Oliver watched the scene with his own matching expression of bewilderment. He shook his head as if to rid his ears of water. His eyes came to rest on Abby.
"What happened?" he asked, as if she had an answer. In the unfolding confusion, she could not find her voice, but just stared back at him helplessly.
Marcus rushed back into the room as Dante vomited another gush of blood and dirt.
Julian held Dante across his legs. He pressed his fingers to his neck. Dante's skin had begun to take on a grayish hue.
Marcus tried to hold the water to Dante's mouth, but he seemed to be losing consciousness.
"What's wrong with him?" Ezra exclaimed. She had made it to Kendra and they sat on the floor, arms wrapped around each other, both looking scared and disoriented.
"Abby, we need your blood," Julian said.
Abby looked at him, trying to understand what he was saying.
"Elda said there are vital healing compounds in your blood. We need some of it. Now!" His sharp tone startled her out of her reverie, and she struggled to standing with Sebastian's help.
"It's okay," she told him, seeing the concern in his eyes. "Julian's right. It helped Helena—we have to try."
"Victor," Julian shouted. Victor still sat on his small meditation cushion. His eyes were open and a tiny smile played on his lips, but he didn't appear to be present in the room.
"Victor?" Oliver snapped, moving to Victor and shaking him roughly. "Snap out of it."
When Victor still did not reply, Julian turned to Ezra and Kendra.
"We need medical supplies to do a blood transfusion. Where can we get those?"
"Josh," Ezra replied quickly. She held on to Kendra's hand until she got her feet firmly beneath her. "Josh helps with our medical clinic in the city."
"There's no time to waste," Julian said.
"I'll help," Oliver said, following Ezra from the room.
Dante had stopped throwing up, but his breath came in short rasping bursts.
Without thinking, Abby moved toward him and squatted down. She put her hands on Dante's back. His energy thrummed beneath her fingers. As she drew her hands down his back, she noticed a slowing to the energy. She pressed her hands into his back.
"We need to flip him over," she told Julian.
They carefully rolled him onto his back. His eyelids fluttered and then closed.
Abby drew her hands to his stomach. She lifted his shirt and laid her palms flat on his abdomen, then closed her eyes and tried to feel into his body with her mind. She traveled through the waves of energy and found the slow-moving vibration. A dark mass seemed to have lodged itself just below his diaphragm. She massaged slowly in a circle. Though she did not feel a growth in his body, she knew that something toxic had taken hold of him in that place. She felt her hands growing warm and then hot as she touched him. The dense energy started to loosen. She guided it down toward his feet, feeling that if she offered it an escape route, it would take it, and flee his body.
Julian made a similar sweeping motion over Dante's body toward his feet. Abby felt the cells begin to move faster as the darkness dissipated and slipped away.
"Camphor oil? Or charcoal?" Julian asked Kendra.
She held her injured elbow and nodded.
"Marcus," Kendra said, beginning to get color back to her face. "In my medicine cabinet there's a blue bottle of camphor. It's on the bottom shelf next to the oil blends."
"Got it," he said and hurried from the room.
"And cotton rags or an old T-shirt," Julian called after him.
"You've got the touch," he told Abby and smiled.
Abby forced a smile back, but her whole body trembled with the effort. As Dante's vibration increased, she felt her own energy wane.
"Not much longer now," Julian assured her, sensing her fatigue.
Marcus returned with the camphor oil. Julian held the bottle in both his hands. He closed his eyes and Abby noticed that his lips moved, almost imperceptibly. He uncapped the oil and doused the T-shirt, carefully wrapping it around Dante's feet.
"What will it do?" Marcus asked.
"Pull the toxins out and bind them to the oil."
"Toxins?" Kendra asked.
"It's toxic, that's for sure," Abby agreed.
Finally she felt the heaviness move out of Dante's body. As she smoothed her hands over his legs, a sudden tingling drew up her arms. The grayness began to drain from his body and his face.
