Chapter Twenty-Eight.

Greyson pulled Jess closer to him as she trembled again. He was grateful they hadn't separated the pair of them yet, but knew it was only a matter of time. While they had stuck a platinum collar on him, they only stuck a silver on her, so he had hope that at least she could be freed, even if the commands given prevented him from trying.

Watching their captors, Greyson listened for even the slightest hint, the slightest clue he could use to get Jess out of there safely. At the moment, the two of them were in the basement of a house enchanted against all types of spatial magic, which explained to Greyson why Eden hadn't come yet, though he also heard something about Eden being captured as well.

He wanted to reassure Jess with his words, but the person with the key to his collar ordered him to not speak, which made it impossible for him to say a single thing. All he could do was hug her and rub her back, make sure she knew he was there, protecting her.

Jess's hand slipped under his hoodie and felt his bare back, something he knew she had begun doing to reassure herself that he was there and real. The feel of warm skin was far more reassuring than the feel of fabric.

Anything, Greyson prayed and pleaded once more. Anything, gods, please, give me something or anything. Please let me get her out of there. Please open a path for her out, please, gods. Please let nothing bad happen to her. Please let-

BANG!

Everyone in the basement jumped as the basement door slammed open, turning to face the man who had run downstairs in a hurry. It was the man who had Greyson's key, and he looked in a frenzy. From what Greyson knew, he had left the house to go do something that would last most of the day only a few hours prior, so something must have happened. Based on the panicked look on his face, it was something massive.

"We need to get the slaves out!" He said nearly breathless from his haste. "The entire Thornton estate was wiped out less than an hour ago with nearly all other Thorntons wiped out over the last half-hour, and it's believed all locations have been compromised. Everyone's been ordered to scramble, and that we'll be contacted once things settled down."

The Thorntons were attacked? Greyson wondered. Who has enough power to actually challenge them and wipe them out?

"You," he pointed at Greyson. "Follow us. Obey our instructions. Do not attempt to escape. Do not speak. Do not attempt to use your powers. We are leaving immediately."

Greyson obediently stood off the cot and followed them upstairs, freezing with his master at the sight that awaited them in the living room.

"Hello," Cam smiled, his pink eyes filled with fury. "I believe you have my friend."

"You-" the slaver in charge began, only to fall to the ground. Greyson jumped in shock, looking at the man with wide eyes.

A hole was in his chest, and the other slavers there all suffered the same fate.

"Thank you, Jade," Cam smiled at the woman standing behind Greyson, who took a step back. "Can you remove his collar? Grandpa Alex's key doesn't work on platinum collars, they're permanent. Usually."

Usually? Greyson looked at her. How can she remove them?

"Stand absolutely still," the woman approached Greyson. "It's going to burn a little, so you'll be tempted to squirm."

Greyson looked at Jess, who Cam was poking in the side before pulling out a universal key and unlocking the collar to.

"Also," he held up the collar. "Destroy this when you're done."

"Don't move," the woman told Greyson once more. "It's for the best."

Greyson stood still, doing his best to resist squirming as the collar heated up under her touch, then he looked in amazement as it fell apart when her hands pulled away.

"You're a void mage!" He exclaimed, realizing in hindsight that her power should have been obvious when the slavers died with holes in their chests that came out of nowhere.

"I am," she smiled. "Your friend of many names is quite protective of you."

"Have you two kissed yet?" Cam asked Greyson, whose face heated up in sync with Jess's. "Guess not properly. Your dad's really worried about you. He asked me to try to refrain from blowing up a city."

"From… doing what?" Greyson asked as Jess pulled closer to him. "Jess, this is Cam, he's one of my friends. I'm not sure about her."

"She's one of mine," Cam nodded. "Yeah, your dad's worried the twins and I were going to blow up a city after I got mad and killed my family."

"You what?" Greyson asked.

"At least I'm better?" Cam asked. "Callum said I was obviously in need of venting some pent-up stress and frustration. He also said that now that I've accepted myself for being a demigod and what that means about me not being human and all, I should have an easier time molding myself into the person I want to be."

