Book 3: Chapter 66: Lexy

Book 3: Chapter 66: Lexy
Lexy

I sobbed in earnest as Seth held me tighter. Everything just felt like it was too damn much. 
"It's okay, Lex. It's okay." He repeated over and over again, but I couldn't stop. It was like now that the dam was open, I couldn't put my feelings neatly back in their box. 
Seth moved us to the couch, his grip unrelenting and his own anxiety quite undeniable, but he stayed. 
"I'm sorry," I sobbed. "I'm sorry." 
"Shhh. It's okay, Lexy. It's okay." 
"Lexy?" 
I hadn't heard anyone else enter the tent, but I would know her voice anywhere. 
"Go away, Annabeth." Seth growled at her. 
But she was Annabeth, and she didn't waver. "What happened?" 
"I was asleep in her bed, trying to get a little more sleep when her and Matt came into the tent arguing, and now were here." Seth whispered. 
"I can feel your pain, Lex." Annabeth said gently. "Tell me how to help you." 
"You can't." It came out in ragged gasps. Everything that had happened in the last 4 years replayed in my head. My parents abandoning me. Abandoning my sisters. Getting beat up at the castle. Getting poisoned. Getting banished. All my million trips to prison. The chains on my hands. The whip. The use of Mydem. To be healed and destroyed over and over and over again. I felt like I was drowning in the terrible memories that had controlled my life for so long. 
"I'm here," She whispered, pulling me into her in a way that instantly felt calming. Even more calming than Seth. "I'm here." 
"My sister is dead." I told her. 
She stiffened, but she didn't let go. "I know, love. I know." 
Seth slipped from my bed without a word, and I cried until I couldn't cry anymore, drifting off into a restless sleep. 
"Annabeth, you have a meeting to get to." 
I woke slowly to a familiar voice whispering. 
“Tell them I need to reschedule.” Annabeth whispered, shifting next to me.  
"No." I forced my eyes open even though they felt tired and swollen. 
"No?" Annabeth asked, brushing an errant piece of hair from my face. 
“Annabeth, it’s the king of Lysolee. You can’t just reschedule it. He wants to know about the rift between you and your mother, and what an alliance can offer them.”   
“You have to go to that, Annie! That took a lot of work to get him here, and he won’t come back if you don’t go.” I exclaimed, sitting up.   
She looked at me in surprise. “You were in Lysolee?”   
“Yes.” I answered, ignoring Matt’s angry glare. Clearly, we were still fighting. 
“You know that’s not safe!” Matt all but yelled. I knew he’d be mad, but it wasn’t about him. It never was. 
Annabeth raised her hand to tell him to back off as she got up, but I was in the mood to press buttons.   
“I also went to Locke.” I said in the most nonchalant voice I could muster.   
“You what?!” He looked at me horrified.   
I shrugged. Even Annabeth was looking at me upset.   
“Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?” I replied, a little angry at their concern even though it was totally warranted. I just couldn't stop myself from pushing. And I mean, I didn’t go there by choice, but they didn’t need to know that.   
“All of you out,” It was Seth’s voice that now rang through the tent.   
Annabeth looked at him in surprise, but Matt just huffed, turned around and left.  
“Go,” Seth said again, motioning to the door, when she didn’t move.   
“I’ll see you later, Lexy.” She looked hesitant to leave but did anyway after looking at Seth’s face again.   
I got up from the bed, and stretched, I felt everything in my body pop.   
“Take it off.” He stated, his voice as harsh as I had ever heard it.   
“What?” I felt the heat rise to my cheeks.   
“I know you’re hurt,” He said, his voice not softening, his anger overwhelming. “Take off whatever the fuck Mydem you’re using today and show me what happened.”   
“I don’t care for your tone of voice, Seth Steele.” I answered, matching his cold tone.   
“Take it off!” He sounded angry, but I heard his pain. I knew he cared. I knew that was what everything was actually about. 
“No. And don’t tell me what to do. It’s already late, and I have things to do today.”   
“You went to Locke, for God’s sake Lexy! We both know you either had a really strong lead, or when you were in Lysolee you were tracked! And either way it’s not a good thing!”   
“How did you know I went to Lysolee?” I questioned, but I already knew the answer. I could hear it loud and clear from his thoughts.  
He was still glaring at me, as I continued to not actually pay him any attention and get ready for my day. 
“I was outside the tent,” He grumbled, and I was surprised he had admitted it. 
I nodded at him. I was still on edge, but much more in control. I was only half trying to pick a fight. He was angry, which meant he needed me to be calm. That was how our friendship had always worked. That was how we had always worked.   
“Oh, and that’s supposed to make me feel better?” I asked, still wishing to push buttons a little bit, even though it kinda did make me feel better, knowing he was close.  
“Yes!” He exclaimed exasperatedly. “Don’t you know how worried about you I was?!” 
“Well maybe you should stand up for me, instead of letting the world just attack me!” I snapped back, the words out of my mouth before I could think better of them.  
He looked taken aback. “Wait, that’s what this is about?” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.   
“Why on earth would I be okay with none of you defending me in front a large group of people?” I questioned in disbelief. “You’re supposed to be my friends… You’re not supposed to need an explanation. You’re supposed to trust that I did the right thing. I expected it from Anna, and even Rae. But not from you. And definitely not from Matt.”   
The look he gave me would have made anyone think that I had slapped him right across the face.   
I reached across my shoulder to fix my bra strap and winced, and the pain of his face amplified, and I tried to hide the pain.   
He moved closer, and I froze.   
“Anna healed you some while you were sleeping. You kept grimacing in your sleep. She said it would help ease your pain and deepen your sleep, but she didn't know where to target. And Matt said you sleep better when you don’t sleep alone… Why don’t you sleep, Lexy?” The last part of his sentence was barely a whisper, and it wasn’t the question I was expecting. He was so close to me now.   
I didn’t answer right away, but I felt my heart race.   
“Because when I sleep, it all comes back,” I answered breathlessly, and it was the most honest thing I had said in a long time.