*Sephie*
“Please explain. Don’t worry about the pancakes, either. We’ll figure the logistics out later,” I said, grinning at him.
“Yeah, I’m still not even completely clear on exactly what happened with Ilya, so if you could enlighten me a little more on that, that’d be great. But, Seph, I’ve got ideas for mass production of pancakes. We’ll talk later,” Stephen said, completely straight-faced and putting his hand up to the side of his face like a phone indicating he’d call me.
Once Ivan finished laughing, he said, “you’ve always said Boss is your sword and I’m your shield. I don’t think getting hit with Ilya’s memories and thoughts were what was too much. I think it was the cold that came with it. Combined with Viktor’s sadness, that was more than you could handle. I think there’s a way that I can keep that from happening again.”
Adrik walked to me, sliding his arm around my waist. “That’s why it’s always felt like Ivan’s anger is facing outward from you. So something like that can’t get to you,” he said, understanding where Ivan was going.
“Also why he puts me in a bubble, I bet,” I said. I looked to Stephen. “I’m still trying to figure out how you shared everything with me when I touched your arm. But at least I know you were trying to share everything with me. I’m not sure Ilya was trying to share everything with me. If it just randomly happened because I touched him, that’s going to make me never want to touch anyone outside this room ever again.”
“Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world,” Adrik said, smirking at me.
“Did you get everything from Ilya like you did with me?” Stephen asked.
“No, it was specific to the breakup he just went through and the relationship he had with that chick. She was really abusive to him the entire time, but it started out subtle. She wore him down over time with little manipulations, but then it just turned into outright abuse at the end. He loved her. He started to believe all the horrible things she was saying to him and about him,” I said, thinking back to everything I’d seen and felt when I touched Ilya. I suddenly felt both Adrik and Ivan get angry. I looked up at both of them, seeing their black eyes. “What was that for?” I asked, surprised.
“The sadness and darkness from those two that you couldn’t get rid of was creeping back. You said we burned it off last time, but apparently we didn’t get rid of it completely,” Ivan said.
“You guys noticed it before I did,” I said, quietly.
“Are you sure, princess? Your eyes went black when we felt it,” Ivan said.
“They did?”
“I saw your eyes go black, then Boss’s eyes changed without even needing to see yours,” Misha, who was across from us, said.
“It’s your demon trying to save you, spider monkey. It did it the other night, too,” Andrei said. “I can’t tell if it just knows that getting angry is the cure or if it’s asking Boss and Ivan for help, though.”
“How do you know that?” Ivan asked.
Andrei shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. I just know. But I think that’s what happened the other night. She started to struggle with everything she got from Ilya, her demon took over, and you two immediately went on offense without really knowing why.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, trying to come up with answers when I wasn’t even really sure of the question.
“Well, we do know that Sephie can handle insane amounts of anger. In fact, I think it makes her thrive. It would somewhat make sense that the opposite of that would be more crippling for her,” Stephen said.
“I don’t know. She’s so adept at handling her own emotions that I’m still surprised she struggled to get rid of Viktor’s sadness. I think it was the combination of both. It still feels like it’s the combination,” Adrik said.
“You can still feel it?” I asked.
“Not right now, but when you were talking about Ilya, I could. It’s very cold. It has something to do with the cold, which is why I think Ivan’s idea of him being able to stop it next time makes so much sense for you. If his anger is facing outward, it’s burning whatever is coming toward you,” he said.
“And Boss is there for anything that gets past me,” Ivan said.
“Did you notice anything on Ilya, Ivan?” Stephen asked. I could see him starting to try to connect things in his mind. Ivan shook his head no. Stephen looked to Andrei, asking him the same question.
“He was hurting, but I couldn’t see anything. When they came back, I could see his aura, but it was still dim,” Andrei said.
“What are you thinking, Yoden? Does it have to do with red pandas or pancakes?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face.
“Still pancakes, but now I’m also wondering if red pandas even like pancakes. We should really find that out before we move forward with pancake production.”
I couldn’t hold my laugh in any longer. “I fucking love you,” I said.
“I’m still working on my theory. What do you know about the girl Ilya just broke up with? Other than her abuse toward him? Anything?” Stephen asked.
“Not much, other than I’d happily kick her ass,” I said. I was thinking back over what I’d gotten from Ilya, chewing on my lip again. When I looked up, they were all looking at me, slightly amused. I could see Ivan’s black eyes, but this time I didn’t feel his anger, nor did I feel Adrik’s. I turned to look at Adrik, whose eyes were also black.
“Did I do that again?” I asked, confused.
“Yours went black when you were thinking about the chick Ilya broke up with. You told him that she wasn’t entirely human. Your demon confirms it,” Adrik said.
“When did you tell him that?” Misha asked.
“The morning after they got back. She was trying to make Viktor see how serious the situation was. She said it would’ve killed Ilya if he hadn’t fixed him. Ilya was apologetic, but Sephie offered to kick her ass, then told him she wasn’t exactly human and that he was lucky to get away from her,” Adrik said.
“I was trying to be somewhat overdramatic at that moment, to be fair,” I said.
“Okay, dramatics aside, what if there was like a lingering effect from that chick still on Ilya. Like whatever demon that chick had was trying to break Ilya down enough that it could either jump to him or another demon could get into him. Ivan can’t see it because it’s not actually a demon, but we all felt the oppressive sadness from Viktor that Sephie couldn’t shake. What if it was the same sort of thing on Ilya? It just follows him around, wearing him down little by little until he’s finally weak enough that another demon can get in?” Stephen said.
“If I’ve learned anything from all this, it’s that there’s a reason for literally everything. Even knowing whether red pandas do, in fact, like pancakes. There’s a reason that Sephie got that cloud from Viktor and it looks like it was so we could figure out what happened to Ilya since neither Ivan nor I could see anything on him,” Andrei said, grinning at me.
“Do we know what happens when someone’s demon takes over completely and their soul either gets ejected or it dies? Does the demon stick with that body or does it jump to another one? Does it need a soul to work the body?” Stephen asked, looking at me.
“Why are you looking at me when you ask those difficult questions? I’m still working on the simple math problem of red pandas and pancakes. You jumped all the way to quantum physics,” I said.
“If one soul on one side of the universe gets ejected, does that mean a red panda on the other side of the universe also eats pancakes at the same time?” Misha asked, thoughtfully.
Adrik turned me to face him, trying to hide his smile. “You did this,” he said, pointing to Stephen and Misha.