“What are you going to do to him?” I asked, rough voice quavering.
Eric’s hand found my back. He rubbed soft circles, but it didn’t help at all.
Amelia ignored me, but Tony sat beside me, leaning in with sympathy in his chocolate eyes. “You’ve got it all wrong,” he said. “She draws out the bad in his head. Like a cleanse.”
“It won’t hurt him, will it? There’s no lasting effect? She does it and it’s over?”
“She’s been known to absorb a bit of their headaches in the past, but aside from that, nothing will change. Whatever Aurora does… this is nothing like it. You have to trust us.”
Absorb his headache? Did he even have a headache?
“Todd will be fine,” Eric assured me. “He’ll feel better afterward. Less… scattered.”
I studied my cousin’s sleeping face. The hard angles of his jaw were softer in his relaxed state, so different from when he was awake earlier. He looked younger, but without the constant scowl, I could also see the lines etched into his face. Tiny creases in his brow carved his tan skin from a lifetime of unhappiness.
My glance jerked up when I heard Amelia muttering under her breath. She held a bowl just above Todd’s head. Her eyes were closed, and she spoke so softly that I couldn’t make out the words. She had begun, and there was no going back. Magic had put him in this state, and I was actually allowing more magic to be done to him. I just hoped that Todd wouldn’t hate us all for it.
She swirled the bowl. Water sloshed at the rim. She made hand gestures over it, then returned to the kitchen where she continued chanting under her breath. Amelia worked quickly, going to and from the kitchen with her bowl. Her back was to us in the kitchen when I heard her curse in Italian. I didn’t speak any Italian, but I knew a curse word when I heard one.
“È grave?” Tony asked, brow knitted with concern.
Amelia lit a match and watched the glowing orange flame intently. It lit her in silhouette from the dark corner of the kitchen before she cast it into the bowl, where it was quickly extinguished by the water. “He needs it again, and I’m not waiting a few days. Who knows where he’ll be by then.” Her voice was grave.
Tony nodded grimly. She drew a clean bowl from the cabinet and began the process again. In the end, there were numerous bowls of water and oil on the counter, each with burned matches inside.
Todd slept through the entire process. He was zonked out and likely would be until morning.
“What now?” I asked.
Amelia dried her hands carefully before reclaiming her seat on the chair. She didn’t lounge this time but sat back stiffly, staring at Todd. “I’ve done all that I can. He’s improved a lot, but we’ll see tomorrow.”
I watched Todd intently, feeling like I’d just allowed something wrong to happen. It wasn’t what Todd wanted, and I had just sat there and watched. Would he hate me for it? Would he even know?
“Em?” Tony called to his sister. His adorable face scrunched with worry. I followed his gaze to Amelia as she winced and rubbed her forehead. “Got a headache?”
“Sorta,” she muttered, looking away. “It’s fine.”
Tony nodded and slid closer to me. He draped his arm across my shoulders and pressed me close. “Don’t worry. This is good.”
“He’ll be mad,” I said, feeling unreasonably close to tears. I couldn’t break down now. I had to be strong. The worst was yet to come, and I couldn’t be a quivering puddle of tears when Aurora walked out of that hospital a free woman. She’d be coming after me, Todd, and Eric. And I couldn’t protect them. I couldn’t even protect myself.
“Todd? Mad?” Tony laughed nonchalantly, giving my shoulders a little squeeze. “Big deal. He’s always mad.”
I let out a short breath that was part chuckle. Tony had a way with making me feel better. “He is, isn’t he?”
“I think he prefers it that way.”
I sat up straighter, looking around. “Where’s Mimi?” She was always somewhere close, but I hadn’t seen her since we started.
Eric emerged from Todd’s bedroom with Mimi cradled in his arms. “She was hiding in his closet.” Normally content near Eric, I was surprised to see that Mimi’s gray ears were low and she trembled, clinging desperately to him.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked.
When he stepped closer to us, she yowled and bit him. She wriggled out of his arms and bolted back into Todd’s room.
“What was that about?” Eric exclaimed, checking the marks in his arm.
