“Always.”
My voice was fierce, and I heard three voices murmur in agreement behind me. Xero nodded gravely at the other men.
“You good to go?” Michael asked, glancing up the stairs. He was in human form, but I caught him sniffing the air, as if trying to sense any nearby threats.
Shit. We need to get the fuck outta here.
“Yeah,” Xero said, releasing his grip on me. “As I’ll ever be, anyway.”
“Then get to it. I’m gonna go make dinner like I ain’t just committed treason. Good luck.”
“Thank you, Michael,” I said fervently. He’d had no reason to help us, and several good reasons not too. But he’d given us aid when we needed it most.
He waved my thanks away and trudged up the stairs with slumped shoulders. A stab of sympathy made my heart twinge, and I blinked rapidly as I watched him go. Poor fucking guy. He’d just wanted to visit his family, see the people he loved—and now he was hiding out in the unforgiving wilderness of the underworld, all alone.
It was completely unfair.
That need I used to have before my life was turned upside down, that drive to save the hopeless and downtrodden, returned with a vengeance. When had I lost track of that? Probably around the same time I had to go Slut Factor Three Thousand just to survive. It had been very distracting.
“Creating portals from the underworld to earth is hard,” Xero told us, glancing around the tight circle we’d formed.
I shook my head, refocusing on the problem at hand. Now wasn’t a great time for introspection.
“I’ll do what I can to help,” he continued. “But I’m still pretty damn weak, so I won’t be able to do too much. When you guys made the jump last time, you were probably helped by the Temple Stones. It’ll take all the power we can muster to make a portal strong enough this time. And we all need to have a clear image in mind of the place we want to end up. If we’re not all focusing on the exact same spot, we’ll split our energy.”
“FU,” Kingston said immediately. “Right outside the gates. Just like old times.”
Xero nodded. “Sounds good. Kingston, Kai, you both good?”
“I’m great, now that I don’t have three million pounds of people on my back,” Kingston said, a smile twitching his lips. I had watched the light in his eyes dim over the past few weeks, but now the green of his irises glittered like jewels
“I’ll make it,” Kai said, shaking his head as if to clear it. “Will you?”
“I’m good.” Xero nodded stoically.
Jayce looked across at me. “Piper? Are you better?”
Guilt snaked through my core again. Of course I was. I’d been okay since the moment we reunited with Xero and had only been getting better with every touch since. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said quickly. “Let’s do this.”
“On the count of three.” Xero reached out, and we all linked ourselves together, grasping each other’s forearms. “One. Two. Three.”
There was a sickening pull in my gut as the floor fell out from under me. The walls around us shimmered, and reality dissolved, leaving nothing but my men shining like beacons in the dark. Gravity went sideways and upside down, and the muted colors of the basement spun into black, then the black spun into gray and white and blue.
Gravity righted itself once more as we all landed in snow up to our knees. I had to resist the impulse to bury myself up to the neck in the wonderful earthly white stuff.
“Ahh, there it is.” Jayce let out a contented sigh. “Right where it’s supposed to be. Looks a little rough, but at least it’s back.”
I gazed up at the massive school building.
He was right. The ice crystals hadn’t quite reformed over the windowsills and ledges, and the burn marks and scrapes were way more obvious out in the sunlight, but it was good to see it surrounded by snow and mountains again instead of being buried in a giant cave in the underworld.
I inhaled the sharp, cold, fresh Mönkh Saridag air and savored every molecule.
“Just like the first time I saw it,” I commented. “Except that Hannah was with me then. And Sonja. God, she was a bitch.” I bit my lip as guilt socked my gut again. “I’m sorry she’s dead though. She didn’t deserve that. An ass kicking maybe, but not that.”
“We missed our exams,” Jayce said quietly. “What are the chances the Custodians will be reasonable about that?”
I shook my head grimly, still staring up at the school. “Slimmer than an haute couture model at fashion week.”