Instead, I stood and met his eyes. “I need some clothes and I need to check on my dog before we go to the hospital.”
“That explains the growling in your apartment. Since when did you get a dog?”
“Since he showed up.”
Lochlan shook his head slowly before saying, “Come on, let’s get you home.”
Walking into Ashley’s room and seeing her hooked up to a ventilator, machines beeping and her skin ashen, finally shattered the icy shell restraining my emotions. My shaky legs carried me to the chair beside her bed and I lowered myself with a shuttering sob. Heart-wrenching, guttural wails tore from my chest as I held her chilly, lifeless hand. I cried until my eyes were swollen and my throat felt like it was bleeding, inside and out. I begged and I pleaded, apologized, and swore—and none of it made any difference.
When I finally sat back in the chair, feeling hollow and numb, Lochlan stepped inside and stood against the far wall. “Her parents have been contacted and are on their way.”
I sat motionless, eyes frozen on my best friend. Her straight blond hair, usually golden and shining, was straw-like and ratted. Her chest rose and fell in even intervals as the machine pumped oxygen into her lungs, the swelling in her brain preventing her from performing even the most basic life functions. She would never again tell me about a new book she had read or ask me what was for dinner because she was a terrible cook and couldn’t make anything herself. No more rummaging through thrift shops or late-night texts, no more pedicures and movie nights.
“Bec, there’s thirty more minutes in visiting hours.” Despite his normally commanding presence, I had forgotten Lochlan was there.
“I’m staying here.”
“I’ll come get you in thirty then.” Head tipped down, in a single long stride he left the room.
I would spend every second I could with Ashley, only leaving if they forced me out. She was here because of me, and the least I could do was not leave her alone.
On the other side of the bed from where I sat the air shimmered with magic as a man materialized. Merlin stood opposite me, his features wrought with concern. Each time I saw him he looked exactly the same, whether it was as a vendor in a Belfast market twenty years ago, or a patron in the museum on my first day of work a month ago. White-blond hair neatly styled and sharp ice blue eyes softened by a few wrinkles in the corners. He looked sophisticated and worldly, but at that moment he also wore compassion and grief.
Our eyes held each other for a long pregnant moment, long enough to further thaw my ravaged emotions. I had thought I would have nothing to say to this man who had set the events in motion that led me to the absolute lowest point in my life. However, seeing him stand before me, I had questions that needed to be asked.
“Why have you done this? Why me?” My voice was no more than a whisper.
“I spent years in that market, watching and interacting, knowing I had to find just the right child. Someone who was receptive to the magic, someone who lived far away where Morgan would not find them. When you approached my booth and were drawn instantly to the necklace, I knew you were the one.”
“Did you know it would make me Fae?”
“I wasn’t entirely sure, but I had my suspicions.”
“Did you think about the other impacts on my life, the effect it would have on my loved ones?”
“Nothing I could say or do will ever ease the burden of what I have forced upon you. There are some of us who bear a disproportionate degree of hardship in life, whether owed to circumstances of our birth or a course of events during our lifetime. There is never a reason adequate enough to justify our struggles sufficiently to ease the burden. The only balm that will help you is that which comes from the acceptance of your circumstances. Once you let go of how you got to your current situation and look toward how you can improve your future station, then you will be enlightened in a way that is truly empowering.
“When I discovered what Morgan had planned and realized that I alone would be unable to stop her, I knew that whoever was appointed to the task would bear a great weight upon their shoulders. That consideration was an important factor in my selection process. You possess the strength and constitution required to endure the necessary loss and strife that accompanies any great task.”
“You may say that, but I feel like I’m being crushed under the weight of it all.”
“That pressure and adversity is precisely what will mold you into the spectacular diamond you will one day become.”
“You say I’ll become a diamond, what exactly does that mean? Lochlan said what you’ve done, combining dark and light powers, is impossible and my powers are not like any he’s seen.”
“What I accomplished was not easy, few are alive that could have even attempted it.”
“That’s what I hear, that you are exceptionally powerful. And yet for some reason you need my help. You have this task you want me to perform, and I have accepted the burden more or less without question, but now I have one request. Try to heal my friend. I’ll continue to fight against Morgan, learn my mystery powers and continue to walk this new path that you have dictated for me, but I need to know that everything possible was done to save her. If you’re so powerful and you recognize all that I’m sacrificing for you, you will do this one thing for me.” My words grew in strength as my convictions solidified. I kept my eyes glued to him as I stood.
“Something so great cannot be done without a cost.” His voice dropped lower in warning.
“What would be worse than death? I’m pretty sure that’s the worst-case scenario here so whatever it is you’re considering, do it. I’ll do whatever you want me to do, just please help her,” I urged insistently.
He tipped his head once in my direction and then vanished.
My eyes scanned the room, verifying that I was in fact alone again, but before I had time to sit back down, Merlin returned. In his hands he held a small dark vial.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You can trace a whole lot farther than the others, can’t you?”
His only response was a hint of a smile before he became somber again. “Are you sure you want to do this? It has never been tested and I am not certain it will work.”
