Inspire (The Muse #1)(51)
Author: Cora Carmack

Ready to return to Wilder and the others, I push open the bathroom stall only to come to a halt when I see Bridget leaning against the bathroom sink. My steps falter, and my eyebrows raise. “Hi.”

“Sorry if I came off rude out there.”

Hesitantly, I take a step forward. Part of me just wants to bolt, but I decide to play it cool and wash my hands instead.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s just that Wilder means a lot to me. To all of us. And he’s going through a rough time right now—”

“I know.”

Her nostrils flare, and she stands up straight from where she’s been leaning on the sink.

“He told you.”

I nod. She’s silent as I finish rinsing the soap off my hands, and when I reach for a paper towel. I can feel the tension rolling off her beside me, but she remains quiet. I’m not about to stick around until she decides what she wants to say, so I move toward the door.

“Hang on.” She reaches out as I pass, lightly touching my elbow. But when we make contact, she gasps, and her fingers latch on like a vice around my arm. The energy I’d just cooled flairs to life, licking like flames at the inside of my lungs. Her body is shaking next to mine, and when I look up, her eyes have frosted over, pupils and irises covered by an icy white.

“Long have you kept your secrets, moúsa.”

My body jerks to attention at the name. The Greek term for muse. I yank my arm, trying to free it from her grasp, but her hold is like stone. “Through centuries,” she continues, “all your secrets and shame. The shroud of loneliness will be doffed. A reunion calls.”

An oracle. Wilder’s friend and ex-girlfriend is a godsdamned oracle.

“To be made whole, all must first be lost. Daughter of Zeus. Queen of the grove song. Oh, clearest voice among the crowd. You will lose him to your secrets. Daughter of Zeus, maiden muse, bringer of madness. Erebus waits for your move. First shall meet last on death’s breath.”

I yank again, and this time I manage to break her hold. We both gasp at the loss of contact, and I don’t wait to watch her eyes clear and for the human half of Bridget to take hold. Oracles don’t typically remember their visions and prophecies. She probably doesn’t even know what she is. In fact, this could easily be her first episode. Coming into contact with me, someone with so much deity blood, could have called forth the dormant part of her nature.

I spin, storming for the door, and throw it open. Wilder is rushing toward me as I step out, and her words prick at my soul when I see him.

You will lose him to your secrets.

Chapter Twenty

Wilder

“I’m sorry what?”

I stand against the busy bar, waiting for the drinks I just ordered, talking with Lennox while she attempts to flag down a bartender of her own.

“I said I’m glad I called Jack today. Your friends seem cool. I’m totally going to have to check out Rook’s tattoos online.”

“Yeah. He’s crazy talented. I’m sorry. What does Jack have to do with it?”

“I called him, and he was …” She trails off, and I catch the way her eyes widen just slightly. “Never mind. Don’t listen to me. I did some pre-gaming before we came, so I’m already a little loopy.”

“Was Jack the one who told you we were going out tonight?”

She hedges, turning to call out for the bartender again rather than answer me.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” If Jack knew our plans, that means Kalli talked to him. I don’t like the guy, but I’m not about to tell Kalli who she can and can’t be friends with. I do wonder when she talked to him, though. She’s been busy working through the holidays. I’m about to dig for a little more information from Lennox, when Owen appears.

“Problem,” he mutters next to me.

I sigh. Generally, when Owen is coming to me with a problem, Rook has stuck his foot in somewhere it doesn’t belong. I love the dude, but I swear to God I spent more time putting out his fires than actually making music when the band was still going strong. Inevitably, he was pissing off some bar manager or taking the wrong girl home or talking shit to the worst possible person.

“What did Rook do?”

“Nothing much. He danced with your girl.”

I frown. He’s my best friend, but he also spends eighty percent of his life thinking with his dick, and I swear to God if he came on to Kalli, I won’t be responsible for what I do to him.

“Then she went to the bathroom. Couple minutes passed, and I noticed Bridge was nowhere to be seen. Thought maybe she was on the dance floor, but I can’t find her. Thought you might want to know.”

Shit. Surely she wouldn’t say something to Kalli. I expected her to pout and be a bit cold, but we’re still friends goddamn it. She wouldn’t sabotage my relationship just because ours didn’t work out. I catch Owen’s worried expression, and I know we’re both doubting just what our friend would and wouldn’t do right now.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah,” Owen replies.

“Bathroom, you said?”

He nods. “That’s what she told Rook anyway. Maybe she just wanted to get away from his hairy mug though. Could have been an excuse.”

I hand him a couple of bills and say, “Can you pay for the drinks I have coming? I’ll be back.”

“Sure thing.”

I slip through the openings between people crowding the bar, trying to get a drink, and when I hit the stairs, I jog down. I head back to the half-hidden hallway that I know leads to the bathroom, and I’m a few steps away from the door when it flies open, and Kalli comes rushing out.

Her hair is a bit wild, and her pupils are dilated. Sweat dots her forehead, and when our gazes clash she slams to a halt. An expression passes across her face, fear I think, and when I reach out to touch her, she flinches away before I make contact.

“Kalliope,” I say. I don’t know why I use her full name. It just comes out, but her expression closes off and her jaw clenches.

“Don’t call me that.”

“I’m sorry. Kalli, I’m sorry.” I take a step forward, reaching out a hand, but I don’t make contact. Not yet. I don’t know if I can handle seeing her flinch back from me again. “What’s wrong?”

The bathroom door swings open again, and Bridget is framed in the opening.

“Goddamn it, Bridge. What did you say to her?”

Her brows furrow, and she looks between us in confusion. “I didn’t say anything.”

“We were supposed to be friends first. I’ve been patient with your bullshit because we’ve known each other a long time, but this is too much.”