"Speaking of Callum," Greyson said slowly as he looked around. "Where is he?"

"He likes being in dog form because it means he can pee in a yard and not get funny looks."

As Cam said that, the front door opened seemingly on its own and Callum, in dog form, entered and looked at them.

"I missed the fun," he sighed. "I told you to wait."

"I sensed Greyson's mind," Cam said. "It's not my fault you randomly had to pee. I wasn't going to let him wear that collar any longer. Can we go out for ice cream to celebrate them getting freed?"

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"It's seven in the morning," Callum said. "You need breakfast."

"Waffles and ice cream?" Cam suggested, and the dog sighed, then took on human form, clothes forming around him. "I wish I could do that."

"One day," Callum said. "Let's go get breakfast, Cam. Your brother told me to bring you to some place he called a 'breakfast diner'."

"I bet they serve ice cream this early in the morning," Cam muttered, earning laughs from his friends and bodyguard, and a confused look from Jess.

"This is Cameron," Greyson clarified to Jess.

"Ooh," she realized. "Greyson talks nonstop about you sometimes, Cameron."

"I go by 'Cam' now," he said, then blinked a few times. "Are my eyes still pink?"

"Yes," Greyson answered. "Why are they pink?"

"Mr. Kendall said that the eyes of children of Ulrima tend to turn pink when their emotional state is heightened," Cam answered. "I'm pretty angry right now. And hungry. That's probably enough. Jade said my eyes turned pink when I sensed you in there."

Cam took several deep breaths as they went outside to the car that Callum had rented. Cam wasn't sure how the demigod managed to do that, or how he learned to drive, but his only concern was staying alive while riding. So he made sure to buckle himself, close his eyes, and pray to his father that Callum didn't push the accelerator as much as possible.

Once everyone was buckled, Jade in the front passenger, Greyson and Jess sitting beside Cam in the back, and Callum in the driver's seat, the ancient demigod took off, causing Greyson and Jess to yell in fright.

"Please let us survive this trip as well," Cam muttered. "Please let us survive this trip as well. Please let us survive this trip as well."

Over and over, he repeated that until Callum stopped in the parking lot of the restaurant. Without bothering to unbuckle, Cam teleported out of the car and made haste inside, where Michael, Noah, Kris, Eden, Jenna, and Tyler were waiting.

"I'm with people," he said as the hostess went to greet him. "More are coming."

With that said, he made a beeline for the table of his family and friends.

"Please don't ever put me in car with Callum as a driver ever again," Cam told Michael as he sat in the empty seat to the right of Jenna. "He's frightening and doesn't obey any of the laws. I think he's teaching himself how to drive. How did he even rent the car? Are you paying or am I?"

"I'm paying," Michael answered. "Order as much as you'd like."

"Okay," Cam said. "Where's the waitress? I'm hungry and thirsty."

"She's bringing us our drinks now," Michael answered. "We haven't placed our food orders yet, we were waiting for the rest of you to arrive. Where are the others?"

"Coming," Cam answered. "My eyes are blue again, right? It was hard to take deep breaths and calm down with Callum's driving."

"They're blue again," Michael chuckled as the waitress returned. "The rest of our party is here, though Cam left them behind, so they'll probably be joining us in just a minute."

"Do you have chocolate ice cream?" Cam asked as he looked through a menu. "If so, can I get it in a root beer float? And maybe in five or six bowls?"

"Eat some proper food," Jenna whispered to him. "Have some pancakes."

"Okay," Cam grumbled. "Ooh! Strawberry banana! I want a stack of that and a stack of chocolate chip. Jenna, wanna share the chocolate chip ones? If it's you, I wouldn't mind? Maybe get two stacks, so I can have one and we can share the other. I bet Eden would like to eat the mozzarella sticks. Mr. Kendall didn't say he was returning home to pick you up, Jenna. Do you like hash browns, sausage patties, or sausage links? We could do eggs, but I'm not a big fan of them. Eden tried making an egg salad, and I didn't like. Now, I'm turned off to just eggs."