“Is it going to make her a zombie or something? Forget it, anything is better than her dying. Just do it.”
I wrung my hands nervously and watched as he uncorked the vial and removed Ashley’s breathing tube, making one of the machines beep angrily. Merlin waved a hand and the machine went silent. He then poured the viscous contents into Ashley’s opened mouth before stepping back away from the bed.
My heart pounded in my chest and I chewed relentlessly on my bottom lip. For a long moment, nothing happened and despair that it hadn’t worked gripped me. Then the heart-rate monitor that had been quietly keeping time to Ashley’s steady heart beats began to accelerate. Faster and faster it raced and I looked to Merlin for an explanation, but the man was gone. Ashley’s limbs began to shake as if she was having a seizure and that’s when the beeping of the machine flatlined. A loud constant alarm signified the stopping of Ashley’s heart.
Nurses tore into the room, one climbing on top of Ashley and starting chest compressions while others shouted words that didn’t make sense to me. Was this what was supposed to happen? Was she dying? I looked on in confused horror, my chest heaving for air, unable to get enough oxygen. One of the nurses took hold of my arm and pulled me outside of the room and closed the door, but I could still hear the chaos.
I stood with my back against the wall in a haze as I listened to the frenzied voices. After about ten agonizing minutes the room started to quiet before a man’s voice called out, “Okay, we can stop resuscitations. Anyone have the time?”
“Time of death 16:27,” offered a female voice.
One-by-one the staff exited the room with faces drawn and shoulders drooping in defeat. The charge nurse stopped next to me on her way out of the room and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “I’m so sorr
y, honey. Would you like to go in and say goodbye?”
“Yes, please,” My voice had abandoned me and the words were little more than a breath.
The sterile room was heartbreakingly quiet. The machines had been turned off, and not even the harsh fluorescent lights dared to buzz as I sat down next to Ashley. I slipped my shaking fingers into hers and held her lifeless hand.
She was gone. It hadn’t worked.
My chin quivered and tears streaked down my face yet again. “I’m so sorry Ashley. I never meant for you to get pulled into this. I tried so hard to keep you safe and none of it mattered.” I trailed off with a sob.
Just as the pain dragged me under to a place deeper than I could manage, I felt a squeeze of my fingers. My head shot up with a gasp and I jumped to my feet. When Ashley’s eyes start to flutter I lunged for the nurse call button but was pulled up short when her glowing blue eyes opened fully.
“Ashley,” I gasped reverently.
She blinked rapidly as she looked around the room in confusion, the glow in her eyes quickly fading. “What’s going on? Am I in a hospital?”
I flung myself at her and wrapped her in a tight hug, never wanting to let her go again. “Ashley, you’re alive.”
“Good grief, Becca, what’s going on?” she asked as she pulled herself from my grasp.
I sat on the bed, holding her hand in mine. “Do you remember anything about what happened?"
She scrunched her face in thought and I could see the moment the memories resurfaced. Fear flashed in her eyes and her jaw fell slightly open on a silent gasp. "Ronan, he kidnapped me. I remember you and the alley, but that’s about it."
“He hit you over the head and Lochlan’s men brought you here. The doctors said the swelling was too much, you weren’t going to make it.”
“But I feel fine.” Her brow pinched with confusion.
“That’s where things get a little crazy. You were dying. I did the only thing I could do to save you—I asked Merlin for help.”
“Merlin—as in the wizard? Honey, did you hit your head too?”
“I didn’t tell you about him, there’s so much I didn’t tell you and I’m so sorry. I was trying to keep you safe, but it didn’t work. Merlin is an ancient Fae—he’s the one who gave me the necklace, and he was also the odd man I talked to in the museum my first day on the job.” I paused, gathering my courage to tell her what I had done. “Ash, I told him to save you and in order to do that, I think he made you Fae.”
Her head tilted to the side. “What are you talking about? How would he make me Fae?”
“I don’t know exactly, but he made you drink something and then the machines went crazy and the doctors tried to save you, but you died. I didn’t know it had worked but then you woke up and when you opened your eyes…they glowed.”
“Are you shitting me?” she exclaimed, sitting tall in the bed.
“I wish I was. Do you remember how you got back to Ireland?”
“Ronan,” she croaked and I could hear the fear in her voice. “I had some dinner and drinks with a friend at work, the restaurant wasn’t far from home so I walked. It wasn’t particularly late, just around 9 p.m. A block from our place someone called my name out and when I turned to see who it was, Ronan stood by a building not far from me. I was surprised to see him and my first thought was that something had happened to you so I hurried over to him to find out what was wrong. Before I even got a word out, he was behind me with his hand over my mouth and tugged me down into a basement stairwell. He said such awful things.” Her eyes filled with tears as they met mine. “I woke up to him kicking me and discovered I had been brought back to Ireland. I had no idea what was happening. Why he would do those things?”
I reached over and put my hand on hers. “He’s gone now, Ash. He won’t hurt either of us again.”
As quickly as I could before the nurses came back in the room, I caught Ashley up on the very basics of everything that had gone on in the prior weeks. She was pissed at me for keeping it all a secret, but she understood my motives.
