112. What Lies Ahead Chapter 33-Approacing the End (4)

Morning brought the too-bright sun and a painful hangover with it.

I flopped over on the couch to dig my face into the corner, only to groan and regret the motion as my stomach conveyed its distaste. I curled around myself, wondering why I'd let myself drink so much. I hadn't been that drunk since my first year of college when I'd wanted to fit in. It hadn't ended well then, and I'd found the loss of control displeasing. The alcohol had done its job of benign so-called 'liquid courage' but at the cost of me running my mouth off. I grimaced at the memory, trying to recall if I'd said anything too embarrassing last night.

I couldn't recall more than impressions after the first couple of glasses of wine. Had I been that tired?

The smell and sound of cooking bacon struck my nose, sending a new bout of nausea. I swallowed it back down.

Someone padded over to stand above me, blocking the sunlight as they leaned over me. Ani, who'd ended up lying on my side, jerked awake, jabbing his claws into my skin. I curled up tighter.

"Breakfast," Cove said, prodding my shoulder with his hand. I looked up at his stupidly awake face, then pointedly turned away.

He chuckled, the sound digging deep into my skull, and prodded me again. I smacked his hand away childishly.

"He's awake!" Cove called out to the room.

"Hayden, food!" Mattie cheered from the kitchen.

I buried my head deeper into the couch.

Cove shook my shoulder. "It'll make you feel better."

I mumbled something unkind in return. Cove just laughed and walked away. The other three broke out into a ruckus of a conversation, keeping me from slipping back into slumber.

I sat up, my stomach twisting uncomfortably. Breathing through my nose, I trudged over to the table and sunk into a chair. I blinked, and a plate was placed beneath my face.

"How are you guys so awake?" I mumbled.

I wasn't entirely sure how they understood me, but they did.

Mattie shoveled bacon into her mouth, not bothering to swallow before answering. My stomach flipped, and I had to look away. "I didn't drink that much."

Jack did swallow before speaking. "I don't get hangovers."

Cove's answer was the cruelest of them all. "Magic," he said with an irritating grin.

I glared daggers at him. "You serious? Teach me," I demanded, placing the bite of pancake I'd been about to eat back down as I caught the scent of cooked butter.

Cove pretended to consider. "No," he teased.

I wasn't in the mood. "I shared food with you, I shared water with you, I let you use my backpack…" I trailed off, trying to force my unaware brain back into gear to think of more things he owed me for.

Cove twirled his fork. "I can't. It's mental magic; you'd have to reach out to me." He looked at me with raised eyebrows to indicate how incapable I'd be of doing that right now.

I tried to grab my magic and failed. My forehead crinkled, and I scowled as I realized he was right.

Once we'd finished breakfast, I downed two glasses of water before hiding under the blanket, hoping my hangover would be gone the next time I woke. I wasn't quite sure it had been worth it.

This harsh reminder was probably for the best. I did not intend to follow in my fathers' footsteps and become an alcoholic. Before my mother had enough, he'd shot whisky down like it was water. After an incident in middle school, she'd gone so far as to ban him from shopping altogether until he had ahold of himself. He'd been the proponent for his own ban after that and didn't so much as sit next to someone drinking whisky anymore.

Even now, I could smell it on his breath and hear a reverberating slap.

Hadn't the alcohol been to repress bad memories? Why did I remember things I'd long since forgotten?

I breathed out slowly and tried to pack everything back away. I'd been doing fine so far, so why now?

Ani clambered over me and bumped my nose with his, interrupting my thoughts. I reached a shaky hand out and gently stroked his cheek as he nuzzled against my hand. A comforting purr built in his chest, and I slipped back asleep.

I next woke for lunch, with Ani still rumbling away next to me. The sun had risen high enough that it was now casing shade on the patio, partially contributing to the extra few hours of sleep I'd stolen.

I raised my arms above my head and stretched, relieved.

We spent most of the day watching more of Heirs as the others begged me for more details on the characters or descriptions of where my story with them had differed. I happily obliged and basked in the comfortable warmth of our growing companionship.

As promised, Jack received a message from Nick mid-afternoon with instructions on downloading and using the app.

Jack's phone dinged a second time as he received a second text. "Thanks for the spare; it allowed me to test for accuracy," he read off, shooting Cove a grateful grin. "See, I knew I would come in handy!" His fingers lingered over the keys on his phone, and he frowned. "I don't know what I'm doing," Jack admitted.

With my help, Jack sent us the document through Bluetooth. I skimmed through the instructions, ignoring the others. As these phones weren't yet as secure as devices before the fall, side-loading Nick's custom app was easy enough. I completed it on my phone, then ignored the other's complaints and comments and plucked phones out of their hands, completing the process.

Once we were finished, we had a working map (based on old maps of 'Maple') that showed us the location of every working robot as tiny red dots.

I played around with the interface, quickly figuring out controls, including the timeline, to see where the robots had been. The reach and appearance of the app was impressive for only a day's work. Even if he'd reused code from another program, it was far smoother than it should have been. Almost inhuman.

My fingers brushed against the edge of my phone as I considered that thought.