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Eli had not slept more than three hours a night for eight days. There was nothing in the world that could hide her exhaustion. Not makeup, not caffeine. Knox had her running around, chasing one lead after another like she didn't have better things to do. They needed to know if someone within the Elites was behind it, he insisted. If Eli ever got her hands on whoever released it, she was going to throttle them for the extra work. The whole ordeal was a pain.
Morale was nonexistent at headquarters and back at home. Alex was doing his best to seem cheerful, even when working, but his shoulders sagged when he thought nobody was watching. He ate less and hardly spoke. It was unnerving. Eli would never say it to his face, but she did miss telling him to shut up.
Klaus had fallen back into his old habit of disappearing and reappearing at strange hours. Sometimes, he'd come back with bruises and bloodied fists. He wouldn't talk unless it was to tell Eli or Alex that he was fine. Neither of them was allowed a closer look at his wounds. Reports would roll in later about the trouble he'd caused - sometimes for Hunters, sometimes for the government, and other times for regular assholes. If he didn't cut it out soon, Knox was probably going to have him dragged in and locked up until he'd calmed down.
"You can't keep doing this," Eli said, struggling to keep her voice even. Alex and Aria were sitting at the table with her. Alex looked as worried as Eli felt, mouth pulling down into a frown.
Klaus stood in the doorway, left eye swollen and a nasty slash across his arm dripping blood onto the ground.
"I'll get the first-aid kit," Alex said.
"Don't bother," Klaus answered. "I'm fine."
"Don't be stupid," Eli snapped.
Aria's eyes darted between the three of them.
She was the only one that seemed okay those past few weeks. She acted the same as always - watching Eli with careful, untrusting eyes and cultivating her little garden. She managed to drag Klaus outside for a spar once in a while and coax a decent meal into Alex with doe eyes and honeyed words. Eli wondered if it was her abilities that did the work or if she just had the two wrapped around her fingers.
Maybe, Eli thought, she could get that idiot to see reason.
"I'm not being stupid," Klaus said hotly. "I'm fine."
"You're definitely f-"
""Let's just eat," Aria broke in.
Klaus didn't join them though. He just stared angrily at the table like it had insulted his mother.
"If you're not eating," she threatened, "neither am I."
It was a silly, childish threat, but it got him to sit with them at the table to eat. They ate in silence. Eli didn't care for it, but she wasn't going to be the one to break it. Klaus bounced his leg up and down under the table. Aria left the table first. They heard her go out through the front door, the door clicking shut behind her.