I shook my head, puzzled. The cat had been sweet to him all night, and out of nowhere she was a wild, angry little thing.
Amelia stood quickly. We all stared as she swayed on her feet. “I think I should lie down for a while,” she said, voice breathy. She leaned, reaching for the wall. I thought for a second that she was going to pass out. Or maybe vomit. I curled my feet under me, creating distance in case she did.
“Are you okay?” Tony asked.
“Fine.” She took a wobbly step and Eric shifted forward to catch her. “I should lay down,” she mumbled.
Eric carefully guided her to Tony’s room with Tony and me watching in concern. Once she was safely seated, Eric left, turning out the lights and shutting the door softly.
“What are we going to do if it didn’t work?” I asked.
Tony had no answer. I gave Todd a wary glance and Eric stepped over. “I’ll put him back where we found him,” he said with a sly smirk and a little wink. “He’ll never even know.”
I gave a relieved laugh at the idea of Todd not knowing how I had betrayed his trust. All of us had.
Eric grabbed Todd as he had earlier and dragged him, making exaggerated faces like he was too heavy, trying to make me laugh.
Once we were alone, Tony turned toward me. “Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked, brow tilted with concern.
The thin smile died on my face. “Yes. I’m fine. I can even talk again. Sort of.” My voice didn’t sound even close to right, but it was so much better than before.
“And mentally?” he pressed.
My answer was silence. I had nothing to say because I didn’t really know. My mind was a tornado of conflicting emotions.
Tony took my hand in his, staring intently for a moment. “I know you’re trying to be tough for Todd’s sake, but that doesn’t mean that-”
A loud crash cut his words short, the sound of shattering glass and numerous hard thumps. Our heads shot up, and our eyes swept to Todd’s room. Eric hurried out and looked around urgently. The sound hadn’t come from him.
“Em?” Tony called out. His voice was raised and panic leeched into his expression. “Amelia?”
He rushed down the hall and threw the door open. I followed and crashed into his back as he stopped suddenly in the doorway. A stack of books had fallen to the floor, and a tabletop Christmas tree had been knocked over. Window blinds blew, tangled in themselves around shattered glass and an empty frame. As I searched for Amelia and an explanation of what had happened to the window, I realized she wasn’t in the room anymore.
Tony hurried to the busted window. He threw his hands down on the sill and leaned out, looking down at the two-story drop.
“Oh my God!” he yelled frantically. He shoved past me, moving like a bolt of lightning as he ran from the apartment.
My heart thudded. I crept to the window and cautiously peered out, shivering in the cold wind. Amelia lay in the snow below. Sparkling shards of glass surrounded her. She was on her back, body twisted in an uncomfortable, unnatural way. Her eyes were open, but she wasn’t moving.
CHAPTER 31
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Amelia looked like a porcelain doll in the minutes before the ambulance came for her. Eerily lovely and not quite real to my eyes. She was like Snow White before true love’s kiss woke her. Pale, beautiful, and tragic under the warm glow of streetlamps. Scarlet blood trickled into her hairline from her forehead, nearly unnoticeable from the way the shadows fe
ll around her. Big, dark eyes stared up at nothing, black lashes trembling lightly. Her raven hair curled over the glittering white snow and fresh flurries floated down around her. They sparkled like diamonds in her hair. Like stars in the night sky. A chill mist hung in the air. Her hand lay open to the heavens, and if it hadn’t been bent in such an awkward way, she would have looked like a painting depicting the goddess of winter.
I had seen enough ambulances and hospitals for a lifetime but found myself in one once again. Only this time I wasn’t a patient. I got to discover what it felt like to be the one waiting for news, and it sucked.
Morning couldn’t come soon enough. After Tony sent me home from the hospital to rest, I spent a sleepless night alone in my bed. As soon as light touched the sky, I returned to Todd and Tony’s apartment. Eric greeted me at the door. He hugged me tenderly, treating me like a fragile glass doll with cracks running through her face, about to shatter. Like I would be the next to fall. Oddly enough, that was exactly how I felt, but I didn’t want him to know that. I backed away, dropped his car keys on the counter, and pulled off my gloves one by one.
