by D. N. Hoxa
“Who’s in there?”
I turned to Lynn so fast, I almost broke my own neck. “No one.”
“Someone’s in there. You can’t look away from the door.” She took a step closer to my room and I almost jumped at her, but then she stopped and turned to me again. “You afraid you’ll break his heart? It’s best if you just tell him who you’re sleeping with.”
My eyes almost popped out of my skull. “I’m not sleeping with anyone!” I hissed. I was already panicked and paranoid. Add anger to that mix and I was feeling a bit dizzy, almost like I was coming down with the flu for real. “Just stay here and don’t move until Bender comes back to get you.”
“You said you would tell me what happened last night,” she said before I could disappear into my room.
“Nothing. A guy was found dead. The ECU is on it. End of story.”
“Didn’t look like that to me. You were really excited about all of it. And that vampire friend of yours? What package was he talking about?”
My God, Bender had brought an even worse version of me to my office. “You’ve got your phone. Watch a movie.”
“But you said—” I opened the door. Julian was right in front of me.
Before I could even blink, he collapsed.
“Julian!” I called and grabbed him by the arm, his face a hair away from the floor.
“You’re here,” he whispered, but there was no strength left in him to even raise his hand.
“I’m here. I’m here, just take it easy.” My heart hammered in my chest. It was hard to hold all of his limp weight in my arms, and I didn’t understand it. Why couldn’t he stand on his own? I’d performed two healing spells on him already. His wounds were closing. How could he still be so weak?
Worry made me sick as I pulled him with all my strength. I needed him to stand up so I could drag him back to bed.
“Hold onto the door,” I said, but Julian looked even worse than when he was unconscious. He could barely keep his eyes open. Suddenly, Lynn was at his other side, putting his arm around her shoulders. My eyes squeezed shut. She’d seen him. Lynn had already seen Julian.
“Where do you want him?” she asked me and took half of Julian’s weight on her. She was much stronger than she looked, it seemed.
“Back to the couch,” I said. The damage had already been done. I might as well let her help me now.
It was much easier to sit Julian down on my couch with Lynn helping. Gently, I laid him down again and put his head on the pillow. He was breathing heavily, his breath very hot against my face. I touched his forehead. Holy spell, he was burning.
“Grab a dish towel and soak it in cold water,” I said to Lynn, and she immediately disappeared from the room.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I reached into my magic and called it forward as fast as I could. The words of my healing spell sounded slurred, even in my mind, but my magic stuck to every letter as if it knew how by memory, and the energy left the palms of my hands in a rush.
I’m not going to lie, I was terrified. This wasn’t normal. Spells so strong should have had him at least walking on his on by now. When the spell was finished, Lynn handed me the wet towel, and I put it on Julian’s forehead. I sat on the couch next to him and brought my face right in front of his. His eyes were open, but they were looking at the ceiling as if he couldn’t see anything.
“Julian, look at me,” I whispered. “Can you speak?”
What felt like years later, his violet eyes slowly found mine. I smiled for his sake, but on the inside, I was screaming. He looked so weak. I had no idea what the hell to do about it.
“Do you have alcohol?” Lynn asked.
“What?”
“Vodka. Tequila. Anything,” she said.
“In the kitchen. What…”
She was already out the door and back before I could finish the sentence.
“Sock. I need socks,” she said.
She made no sense to me whatsoever.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m going to drench some socks in vodka, then put them on him. It works wonders with fever. My mother used to do this to me all the time when my dad wasn’t home because her magic is very weak. Trust me, it works,” she said, but I was already at my closet, trying to find a pair of socks. My feet were much smaller than Julian’s, but it would have to do.
While Lynn put the wet socks on Julian’s feet, I went to his side again, my hands on his face. My God, he was still burning.
“Julian, look at me,” I whispered, and he did open his eyes. “You’re going to be fine.” I wanted it to be a promise, but I had no clue if I could stop whatever it was that was tormenting him. Whatever it was that wouldn’t let him heal normally.
“He’s…he’s coming, Winter,” Julian whispered.
“I know. Let’s just get you well first, okay? You’re going to be okay.”
I kept chanting the words under my breath over and over again as I held onto his hands tightly. Looking at his pale face, glistening with sweat, was as much amazing as it was painful. Soon after, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. My eyes were full of tears, but I refused to let them fall. I knew how I felt about Julian the last time I was with him, but I had no idea just how deep those feelings ran. Now I knew, though. I knew because as I watched him suffer in silence, I realized I’d easily trade my life for his if it ever came to it.
I’d once had this idea that feeling love would be fulfilling. Instead, I felt almost completely empty.
Seven
It took twenty minutes for Julian’s fever to go down. Lynn soaked the socks in vodka two more times until his skin felt normal against mine again. I couldn’t thank her enough. My mother used human pills for fever and spells when it got really bad. I wouldn’t have known what the hell to do since I had nothing but aspirin in my office—and that was for hangovers.
“Is your healing spell going to help at all?” Lynn whispered as we both stood by the door and watched Julian sleep.