"It's gone," she sighed, relieved.
Sebastian stood behind her, rubbing her shoulders. She leaned back against his legs and took one of his hands.
"We still need the transfusion," Julian said.
Abby felt Sebastian bristle behind her.
"I know you're exhausted, Abby, the hardest part is over. Do you have a bath here?" Julian directed his question at Kendra.
"Is it really necessary?" Sebastian asked.
"Yes. He was throwing up blood. Something is damaged in there. From what I understand, her blood will heal just about anything."
Kendra watched her with interest.
"It's okay, I want to," Abby assured them.
"There's a bath," Kendra answered. "Marcus designed it. He's a water element too. It will be perfect."
****
"What can I bring you?" Sebastian asked as Abby slipped beneath the hot water.
She closed her eyes and moaned as the water moved over her aching body.
"Just sit with me?"
"Of course."
He perched on the edge of the tub, moving behind her so that he could lean down and gently massage her scalp.
"What happened?" she asked.
A part of her wanted to sit in silence and allow the water to rejuvenate her, but she wanted Sebastian's story while they were alone.
"I think she was buried alive—Kanti," he said tensely. "There was dirt everywhere. I could feel it suffocating me. I felt like I was ripping off my fingernails clawing at the dirt. It was so heavy and dark. I don't think I've ever been so scared."
She reached up and rubbed his leg.
"You shouldn't have done it."
"It was the same for Dante," Sebastian told her. "I'm sure of it. You saw the mud he was coughing up. How is that possible? We were sitting here in the loft. How did that mud get inside of him?"
"There was something else inside of him too," Abby said, shuddering. She thought of that dark energy pulsing in Dante's abdomen.
"I saw it. I watched you push it out of him. Was it her? Kanti's spirit?"
Abby shook her head.
"I don't think so, but honestly, I don't have a clue. I feel like I need another hundred years in this life before I'll have a context for ninety-nine percent of the stuff that's been happening lately."
"How did you bring us back?" Sebastian asked. "I was dying, I was buried alive, and then suddenly I felt you. Your light surrounded me and pulled me out."
"Elda taught me. After I saw you in the Pool of Truth, she wanted me to learn how to draw people back from their astral travel. I wasn't sure if it would work."
"But it did."
"Yes, but something strange happened." She paused and ducked beneath the water for a moment, gathering herself for the memory. When she emerged, water poured down her face in rivulets.
"When I tried to get Victor, I felt him pulling me. It terrified me. It wasn't just the sense that I was being drawn toward where he was, but that his energy intended to absorb mine completely."
Sebastian moved around the edge of the bathtub to face her.
"Did it seem intentional? Like he did it on purpose?"
Abby bit her lip and considered.
"In the moment, yes, but now, I'm not so sure. You saw how out of it he was in there."
"Not just out of it," Sebastian added. "Creepy. He was smiling, he looked happy. He obviously didn't get buried alive."
"None of the other witches were with you underground? When we used that magic at Sorciére, all of us traveled to the
same place. Why did it work differently?"
"I'm still coming to terms with the experience. I may need a few days before any theories start popping up. I feel brain-fried."
"You and me both."
"Are you sure about this transfusion? You're exhausted and the baby..."
"She's okay. It's weird, but I think I felt her when Victor's energy was pulling me. I experienced this powerful, serene presence. I think it was our daughter."
Sebastian smiled and scooted onto the floor. He rested his chin on the edge of the bathtub.
"Our daughter the savior."
****
Oliver and Ezra unloaded the equipment from the van.
"Thanks Josh, you're a lifesaver ," Ezra told the man behind the wheel. He smiled and touched his fingers to his ball cap.
"You and me both," he told her. "Literally."
"Thanks man," Oliver added.
They had not been introduced, but there was little time for niceties.
Oliver and Ezra pushed the cart, loaded with medical supplies, back into the building and onto the elevator.
"Does he know you're a witch?" Oliver asked her.