"I told you," Eden's face reddened. "I put in too much mustard and mayo by accident, Cam."

"It still made me retch at the flavor."

"Thanks for that image, Cam," Greyson smacked him in the back of the head. "We're about to eat."

"You smell," Cam told Greyson. "You definitely need a shower before we do anything after breakfast."

"You know why I smell," Greyson muttered, his face flushing as he gave Jess a shy glance.

"You can shower when we get to the hotel," Cam told him. "Sit over by Noah. There are two empty seats there, you can sit by Jess."

There were also two empty seats by Cam, but no one mentioned that. Once everyone was seated, the waitress took their drink orders and food orders, then left.

"Did you notice," Cam whispered to Jenna, unaware it was loud enough for everyone to hear. "That Eden and Tyler sat by each other? They really want to claim they're not dating behind our backs, but they're so obvious."

"We aren't!" Eden and Tyler protested at the same time with red faces.

"Uh-huh," Cam said, then looked at Michael. "They're obvious, aren't they?"

"Cam," Michael said. "As children of Ulrima, we can tell when people are in love with each other when they're near each other, even when they themselves won't admit it. That's why you're able to tell that Jenna likes you."

"She's said she does," Cam told him. "She just won't date me. I don't understand it. It's because I'm small, isn't it?"

"It has nothing to do with your height," Jenna told him. "Cam, if I were to date you, then that would mean staying in one place for awhile. You know Tyler and me, we don't stick to one place. We rarely stay somewhere more than a month or two. Once Ty finishes recovering, we're moving on again."

"But if you dated me," Cam said. "Then you'd have a reason to stay in one place for longer. Ty and Eden are secretly meeting behind our backs, even if everyone wants to deny it. And you like me. You both have reasons to stay here. Please date me?"

"They aren't dating behind our backs," Jenna sighed. "Cam, give that up, you're wrong there. And I don't want to stay in one place, and neither does Ty. The longer we're somewhere, the greater the chance of us getting hurt. Ty's already been kidnapped, forced into a collar, and made to battle it out in an arena day after day, week after week, for several months."

"Maybe," Cam said. "But have you ever had friends before? Have you ever had other badbutts on your side before? You'll have me, Eden, Kris, Callum-"

"Don't bring me into this."

"Mr. Kendall, and all the others," Cam said. "So the chances of you getting hurt are slim. Plus, Callum and Mr. Kendall just went and did a lot of stuff to traffickers, even if it was because my dad told them to, and you've even helped deal a big blow to them. DoSS will probably take care of a lot of stuff, so that'll make it easier. Because my friends killed the Fairy Emperor and Callum and I killed the Fairy Empress, you won't have to worry about fairies coming after you. Then there's the fact that you'd be dating the guy who killed the Fairy Empress and scared off a bunch of gods and drove them to their knees. That's a very important fact to remember, Jenna. Only a moron would mess with you then. Like the morons who kidnapped Eden and Greyson. Yay! Root beer float!"

The others began laughing as Cam quickly took the drink from the waitress and stuck his straw into it.

"Don't forget to drink the milk and orange juice, Ambrosius," Michael said, and Cam waved a hand at him as if to say go away. "I'm not going away, Ambrosius."

"Were you guys talking about a game?" The waitress asked. "My boyfriend and I were looking for a new one, and that sounded pretty interesting."

"Not the kind of game you could play," Cam said. "Not unless you want to risk your life. Your real life. It's a dangerous game with lots of real-world elements factored into it. We're the biggest, most badbutt team around."

"Cam," Eden snorted. "I think you're the only person who calls it 'badbutt' instead of 'badass'."

"I don't swear," Cam said. "And she's not wearing a skirt! Jenna, never wear a skirt while we're dating, or he won't shut up!"

The waitress gave him a confused look.

"He's talking about the voices in his head," the rest of the table explained, then exploded into laughter.

"It's not funny!" Cam blushed furiously. "You're paying for my breakfast!"

"I already agreed to do that," Michael reminded him, causing Cam's face to turn even redder. "And Jenna still never agreed to date you."