The morning sun pierced through the curtains, casting long, dancing shadows across the bedroom floor. With a groan, Ares rolled onto his belly, his head pounding like a drum. It took several minutes to register where he was, and when it clicked, he raised his heavy eyelids to look around the room with a frown. A thick fog clouded his mind as he tried to piece together the fragments of the previous night. The cup of coffee, now cold, and cookies that he'd called in from the kitchen for Jodie remained untouched on the tray on top of his drawer. He remembered packing his backpack haphazardly, ready to leave with the six, who he'd been informed were waiting for him at the border. He also remembered Jodie insisting that he couldn't leave, and they had a minor argument. But then everything else was blank.
