“Listen, I want to apologize for last night,” he said sweetly, beating me to it.
“No, don't worry about it. I think we were all.... disappointed,” I grumbled, playing off his sincerity because I felt like he owned the right to be mad.
“Eden, it doesn't matter how I felt, I should never have raised my voice to you and I'm sorry. Sometimes, I just, I just expect you to, you know, be able to do anything. But killing someone is a whole different thing, I get that. And I'm sorry I expected such evil out of you.” He lifted my chin so that he could look directly into my eyes and I felt the weight of his words immediately. He was a good man. A really good man. He certainly deserved better than me.
“I forgive you,” I whispered hoarsely, remembering the kindergarten manners I learned as a child. I smiled at him and he smiled back, his magic soaring, searching for mine but it would not budge. It remembered Kiran. It sensed the strong hold Kiran's magic held over mine and it would not move.
I stood up, awkwardly moving away from Jericho, praying he wouldn't notice, but I knew that was impossible.
“Jericho, I know that I'm supposed to be in charge and everything, but.... Ok, let's be honest, I have no idea what I'm doing!” I confessed, picking a blanket up from off the ground and wrapping it tightly around myself. “Please help me, please, please, please, please....” I begged, clasping my hands together and sitting heavily down next to him again.
“Of course I will. I was always going to help you. Last night, I was just acting like a jerk,” he conceded honestly.
“Oh, good, that's really good!” I threw my arms around his neck, the blanket falling off my shoulders. “So what's our next move then?”
“Well, Xander and Xavier called last night after you went to bed. They found the Morocco team and moved on to India, so if you're up for it, they would like us to meet them there. They said they've found something very interesting that we need to come see for ourselves,” Jericho finished by rolling his eyes and I had to laugh at the camaraderie between this team.
“Sounds like a good next step.” I nodded my head once, deciding that we needed to move on and India was just as good of a place as any. I decided last night that it was time to get Avalon, that I couldn't wait any longer. He needed me. I certainly lacked the number of people I had hoped to bring with me, but I also didn't want to risk any more lives than was necessary.
After we met up with the teams in India, I would speak to Jericho about heading back to Romania as soon as possible. I knew he was as anxious to get Avalon, as well as the others, free from their awful prison and the longer we waited the worse it would be for them.
“Eden, what do you want to do with Sebastian? Are we going to continue to drag him around with us?” Jericho asked carefully and I realized that was exactly what I was planning on doing.
“We'll take him to India with us, for sure. He is too helpful right now to completely just throw away. Plus, Jericho, we might still be able to use him as leverage.”
“I guess that's true,” Jericho agreed, “It's just that, I really, really don't like him.”
“Ugh, me either!” I echoed his sentiment, enthusiastically, “But you know what? I think I've thought up another use for him!”
“What is it?” Jericho asked dryly, not believing there was anything Sebastian could do that wouldn't irritate him.
“I need to figure out how to give another person's magic back. I mean I've tried before, but nothing has worked. I'm going to practice with Sebastian until I get my magic to cooperate,” I explained, proud of the idea and realizing the necessity for it.
“I remember what happened to Oscar though; you might end up killing him in the process....” Jericho mumbled. He wasn't trying to be rude, but the memory of Oscar flying across the steel barn back in Omaha was a painful one and not an action I would like to repeat on Avalon once we were face to face.
But Sebastian was a different story.
“You're not worried about killing him?” Jericho asked, almost amused.
“Actually, that might solve a couple of my problems!” I laughed, glad that Jericho and I worked things out. I was happy that we were on our way out of England and away from the prince, and satisfied that I found a solution to working on giving someone's magic back.
The night before had been the darkest moments of hopelessness. I had trembled, and cried and shrunken in fear. But now, in the clear light of day and with a new plan ahead of me, I could face this day, this mission, this fateful purpose of mine again with courage. I could be fearless again.
Chapter Twenty
“How are we getting to India?” I asked casually, emerging from my bedroom, showered, dressed and ready for another long flight.
The guys milled around the door, all ready to leave and waiting patiently on me. I didn't want to believe I was the fussy girl that took her time getting ready and made everyone wait. This whole trip had been a series of wet ponytails and only eye liner, but every time we were getting ready to leave I was the last one ready. I blamed my long hair and conditioner; I doubted any of these boys conditioned.
“Well, we were thinking....” Titus began, looking at Jericho for encouragement to continue. “We were thinking we could take Amory- I mean your jet. The Cessna Amory kept in storage here?”
“The what? What jet?” I asked, not understanding what Titus was talking about.
“Your grandfather kept a Cessna here, can we use it?” Titus said slowly, as if that would help me understand.