Guardian Angel

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Three

I woke up with a scream of terror.

I had completely forgotten where I was. All I woke to was more darkness, which resulted in another scream tearing through my throat. A second later, the lights were on and I was blinded, gasping for air as another scream echoed around me.

All I could see was D'Angelo laying on the floor of what appeared to be some kind of dungeon, blood pooled beneath him so thick that it was sticky not dried. It was splattered up on his face, on his skin—

His skin was so pale, so sollow. His eyes were only partially closed, those hazel eyes that I remembered being so glittery with life when we first met, when he sat up in that bed and planted his lips on me. Now they were cloudy with death, as if he'd been laying there for days.

Even with all the blood, no injuries that I could see—

Nothing.

"Ryk!" Hearing someone shouting my name had me snapping out of my fit.

I gasped as my eyes flipped up and I saw Hades holding my shoulders, gripping me tightly, his face panicked. I blinked rapidly, feeling hot tears going down my face as I grabbed at Hades's hands to make sure I wasn't still in that dream. Hades moved his hands to cup my face, my hands following his, and it took me a moment to realize he was sitting on the bed beside me.

Behind him, Alaric was ushering Three and Wren out into the hallway where Niko was elbowing everyone to get out of his way so he could get into the room with Rowan and Yiuwa right behind him.

"Hey, hey," Hades said, grabbing my face when I started to look away and he held me there so he could stare at me intently, "Ryk? Can you hear me?" I nodded, but it was hard to stop the trembling, hard to find calm when every time I closed my eyes, I saw D'Angelo dead on the floor in that dungeon.

And the realization of that only made me choke on a sob.

"He's dead," I whimpered and Hades scowled, "I-I don't— Hades, he-he—"

"Hey, no, ssh," Hades ordered and surprised me when he hauled me to his chest, holding me tightly as I choked on another sob, "Relax, catch your breath. You're hyperventilating, alright? You're gonna pass out if you don't catch your breath." I closed my eyes, struggling to find calm, and it was only when I heard Hades gently breathing, his chest rising and falling under my ear, that I finally found a rhythm to follow to calm down.

We sat in silence, with Niko, Rowan, and Yiuwa all joining Hades on the bed as I caught my breath, only managing little sobs.

"What happened?" Rowan demanded at last, looking at Hades, who shook his head.

"No idea. Alaric said they were all asleep when Ryk started screaming. He shouldn't be able to astral project anywhere with the barrier Viv put up, so I have no idea what he saw."

"Could be trauma," Rowan said softly, reaching out to stroke my hand and I flipped my hand over to grip his tightly. He looked relieved that I was open to his comfort and he scooted closer so he could take me from Hades, who rose to his feet. Rowan wrapped his arms around me tightly as he looked up at Hades.

"Could be," Hades muttered, but he was staring at me like he wasn't so sure and I just shook my head, making him frown deeply, "Or not." Rowan looked at me.

"Ryk, what happened? What did you see?"

"He's dead," I managed, my voice cracking and Rowan squeezed me tight in response, "D-D'Angelo, he was just laying— there was so much blood, there so so much blood, but-but I didn't see an injury, I didn't see—"