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“How’d the priest react?”
Noah started laughing again. “The priest was cool. He said next time he’d like a warning that they were bringing a necromancer with them. Said he would’ve planned a different location for their meeting.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. That was the funniest part of it. And the other necromancer was good for Lee, gave him some pointers and his card. Said if he needed anything, to call him. That sort of thing, but with the parents, the damage was done. They flew back, dumped him at the house, packed their bags and were gone the same night. The newest affair was the excuse, but I heard them when they were packing. House is set up on automatic payments. His dad called his brother and told him what happened. He didn’t go into detail, just said something happened in New Orleans and they couldn’t stay with their son anymore. Phil was against it, but Lee will only let him be his lawyer. That’s as close as he’ll let him.”
“And the fires last year? Why he got banned from Haven Rock.”
Noah had the grace to look a little sheepish. “I was pissed at him. Again, can you blame me?”
“I can’t blame you for being mad. You can’t help how you feel, but I can blame you for acting on your anger. Yeah. I can blame you for that all day long. You tormenting him stops now.”
“I have stopped,” he blasted back at me. “For the most part. I’m just an asshole in words now. And that’s my personality. I can’t stop being me, but I heard you the first time you threatened me.”
I sat back, stiffly. “Well. Good.”
“Lee can’t talk about this stuff. He’s been trying. I can feel it from him, but in order for him to cope, he’s built up this cement wall inside of him. You’re asking him to knock that wall down. And right now, he can’t. He’ll do it for you. He’ll try and bulldoze it, but trust me, you’re just hurting him so that you have a little better understanding. Want to do what’s best for him? Let him tell you at his pace. He’s already started to try and take the wall down, but he has to do it one brick at a time. Not the whole thing. People have walls in place to protect themselves. It’s the same concept.”
My throat wobbled. A pressure pushed down on my chest, but I nodded. “That helps to know.”
He was chewing on his lip. Contemplating. “I didn’t know about the librarian. I heard what the Landfill Guy said, but it’s not true. Not everyone knew. I didn’t know. She wasn’t there last year, which makes sense if she moves to a new library every year. I bet I could ask around, find her. Lee can make her cross over or whatever so she doesn’t keep burning down libraries. She’s going to kill somebody someday.”
“According to Melbor, she already did. Her dad.”
Noah and Cassian both snorted, at the same time.
Noah froze, horror crossing his face.
Cassian just kept chuckling. “I still can’t believe the Baskins Serial Killer’s daughter was the library ghost.”
Noah suddenly looked away. His gaze grew distant again. “I gotta go.” Poof.
Cassian noted, “He’s gone. Isn’t he?”
“How can you tell?”
He shrugged. “Dead giveaway was how you and Lee both react when he shows up, but just now, I felt a little lightness in the air. It’s slight, but the air doesn’t feel as full. I’ll finetune it.”
I finished relaying the last part of what Noah said.
Cassian slumped back, dragging a hand slowly over his face. “Lee said he’s always been like this. Can you imagine?”
“No.” And that made me sad. I didn’t want to imagine it. If I did, it broke my heart.
“He must’ve felt so alone. Scared.”
“Yeah.” I slumped back next to him, yearning for comfort from Cassian and my heart broke all over again because I knew there were times when Lee wanted the same, comfort from anyone, and he hadn’t gotten it.
43
CASSIAN
Ineeded to take charge.
Lee was tormented, Cole’s literal words to Noah. And Cole was a bleeding heart at the moment. That left me, the normal of the normies. The anchor. I was going to anchor the shit out of them.
There were a few things we needed to handle.
