Jericho stood from the bed and punched the huge man clean across the face. His head snapped to the side, blood dripping from his nose in a thin stream. We all froze, expecting him to hit back. Instead he stood there for one long second, touching his face like he was checking something, then walked out of the room without a word.
The silence he left behind was almost worse than the noise.
"You can't stay here tonight," I say to Thalia, urging her to stand and follow me. Home, maybe. Anywhere that wasn't here.
"I'm fine, Ravy." Her voice was small. Smaller than I'd heard it all day, and that included when she was being chased by cheetahs. "I've been coping with this before you even became my friend. He's sorry. That's why he left the room. He's sorry."
She finished on that last word like it was something she'd said so many times it had worn smooth. Like a stone carried too long in a pocket.
