Chapter 55: Be My Guide…. Temporarily
Ethan immediately swatted his hand away.
"Seriously? Seems that punch from earlier hasn’t taught you a lesson."
To Ethan’s surprise, Drey chuckled.
It was the first time Ethan had ever heard the usually expressionless Sentinel actually laugh.
Instead of finding it amusing, however, Ethan only became more irritated.
How could this man laugh at a time like this?
"I didn’t ask for your help," Ethan snapped. "So I’m not giving you anything in return. Besides, you didn’t even give me as much as a thank-you when I saved your life, so don’t suddenly start acting like I owe you some kind of favour."
Drey’s eyes slowly travelled over Ethan’s face, studying him for several seconds as though weighing something in his mind.
Then he finally spoke.
"Then what if I told you I could cure Rin?"
Ethan’s entire body went still while Drey’s gaze never left his.
"Would you consider it?"
****
Drey’s statement had an immediate effect on Ethan, and the shock that had initially left him speechless was quickly replaced by a surge of anger that burned through him.
"You heartless bastard!" Ethan snapped, his voice rising despite the fact that they were standing in an infirmary where people were already fighting for their lives. "You have a way to cure him? You know how to save his life and the lives of the other Sentinels, and you’ve been keeping it to yourself this entire time? And you still have the audacity to keep someone’s life hanging on the line because you want something from me first? You’re so fucking heartless!"
Drey only gave him a mocking grin, the kind that somehow managed to irritate Ethan even more than his words had.
"When did I ever say I was a good person?" he asked calmly. "I never promised to help anyone for free, Ethan. If I have something you need and you have something I need, then why shouldn’t there be an exchange?"
Ethan frowned deeply.
Such a shameless man.
Of course Drey would say something like that without even blinking.
Still, Ethan’s anger couldn’t completely drown out the reality of the situation. Rin was still lying unconscious behind the infirmary doors, his body being consumed by corruption while the academy struggled to find a way to save him. Ethan wanted to help him more than anything, but agreeing to some unknown deal with Drey without knowing exactly what he wanted was another kind of madness.
"What do you even want from me, really?" Ethan demanded. "I have nothing to offer you!"
"Don’t overthink it. It isn’t as though I’m asking you for some random favour. Considering what you’ve done to me, it’s something you’re supposed to take responsibility for."
Ethan’s expression immediately darkened immediately. "What exactly did I do to you?"
Drey’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"I’m injured, and I was forced to leave the rift mission because I was at risk of going berserk and dying. The reason for that is simple. For some reason being guided has become impossible for me."
Ethan’s stomach tightened instantly. He really wasn’t liking where this conversation was going at all.
Drey continued anyway, his voice remaining surprisingly straightforward. "I have to return and continue the mission, but unfortunately, I can’t do that without you. For some reason, you’re the only Guide who can Guide me. I hate to admit it, but I need you."
Drey paused for a moment, and although his expression remained composed, there was something strangely awkward about the way he said his next words, almost as though he hated having to ask.
"The favour I want is simple. Come with me to the rift mission as my Guide."
He paused before adding, almost reluctantly, "Temporarily, though."
The awkwardness in Drey’s expression was almost amusing, and under different circumstances, Ethan might have been delighted by the fact that the arrogant Sentinel who had rejected him so publicly was now standing in front of him admitting that he needed him.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of those circumstances.
Ethan’s mind was already racing.
He didn’t want to Guide Drey again.
Not when he still had absolutely no idea what had happened during the first Guiding session, why Drey could no longer be Guided by anyone else, or whether doing it again would make whatever strange connection existed between them even stronger.
And then there was the other problem.
A fucking deadly rift mission.
A real one.
The kind of mission where Sentinels could get corrupted, Guides could be drained dry, and people could actually die.
Drey wasn’t asking Ethan to accompany him on a school trip. He was asking him to willingly walk into a battlefield filled with corrupted monsters and unstable energy.
Who in their right mind wouldn’t hesitate?
Yet every time Ethan’s thoughts returned to Rin lying unconscious in that ward, his objections began to lose their strength.
It was for Rin.
That was the problem.
If Drey really could save him, could Ethan honestly turn down the offer?
Ethan swallowed before finally asking, "How are you going to do it?"
Drey’s brows furrowed. "Do what?"
"You said you have a way to save him and that you want something from me in return. I’m not agreeing blindly to anything." Ethan’s gaze hardened. "Tell me how you’re going to save Rin, and at least give me some assurance that whatever you’re planning will actually work."
Drey shook his head. "Leave the method to me."
Ethan’s eyes narrowed immediately.
"That isn’t reassuring."
"All you need to know is that the moment you agree, I’ll begin the treatment before we leave for the rift mission."
Drey paused before walking closer toward Ethan.
With each step, Ethan instinctively became more alert, but Drey only stopped in front of him and bent his head slightly, holding Ethan’s gaze.
"All you have to do is agree to be my Guide, Ethan."
His voice lowered.
"That’s all."
Ethan’s lips parted.
He was seconds away from giving him an answer when a hand suddenly caught his arm.
The grip wasn’t forceful, but it was firm enough to pull him lightly away from Drey’s presence.
Ethan didn’t even need to look.The familiar voice that followed told him exactly who it was.
"Pretty boy," Zane drawled, his voice carrying a teasing edge that didn’t quite match the neutral expression on his face. "You’re negotiating with him?"
Zane’s gaze shifted toward Drey for the briefest moment before returning to Ethan.
"If you had a problem, why didn’t you come tell me first?"
Ethan stared at him, slightly stunned.
Zane’s words sounded casual, but there was something beneath Zane’s expression that Ethan couldn’t quite place.
Annoyance.
A lot of it.
His face remained calm, yet the slight narrowing of his crimson eyes made it painfully obvious that he wasn’t pleased with what he had just walked into.
There was, however, someone else who was far more stunned and irritated by Zane’s sudden appearance.
Drey’s eyes moved slowly over the man standing beside Ethan, and the moment recognition settled in, his expression darkened.
"Zane?" Drey’s voice carried clear disbelief. "What a surprise. You’re in this academy too, and I’m just finding out now?"
Zane’s mouth curved into a faint smile.
"So?" he replied casually. "I didn’t know I had to report to you about my whereabouts and affairs now too. Besides, I never planned for you to know, if not for this situation."
He casually slipped his hands into his pockets, looking completely unbothered by Drey’s hostility as he continued. "As usual, you’re abusing your power, aren’t you?"
"Zane, whatever malicious reason you’re here, I just hope it doesn’t involve me, because it won’t end well." Drey’s expression hardened as he looked between them. "Let go of him. You aren’t in a position to intervene."
Ethan, who had been silently watching their exchange, was becoming increasingly confused.
Didn’t Zane say Drey was his cousin?
So why the hell were they acting like two long-time enemies who would rather throw each other off a cliff than have a normal conversation?
There were clearly several things going on between these two that Ethan didn’t understand, but he didn’t have the patience to figure out their complicated family drama right now.
Rin was still inside that ward.
Every second they wasted arguing was another second Rin spent suffering.
Ethan glared at Zane, frustrated that his interruption had thrown everything into chaos just when he had finally been given a chance to save his friend.
"There’s really something wrong with you guys," Ethan snapped, looking between them. "I don’t know what the hell is going on between the two of you, and honestly, I don’t care right now."
He turned his attention back toward Drey.
"All I want is for Rin to be fine, so..."
Ethan took a breath before asking the question that mattered most.
"Are we going on with the deal or not?"
Almost simultaneously, the two men answered.
"No. Don’t. I have a better option."
"Of course we’re going with it."