“So, if they think I’m dead, how do we get out of here?” she asked as she swung her legs off the edge of the bed.
“I think we’re going to need help with this.” I pulled out my phone and texted Lochlan.
When he entered the room he froze instantly and his eyes grew wide. “Jesus fuck, she’s Fae. What the fuck happened in here?”
“We don’t have time to explain it all, but essentially Merlin showed up and I begged him to help. He gave her something to drink, she died, the doctors couldn’t save her, but now she’s alive and well. They think she’s dead, so we need you to do your Jedi mind trick thing on them so we can get out of here.”
His head moved slowly side to side in amazement. “Every day is a fucking trip with you around.”
First Lochlan used his Fae mojo to convince a doctor to remove Ashley’s cast from her arm. Then he led the way out of the hospital, using magic to explain away Ashley’s miraculous recovery. His spelled words made my skin tingle from the magic but didn’t otherwise affect me, however the doctors’ and nurses’ eyes went distant as their memories altered according to Lochlan’s instructions.
He drove us back to my apartment while Ashley called her parents to inform them of her returned health. I overheard as her mother cried and they made plans to see each other the next day once her mom and dad arrived in Belfast.
At the apartment Ashley changed out of her hospital gown and we both curled up on the bed while I delved into a detailed explanation of everything that had happened to me. I told her about Merlin and Ronan, the Red Cap attack and my trip to Faery. As much as I hated to say the words, I told her about Ronan tricking me into sleeping with him and she cried along with me. I told her about light and dark magic, the Shadow Court, and the war being waged by the woman named Morgan. We spent hours catching up.
“I know you’re telling me that I’m Fae, but I don’t feel any different. My eyes glowed but maybe that was just his magic leaving me—how can I know for sure?” Ashley asked once we had circled back around to discussing our transformation.
“I guess that’s something we’ll have to talk to the guys about. As soon as Lochlan came in your hospital room he could sense that you were Fae and I trust him. He knew the moment he saw me on the street that I was Fae.”
“What about my powers, shouldn’t I have powers?”
“Our transformations are unprecedented, no one knows what our powers are or how they’ll develop.”
“Awesome, nothing like being a living science experiment.”
“You know there’s no one I’d rather be a science experiment with than you.”
“Awe, Becca, you say the sweetest things.”
We both giggled and my heart fluttered with happiness at having my best friend back. “All joking aside, how are you handling all of this?”
Ashley’s fingers toyed with the blanket thrown over her legs as she thought. “I’m not sure I can grasp all the implications just yet. The basic concept doesn’t bother me—being long lived and having magic sounds pretty sweet. You know I’ve always lived in all the fantasy books I read. As long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed about something like this happening. Not to say I think it will be all sunshine and rainbows—there’s pros and cons to everything though so we’ll see how this plays out.”
“No kidding, at least you aren’t being asked to stop a Fae invasion.”
“You don’t think I went through all this and am just going to let you fight this alone, do you? Because that’s just absurd—you and me are in like Flynn. There’s no going back now.”
“Ashley, I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“And how did that work out for you the last time? It didn’t, I got sucked back in and that’s not your fault, it’s just the way it is. I’m helping you any way I can so don’t try to fight me.”
I gave her a tight smile. “I know, I’m sorry. I could use the help, and I’m so glad I can talk to yo
u about all this now. It really sucked keeping it all a secret.”
“You better not pull that shit again. My powers come in and I will zap your ass if I catch you keeping secrets.”
“You can try, but don’t forget I’ve got powers of my own.” I arched a brow at her in challenge and we both collapsed in a fit of giggles. What I said had been true. If I had to walk this road, there was no one I’d rather have by my side on the journey.
11
When the next morning rolled around I felt like I had been put through a meat grinder. If it hadn’t been for my Fae healing abilities, I was sure my eyes would have been swollen shut from all my crying the day before. My body may have been much recovered, but my psyche was in desperate need of a break.
I texted Fergus telling him that I needed to take the afternoon off and would meet with him and Cat as soon as I made it in to update them on all that had happened. After that, I texted Lochlan to let him know I wanted to be a part of Ronan’s interrogation and would be over that evening.
At the museum, I sat down with Cat and Fergus giving them the details of the attack, including Ronan’s capture and Ashley’s transformation. Now that they knew I was becoming Fae, there was no reason not to tell them everything—I didn’t want any doubt in their minds that I was being forthcoming.
Halfway through the morning I had a surprise visit from Lochlan. He had never come to the museum before—Ronan had stopped by pretending to be Lochlan, but Lochlan himself had only ever appeared unannounced at my house. Despite knowing Ronan was no longer a threat, any deviation from the normal sounded my internal alarms.
“Is everything okay?” I asked as I joined him in the museum atrium.
“Just wanted to touch base with you before you came by later—are you sure you want to see him? You’ve thought about what will happen once our interrogation is over?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“He doesn’t look pretty at this point, be prepared for that.”
“I thought you said you hadn’t interrogated him yet.”
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