"No. He's a don't-ask-don't-tell kind of guy. I implied that we're trust fund babies when we first got the clinic started. We have lots of money and want to do good with it, that kind of thing. He might notice that patients have pretty miraculous turnarounds on days when we visit the clinic, but the human brain is great at rationalizing."
"Yeah," Oliver agreed. "It's easier to believe the lies sometimes."
"Pretty much. What we believe is what we see, after all."
"Where did you go?" Oliver asked. "During the spell."
Ezra frowned and watched the floor numbers lighting above them.
"I was in a dungeon. Maybe a Vepar's lair. I've never been in one, so it's hard to say for sure."
"Did you see Dafne?" he asked, hopeful.
"No, I didn't see anyone. I walked out though. It wasn't like the magic we've done before. Usually all of the witches who drink the potion are there together. I was alone and scared. I kept walking because I felt like something was stalking me in the tunnels. I wanted to run, but everything felt really heavy. I finally saw light and ran out of the tunnel only to find myself on the edge of a cliff. The only escape was down, but it had to be a thousand feet onto jagged rocks."
The elevator dinged as they reached the top floor. Ezra pushed the cart and Oliver followed.
"What about you?" she asked.
"Woods, but something was chasing me too. I was running away and branches kept scraping my face. My head told me to turn and fight, but my body kept running."
"Oh thank God," Ezra said, as they moved into the meditation room. "His color is coming back."
"Thanks to Abby," Kendra told her.
"Where's Victor?" Oliver asked.
"Julian is with him. Giving him some kind of tea. He thinks it will bring him back."
"He's still astral traveling?" Ezra asked, surprised.
"Not exactly. He's conscious, but, I don't know, somethings not right."
"Oliver, can you sling Kendra's arm?" Ezra asked, handing him a roll of gauze.
Sebastian drew back the curtains to the room and walked in.
"Abby is getting dressed," he told them.
"Tell her to find somewhere comfortable to sit. It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes to draw her blood."
Abby settled on the couch and watched as Ezra hung a clear blood bag from a metal frame. She connected a tube between the bag and a large needle. Abby cringed and looked toward Sebastian instead.
Ezra wrapped a rubbery band around her upper arm and pulled it tight.
"Can you flex your hand for me a couple of times?"
Abby opened and closed her fingers. Sebastian watched her closely, holding her other hand firmly.
"Little poke," Ezra told her as she slid the needle in.
It hurt, though not terribly. She preferred Bridget's stone method—even if it was more placebo than actual numbing.
Abby could see Julian in the kitchen. He stood next to Victor, who sat hunched on a stool. Julian kept lifting a blue coffee mug to Victor's lips and encouraging him to drink.
"Easy as Sunday morning," Ezra said, several minutes later.
Abby glanced up, surprised to see the bag nearly half full.
"You've got some powerful blood flow," Ezra told her, sliding the needle out of her arm. She pressed a cotton ball against Abby's skin and taped it down.
Sebastian kissed her hand.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"Fine," she said honestly. "Not woozy or anything."
"Witch gifts," Ezra told her with a wink.
"How'd you learn to do that?" Sebastian asked.
"I used to be a nurse," she admitted. "I still am, I guess. Just better at it now."
"Oliver, could you and Marcus carry Dante into Victor's room? It's close so it will be easy for us to monitor him there."
Oliver and Marcus lifted Dante and gently moved him to Victor's bed.
"He's going to be okay," Oliver reassured him.
Marcus looked pale and waxy. Little worry lines stood out around his mouth.
"I panicked," he sighed. "He was spitting up blood and we couldn't wake anyone up. I completely panicked."
Oliver cocked his head and looked amused.
