that’s where her skepticism lies, brows lifted. “Can you handle that?”

No.

What would she say if that was his answer? He hates the thought on principle, sharing anything with such an unknown creature. But she’s right — there’s no room for secrets. Not when the three of them are crammed into the smallest possible spaces: motel rooms, SUVs, Harbinger’s mind. And if Agony can experience Harbinger’s strong emotions, it’s only right he has some say in it.

That doesn’t make the pill any easier to swallow. “Fine,” Flint grinds out.

Harbinger gives him a look. “Flint…”

“I said I can handle it.”

“I can feel —”