The Morning After [House Party cont]

[Nox]

Nox made his way down the stairs with his bag. Everything felt off, and he missed the warmth of the baby against his chest. The kids were all downstairs around the island counter chatting and their talking stopped when Nox stepped on the landing and all eyes turned to him. "Don't mind me." He said slipping past them and down to his room.

For just having sex with Oriena, it was a rather tamed mess in comparison to things they'd done in the past. The bed was off kilter, and he knew he'd have to fix it or it would drive him batty. The arm lay on the floor split in two at the wrist. It was sad and Nox knew there was going to be a long ways before he could afford another one. Reaching into the goop of his power, he wove some air and cleaned up the mess, placing the busted arm on the desk and sighing as he remembered the compulsion weave that Ori had shown him. He wondered where she'd gotten off to, if she even bothered to stay and eat inside.

Nox grabbed his wallet and noticed a few notifications had gone off while he was gone. He didn't check them right away as he stared at the phone, wondering what Raffe might say about the baby who now lived under his roof. Olivia hadn't returned yet, and Liam had followed him into his bedroom. "She sleeps better when you are near. I'll just lay her down on the floor and help fix the bed, alright?"

"You aren't pissed at me? Like Victoria?"

Liam smiled. "I should be, I should be afraid of you. But you didn't have to take us in. You didn't need to save us. As far as we were told, any Atharim that came for us would kill us too because we helped the monsters."

Nox growled. "I'm not Atharim."

Liam nodded. "Anymore. I got that. Your hacker friend has been helpful. And I'm sorry for my part in Iz and Ava's death."

Nox cocked his head to the side as he knelt down next to Lily's sleeping form and smiled, brushing his finger across her cheek and then setting to go through is bag for clean clothes. "Is there something Ashton didn't tell me?"

Liam nodded. "I bought the drugs at the party. I just didn't want you to find out and be pissed and then kick us all out. I'll go."

Nox chuckled and stood up with his clothes in his hand. "Nah, you don't have to do that. I knew they'd try. I know it was too much to ask of them. And after I saw Ethan in the pen with that demon child gnawing on him. I knew I couldn't save him even if he wanted me to, which he didn't."

"Ethan had it worse than any of us. And I'm sorta grateful you saved us. I turned 18 in a month and I would have been on the menu when I did. So no, I'm not pissed. I'm not afraid. I'm eternally grateful I get to keep living. I'll do whatever you want, need anything. I'm at your disposal. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

Nox smiled and offered Liam his hand. "She likes you, so I guess I'll be relying on you when I'm not around."

Liam nodded. "I'll start by fixing the bed. It doesn't look too bad." And he started shifting things and Nox took his wallet into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Nox flipped the water on and glanced at the notifications he'd missed. One was from the Ascendancy's office. He'd been getting more official missions for some reason, like he had a new handler -- one more military minded than the prior one. Maybe whatever nature of his asset status had changed, didn't matter really.

"New Mission: Dossier attached. Stipend deposited to arrange air travel for you plus one. Mission summary: Stop Assassins Channelers from killing the President and Vice President of the United States of America."

Nox blinked. Why would the Ascendancy want that to be stopped? But it didn't matter. He had little more reason to do any research. Their assassination attempt was enough for Nox to do the job. But he'd read the documentation later. Nox replied immediately.

10/4

Nox sent another text hoping Sage would get it sooner rather than later.

Help me arrange a trip to the US. Need two adults plus one baby.

Sage immediately pinged back.

Oooooh. Can I come? I'm coming.

Nox hopped in the shower, the water was scalding hot and he scrubbed at his skin until it was raw and red. He felt gross. The scars beneath his fingers made him angry. The stiffness in his muscles wasn't fully alleviated with the hot water loosening his muscles. His fucking life... He tried not to think about it.

There was a lot to do before he had to leave. Fuck!