Gabriel's embrace is warm and frightfully comforting, and Anthony closes his eyes and bows his head. He could collapse under the weight of this loss, and Gabriel would try to catch him. Anthony should feel some comfort in that--except that he isn't sure he could get back up again. It is much less frightening to remain fine (or some facsimile of it) than to allow Guy's departure to overwhelm him.

"I am sorry for that," he says. He can't remember seeing a message from Gabriel in the past few days, but the truth is that he has paid attention to very little. The poor boy could have called Anthony a dozen times, and Anthony could have missed them all.