A shiver washed down my back. “I don’t know.” It was the truth. I had no idea, and not because she didn’t know I had enough magic to heal three people at once, but because the spell that was supposed to work already hadn’t. Whoever had attacked Julian, whoever had caused this condition, they were strong. Strong as Hedge witches, because the broken arm Jane Dunham left me with was the only thing my healing spell couldn’t heal yet.
“Who is he?” she asked.
I didn’t want her to know anything that would get her involved or in danger from the ECU, so all I said was, “An old friend.” Reluctantly, I closed the door and nodded for her to get back to the office. “Listen, Lynn, you can’t tell anyone about him. Not Bender, not your parents.”
“You don’t have to worry about it,” she said, without missing a beat. “But I’m going to need something in return. I want to stay here today and help.”
It sure looked like she’d taken after her uncle. I sighed. “I can’t do that, Lynn.”
“I’ll stay right here, out of your hair, I promise. You just call whenever you need anything,” Lynn said. “And I’ll get Uncle Eli off your back, too.”
“You can do that?” Because I had no idea what I was going to say to him when he came back.
“I can. You can trust me, Winter,” Lynn said, and for a second there, she sounded like an adult.
Backed into a corner, I reluctantly nodded. There weren’t many options for me now, and I did need to get Bender to leave without coming back here. I also needed someone to keep Ms. Riley busy when she came down to visit. Maybe having Lynn there would benefit me more than I thought.
“If anybody else comes along, just call for me, okay?”
Excited, Lynn nodded her head and sat down behind my desk. She looked so small against it.
I went back to Julian. He was no longer burning or shaking, but he still looked very pale. I sat down on the couch and took his hands in mine.
“What happened to you?” I whispered, even tho
ugh I knew he wouldn’t answer me.
What I did know was that I was going to find out who did this to him, and I was going to make them pay.
***
Lynn kept her promise. Bender didn’t come by the office, but he didn’t call, either. During the hours I stood by Julian’s head, holding onto his hands, fearing the worst and hoping for the best, my curiosity to know what the ECU was after faded. It didn’t matter, anyway. All that mattered was that Julian woke up.
And he did.
I’d just come back from the bathroom and sat down on the couch next to him. Julian’s brows were narrowed, and his head was moving side to side, only barely. I called his name and I touched his face. Eventually, his eyes began to open.
Though I was still afraid, I smiled as brightly as I could. The corners of his lips turned upward slightly. I almost kissed him in that second.
“I found you,” Julian said, and his voice was much stronger than before.
Laughing, I squeezed his hands tightly. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Can you sit up?” The sooner he got back to his feet, the faster he’d heal all the way.
“Pull me up,” Julian said, and I did. As if he were a child, I watched him sit up all by himself and almost cheered him for it. “What time is it?”
“Almost eight. How are you feeling?”
Julian flinched. “Better.”
“You need to eat something. I’m ordering pizza.” I took the phone out of my pocket, but he stopped me.
“Winter, we need to talk.” The serious expression on his face was not one I recognized.
“Let’s eat first.” For whatever reason, I was afraid of hearing what he was going to say.
“There’s no time,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ve come to ask for your help.”
Reluctantly, I sat on the couch next to him, feeling disappointed. Go figure. Julian was okay—in pain, but still well enough to sit on his own and talk—and there I was, disappointed because he wouldn’t take a second to just talk to me. Ask me how I’d been. Tell me he missed me. Damn it, I hated my own mind when it pulled things like this on me.
“I’m listening.” My voice sounded empty. Maybe Julian couldn’t tell. Maybe he could and he just didn’t care.
“The fairy realm has turned into a blood bath,” he whispered. “We’re being attacked.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “By the same person who did this to you?”
“Yes.” It sounded like it cost Julian a lot to speak that word. “He’s destroyed both Courts, Winter. He’s killed thousands of fairies in the past month alone. Nothing we’ve tried so far has been able to stop him.”
His words hung in the air for a second like they just couldn’t get through my ears and register in my brain. When they did, it sounded more like Julian was telling me about a movie, not real life.
“How is that possible?” Fairies were strong creatures. It was why the ECU had orchestrated the plan to get them the hell off Earth a century ago. I couldn’t see how two fairy Courts couldn’t fight a single fairy—even if he did have an army.
“Nobody knows. He came out of nowhere, declared war on all who wouldn’t join him. Winter, he’s destroyed everything,” Julian said, and it was easy to note the desperation in his voice. The fear.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. I had no idea what it was like to see someone destroy your own home, but it was probably not a nice feeling. “Why didn’t you come here before?” Strong fairy or not, he couldn’t get to Earth. Not without the portals.
“We tried to stop him. We fought him and his army until yesterday,” Julian whispered. “I’m alive only because I came here.”
“You should have come sooner.” Just the thought that he could have died and I would have never even known about it made me want to throw up.
“I’ve come now. I need your help, Winter.” It sounded like a pleading, one that turned my stomach a thousand times in a second.
“How can I help you?” I was only half a fairy. I was no match for one no other could stand against.