Eric appeared fatigued. It was clear that he hadn’t slept much as the sworn guard of Todd. My cousin could be a sneaky bastard, and I was relieved to see that Eric had taken my warnings seriously.
“He’s been asleep the whole time,” Eric informed me. He sat at a bar stool and sipped from a steaming mug of coffee. “What do you want me to tell him when he wakes up?”
“The truth,” I muttered. Like me, he’d suffered enough lies in his life. “He deserves honesty.”
Eric took my hand and led me to sit on the chair beside his. It felt wrong to be sitting, like there was something more I should be doing.
Eric’s cell phone buzzed on the counter. He gave it a quick check, then pressed “ignore.”
“Who was that?”
“My mom,” he said. “She’s been calling all night.”
“Why don’t you answer?”
“I wouldn’t know what to say,” he admitted with a heavy sigh. For someone who once had a tremendous secret he’d kept very well hidden, he hated lying.
“Tony didn’t call?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Not yet.”
“I should get over there. My brother needs me.”
I started to leave, clutching his keys tight in my fist. At the door, I glanced back. “Do you think it was because of us that this happened?” I asked apprehensively.
He didn’t look at me but shamefully faced the floor. “I think we need to ask Amelia that,” he said quietly.
I frowned and walked out, guilt weighing heavily upon my shoulders. The only solace I felt was in my objections last night. It was a flimsy security blanket, but I clung to it anyway.
At the hospital, when I stepped up to Amelia’s door, nerves slowed me to a crawl, but there was no turning back. Tony-my precious little brother Elijah-needed me. I wouldn’t leave him to worry on his own.
I felt as if I was floating above my body as I pushed the door open and entered. The familiar sounds of machines and beeping surrounded by silence chilled my bones. It was alright when I was the one lying in that bed, but when it was someone else, someone I cared about, my poise shattered.
Tony was sitting in the chair by her side. He lifted his head, looking expectantly to me. Amelia was motionless on the bed, hooked up to an IV but breathing on her own. That was a good sign. She still looked washed out, and her hair was stringy. Why hadn’t anyone combed it? They must have worked at getting the glass out. Why not make it look nice too?
A stitched cut on her forehead was taped over, with a dark bruise fanning out from the white strip. She had a few cuts along her arm too, and her wrist was wrapped in a cast. That same arm was strapped into a sling.
“How is she?” I asked.
“Okay. Pretty banged up. She was awake for a little while last night, but incoherent.”
“Can she leave when she wakes up?” I asked, knowing that it was the days of observation that really killed in a place like this. It was torture at a time when you just wanted the comfort of your own bed.
“Not exactly,” he mumbled, looking away. “She’s on suicide watch. Apparently, when you fall out a window and no one knows how, they assume it was on purpose.”
“You don’t think-” I began with a gasp.
He shook his head. “Maybe she got dizzy,” he offered lamely. Despite his objection, he looked worried.
“This is my fault,” I declared. I didn’t want him to blame me, but I would rather not wait for him to figure it out on his own.
Tony met my eyes and shook his head.
“Yes,” I argued. “Whatever was bothering Todd must have transferred to her.”
“If it did, then it’s not your fault.”
“It is,” I pressed. If he didn’t blame me, he would blame Todd, and I couldn’t let my cousin lose his only friend. I had Eric too, but he only had Tony.
Amelia’s lashes fluttered, and her eyes lifted open partway. Tony stood. “Amelia?” He leaned in, looking afraid to touch her. “How do you feel?”
She inhaled a short breath and her lips pursed. Her drooping eyes looked heavy as her long black lashes blinked. “Did I get her?” she asked in a drowsy whisper.
Tony looked to me, seeking an explanation, but when he looked back, she was asleep once more.
TODD:
He woke to his cat on his chest, warm and purring with contentment. He lifted a hand to her soft fur, running a long stroke along her spine. Even under the weight of her body, he felt light. She stood and stretched, kneading her paws on his t-shirt, then hopped down to the floor.
