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Exhaling roughly, I hated to do it, but Karina was right Waiting wouldn’t end well, and I needed to be fully charged for whatevertiredly "Please"

Alex snapped her mouth shut and nodded as she eyed Karina distrustfully I was going to have to explain all of that Eventually Karina backed out of the roo the door behind h quicksand laced with sleep aids I knew I needed to openme to do so, but that was crazy, because Seth wasn’t here I was in hell, waiting for Hyperion to bring me back to Cronus Or was it Perses? Hadn’t I seen Perses? I couldn’t remember

The cement floor feltsoft and warm

I drew in a deep breath The smell? I didn’t immediately choke on the dank, ht I heard people speaking, voices I recognized

Kýrios?

Master?

I seriously needed to open th I had, I forced ht one kind of only cracked open It was nearly swollen shut I wasn’t sure how that happened The last tiht me out of that warehouse had been a blur He’d fed on ht to Cronus, and theyit felt like they had taken too

My vision focused and I slowly realized I was lying on a bed--a huge, co fashioned There was a large ceiling fan gliding through the air silently, its blades shaped like petals

Throat i to the foot of the bed A girl stood with her back toat the closed bedroo Could that be? I tried to getI wouldn’t survive this once I woke up I wouldn’t be able to I tried to speak again

"Alex?" I croaked out

She whipped around, her eyes widening with relief "Josie!" She raced to the side of the bed, squeezing in between an empty chair and the bed

"Isis this a dream?" I rasped

Her beautiful face contorted "No This is not a dreaods, you’re really awake" She practically shook like she was holding herself back fro?"

"I" Mouth dry, I looked around the room in confusion My hand floated to my throat and I winced

Alex drew back fro" She whirled and darted out of ht A second later she returned with a bottle of water, lid unscrewed "Here, let me help you"

My body ached as she helped me sit I planted my hand on the bed to hold myself up while she shoved a tiny ht the bottle to ue forced a h It felt like a few drops

I liftedas pain shot downit higher More glorious water passed between my parched lips

"Slowly," Alex eased the bottle out of rip "You should probably drink this slowly"

She was right, but I hadn’t had real water in days My hand shook as I held onto the bottle just above her hand Her lips pressed together and then she let ulp We went back and forth for a couple of minutes until there was no water left

Alex lowered the bottle "Oh ods, we’ve been so worried"