Page 154 of Monstrous Serpent

“Y-you . . . you still do it?”

He nods.

The room starts to spin, my breaths coming hard and fast. All those threats they casually made. Like the one against my professor because I got upset over a grade. The way Atlas tripped Cindy. That scare actor. It wasn’t just talk.

I swallow hard. “M-my family?”

Hunter’s brows pinch together. “Already said we don’t hurt innocent people.”

A chill settles into my bones. “But Atlas hurt Cindy.”

Atlas scoffs. “Dude, my brothers and sisters have been doing that to each other since elementary school. And she came at you first. In public. So honestly, a chipped tooth was getting off easy. Plus, she should've put her hands out.”

Hunter glares at him, then looks back at me. “Your family is safe. We’d never hurt them.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, bile crawling up the back of my throat. Not sure if it's from what they just told me, the meds, the pain, or all of it.

“Little Titan, look at me.”

“I–I can’t.” Each breath saws in and out, inducing new spikes of pain, and I whimper. “Too much. It hurts. Everything hurts.”

Hunter lets go of my chin and pushes to his feet. “We’ll leave.”

My eyes go wide as I grab for his wrist. “No.”

He sits back down in the chair, and I let go of him, then search along the blanket until I find the little button clipped near my hip. I press it once and wait for the meds to kick in and dull the pain.

Wish I could rewind time and go back to last week when everything was perfect. When no one was hurt. When I didn’t know they . . .

The pain starts to subside, my body sinking deeper into the mattress. I blink, then blink again, and when the room goes blurry, I let my eyes close. “Don’t go.”

“We won’t,” Hunter says.

“Promise?”

Atlas kisses my knuckles again. “We promise.”

Only now . . . I don't know if I can say the same.

Chapter 39

Atlas

The hallway outside our dorm room is quiet. Everyone's probably still cleaning up. Which, good luck with that after Shaw paraded a severed head through the woods. Glad I don’t have to help.

But I’d also rather be back sitting in that shitty chair next to Cody’s hospital bed. Except only one person could stay overnight, and when Cody woke from the pain crying for his dad, Hunter and I left.

We’ll head back in the morning . . . if he still wants us there.

I shift my weight from one foot to the other, then back again, like my body can’t figure out where to put itself. “You think Cody’s going to leave us?”

Hunter slides the key into the lock. “He’s ours.”

“Yeah no. What I'm asking is if he still wants to be.” My thumb drags across the bandage on my wrist. “I want him to stay because he wants to. Not because we won't let him leave.”

Hunter’s hand closes around the doorknob, but he doesn’t turn it.

I step closer and place my hand on his forearm. “If he wants to go, we have to let him.”