"And? We all panic, man. Especially when people we love are foaming at the mouth. When I was a younger witch, just discovering my powers, my dog Tex got run over by a car. I flipped out. I put him in the car and raced across town to the vet only to find out they were closed. He died before we got there. I kept thinking afterward, 'you're like a superhero, you idiot—you could have saved him yourself.' I told Elda that story at Ula once, and she reminded me that everything happens for a reason. I used to think that saying was hokey, now I know it's the truth. Every moment guides us; we're not always meant to save the day."
Marcus looked down at Dante. He leaned forward and kissed his forehead.
"I appreciate that, Oliver," he told him. "I'll just stay in here with him."
"We're ready for the magic blood in here," Oliver called to Ezra.
****
"He's doing much better," Ezra said, leaving Victor's room. She had been checking Dante every half hour since the infusion. "Not yet awake, but heart rate and blood pressure are good."
"I'm still trying to figure out what happened," Victor complained, rubbing his temples. "I have a splitting headache and Kendra's pain potions haven't touched it."
Julian handed him another cup of steaming, rank-smelling tea.
"Ugh, another one?" he asked. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"Just the opposite actually," Julian replied curtly.
"What's in that concoction you've got there, Julian?" Oliver asked, wrinkling his nose as the smell wafted his way.
"Sebastian's tried it," Julian said, smiling.
"Don't remind me," Sebastian grimaced.
"When?" Abby asked, nestling deeper into the crook of Sebastian's side.
They all sat on couches and chairs in the loft trying to piece together what had happened during Dante's spell.
"It helps with memory retrieval," Julian said, "but more so, it helps right the mind when something has wreaked havoc in there."
"In France," Sebastian answered Abby's question, kissing the top of her head.
"Maybe I should have some too," Kendra commented, closing her eyes. "I can't get those visions out of my head."
"Talking will help," Julian told her. "Now that Victor has joined us, I think it's time to tell our stories."
"What about Dante?" Victor asked.
"I think it best if we not wait," Julian said. "I will begin. I was in a Vepar's lair. I recognized it by the smell, which was interesting because generally in astral travel there is no sense of smell. I'm not sure exactly what this magic is of Dante's, but I think it's important that we study it further."
Victor inhaled
sharply, but did not speak.
Abby glanced at him, but his face betrayed nothing of his thoughts.
"I was standing outside a great wooden door. I could hear whimpering on the other side. I, Julian, wanted to help the person behind that door, but I had no control over my body. I turned and walked deeper into the earth. I came into a room with a blazing fire. I don't know how the smoke was escaping, but the fire danced with orange and purple and green flames. I stood there and stared at it until I was pulled back into my body. I felt fear. I don't know why, but I wanted to leave that place; however, nothing I did brought me back. I felt the tug as Abby reached into the astral plane and pulled me home to my body. I could have screamed for joy when I opened my eyes and I was back in that room."
"Me too," Sebastian agreed. "I'm pretty sure I ended up in the same place as Dante, buried alive."
He described his experience of trying to claw his way out. The other witches looked at him in horror, obviously connecting his experience and Dante's.
Ezra followed.
"I believe that I was in a lair too, but instead of going down, I followed a tunnel that took me out to a cliff. Something followed me, I could feel it, but I never saw anything."
Oliver described a similar feeling as he raced through woods to escape something that stalked him.
"Was there snow?" Julian asked.
"No, I hadn't thought about that. It was summer. Lots of green. I couldn't see far ahead because the woods were dense."
"Could you have been in another place?" Abby asked. "Somewhere warm? Down south maybe?"
"I don't think so," Oliver admitted. "It felt like Michigan. The freshwater lake smell and the same species of trees and plants."
"Me too," Ezra added. "I'm pretty sure I was looking down on Lake Superior."
Julian frowned.
"So the magic transported us to a different time, that's the only explanation."
"To one of Kanti's experiences," Sebastian added.
"What makes you say that?" Oliver asked.
"A feeling. I wasn't alone in my terror. It was like I felt it double, through me and through the person who had actually been buried alive—and I believe that was Kanti."
Born of Shadows- Complete Series Page 85