“Your magic,” Julian whispered. “Your Bone magic can help us.”
Narrowing my brows in confusion, I shook my head. “How can my Bone magic help against a fairy?” Had he forgotten how much stronger fairy magic was? Witchcraft couldn’t kill a fairy.
Julian turned to face me, flinching in pain. When his eyes met mine, it felt like I was looking at a completely different person. His were full of secrets, drenched in a violet hue. This man was a stranger. It occurred to me that I had no idea who he was—not really.
“Galladar is a Summer fairy. He’s learned to turn his magic into a source, one that is constantly supplied with more magic,” Julian said.
“Meaning?” Fairy magic, beyond what I felt in my mind and knew in theory, was still a strange thing to me.
“Meaning every time magic is unleashed on him, he sucks it in and manipulates it, changes its energy until it becomes one with his.”
“So the more you attack him with your magic, the stronger he gets? What, like Hulk?” The guy got angrier the harder you fought him, right?
“Exactly,” Julian said. “He uses our magic to supply his, then uses the same against us.”
It definitely did not sound like fun. “So how does my Bone magic come in?”
Julian spoke fast as if he’d thought I’d never ask him that question. “Bone magic isn’t fairy magic. He can’t manipulate it. He can’t suck it in and make it his.”
“But I also have fairy magic, remember?”
“But your fairy magic is laced with Bone. If you use one, you use both.” His brows were raised, his face full of hope.
I jumped to my feet, anxious all of a sudden. Here I thought everything was going to be fine because Julian was okay, but now. Now, he wanted me to go to the fairy realm and face a fairy who had destroyed an entire realm!
“I’m not nearly as strong as a fairy, Julian.” He could tell that I was nervous—and scared, too, but I didn’t care.
“Not here, but in the fairy realm, you are,” he said. “Winter, I would never ask this of you if I had any other choice. I only discovered his ability to collect others’ magic yesterday in battle. It’s why I came here.”
“This Galladar guy destroyed Courts! Killed thousands—you said it yourself. I’m an untrained Bone witch turned fairy with no idea about anything in your realm. Do you honestly believe I’d have a chance against a guy like that?” I said, a dumbfounded smile on my face. But Julian didn’t hesitate.
“I do. Being a witch and a fairy makes your magic unique. It makes it stronger than both kinds alone. If Galladar can’t suck in your power, then he is exposed to it. He can be hurt by it. That is all that we need—just a moment of weakness so your fairy magic can kill him.”
“Julian, I’m not as strong as you think I am.” I’d seen him do magic, and even on Earth, he was much stronger than me.
“You are, Winter. You just need to see it.” He stood up, and because my room was so small, we barely fit.
“So what, you just want me to leave everything behind and come to the fairy realm with you to die?” Because if this guy was only half of what Julian described him to be, there was no way I had a chance against him. Hedge witches were Earth witches with Earth magic, and they’d almost killed me. Imagine what a fairy in the fairy realm would do to me.
Julian lowered his head and stood silent for a moment. My eyes squeezed shut. Maybe I was being an asshole, but all of this was too much. I hadn’t seen the guy in months, and then I found him half dead in my office. He barely even woke up, and the next second, he was telling me that I needed to go fight an invincible fairy. My brain needed time to process all that information.
“He’s coming here next, Winter,” Julian finally whispered. “Galladar is coming to Earth next.”
“There are no portals. How is he going to come here?”<
br />
“If I could figure out a way between our worlds, it’s only a matter of time before he can, too.”
Shit. He was right.
“Look, I really do think we need to eat something first. I’m starving and I can’t think straight. I haven’t seen you in a while and I just…” I just wanted to talk to him. About something normal. I wanted him to be the man he was before. I wanted him to make me feel like that woman.
“You’re right,” he said. “It wasn’t right of me to come here like this without warning.”
“No, I’m glad you came. It’s just that it’s too much, all at once.”
Damn it, where are words when you need them? There was something in my throat that kept me from telling him how glad I was to see him, and that I just wanted to take a second and enjoy his company first.
“Let’s go eat,” Julian said, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. The disappointment in my chest grew.
“Julian…” The words escaped me yet again. There was nothing I found to say while I watched him. He didn’t look at me again. Slowly, he turned around and left the room—and me in it.
Eight
We ordered the pizza. Not a single word was spoken between us. Since I only had two chairs in my office, Lynn sat on top of my desk, cross-legged, watching us like a hawk. Her eyes analyzed our every moment, and for the life of me, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. There was no expression on her face. Maybe I needed to be her apprentice. I could definitely use a skill like that.
Watching her and trying to come up with what she was thinking helped in getting my mind off the fact that Julian felt like a stranger to me. In my dreams, in my daydreams, he was warm. His smile lit up my whole world. His touch breathed life into my every cell.
In reality, I could barely look at him, and he at me.
A terrible thought crossed my mind as I pushed the food down my throat. What if this was the real Julian? What if I’d fallen in love with his memory, and the man in front of me wanted no part of it?