“Were you watching over me last night?” he asked her curiously. He didn’t remember crawling into bed, but he remembered burning through his bedroom stash, thinking he’d had way too much, and thinking he saw a light somewhere, guiding him on. Stupid.
He sat up, raking a hand through his hair. Sluggishly, he stripped out of his t-shirt and tore open a moving box in search of a fresh one. He actually felt ready for the day. Tired, sure, but set. Ready. Alive.
It had to be his plan that had him feeling so good: move in with Josh and smoke a whole lot of crack. Maybe it was the day. The sun was shining, making the snow outside glitter, and the sky was a brilliant blue, not the grayed wash that was the norm in winter. Or maybe it was the effect of a full night’s sleep. He still had that cotton-mouth, cotton-brain feeling that followed a night of smoking, but even so… The world seemed brighter, colors deeper, and his focus sharper. He took a deep breath, not feeling that weight in his head or chest that he’d grown to expect over the past several months.
Mimi seemed happy with him. She rubbed her face against his scabbed leg excitedly. He felt guilty about his plans to leave her behind, but she’d grown to like Tony. She’d be better off with him anyway. This was her home, not the crack house and three-season back porch he’d be calling home in a matter of hours.
He stacked fresh clothes on his bed and rummaged deeper into the box for a towel. He swung one over his shoulder, and Mimi followed him out of his room. He recalled that Amelia had been there last night, so he quickly ducked into the bathroom, hoping to avoid her. She’d probably spent the night and would be driving back home soon. Maybe he could make his escape without having to see that look of disappointment on her face again.
After a brisk shower, he gathered what he had in the bathroom. His shampoo, hair gel, toothbrush… In a matter of minutes, it was like he had never been there at all. With a towel around his waist and an armful of containers, he made his way back to his bedroom. Before he reached the door, he noticed Eric sitting on the sofa, holding a mug of coffee. He hadn’t noticed him there before, but he hadn’t really looked either.
“Morning,” Eric greeted, taking a casual sip of coffee.
Todd eyed his dumbass intruder. What the hell was he doing there? The apartment sounded quiet, otherwise empty.
He didn’t like Er
ic and had a hell of a good reason not to. They were both a danger to Sandy, but while Todd saw that as a reason to keep his distance from her, this guy was sober as a judge and kept worming his way closer. Sure, Todd had been the one to call him here, to let him know what happened, but only because Sandy loved and depended on him. At least last year he’d had the decency to be drunk ninety percent of the time.
“What are you doing here?” Todd demanded.
“Babysitting you,” Eric answered plainly.
Todd really hated him now. “Whatever,” he muttered, slamming his bedroom door closed behind him. Jackass could stay for all he cared. He was leaving anyway.
Once he was dressed, he grabbed a box. No wasting time. He stacked two in his arms. He was halfway out when Eric decided to stop him. He set his coffee down and stood with determination in his eyes. “Todd, we need to talk.”
His tone was serious. Not threatening, but kind of anxious. Shit. Todd dropped the boxes to the table. He felt his eyes growing wider, not much, but enough that anyone who knew him would see it as a sign of weakness. His mom had been known to latch onto that tiny show of worry and use it to her advantage.
“You might want to sit,” Eric warned.
“Is it Sandy?” he asked, hating the lilt of emotion in his voice.
“She’s fine.”
Todd breathed out a breath, letting his worry go along with it.
“It’s Amelia.”
Every muscle in his body wound tight at the mention of her name.
“She’s in the hospital.”
Oh God. Did he hurt her? Did Aurora take him over? What had he done while blacked out last night?
“What happened?” Todd asked gruffly, staring hard at the table surface before him.
“We’re not exactly sure.”
“You call that a fucking answer?!” he screamed. He wanted to tear the jerk’s throat out.
Eric didn’t flinch but reluctantly continued. “Amelia did her head thing on you, the fix for malocchio, while you were passed out. Then she didn’t feel good. She went to the other room to rest and fell out the window. Actually… through it.”
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