by Jo Holloway
The sorrow that washed through her from Jenyx must have shown on her face, because the grey-and-gold eyes beside her pinched together with worry.
“What? What’s going on?” Rhys asked.
She couldn’t answer. She wanted to throw up.
Wes answered for her. “There’s one other thing we didn’t discuss earlier. Cara sort of has an extra sense about Pyx. More than I do, so probably more than you do too. She knows what they’re feeling sometimes, when it’s strong enough.”
“So what are they feeling?” Rhys looked desperately around the room at Jenner and Thomas before his face turned back to her. “Cara?” he choked.
Hearing her name from his mouth in that worried voice was enough to shatter her into a thousand pieces. “Nothing good,” she whispered.
“If we do nothing,” Jenyx said, “the Pyx will be released when Olivia dies of natural causes. She will stay as she is until such time. You know, I’m sure, that her life expectancy in this state means that may be sooner than later.”
The face beside her crumbled as Rhys covered it with his hands. Apparently he did know, but she didn’t.
“What does that mean?” she asked. “Why would she die? She’s so young.”
Rhys sighed, rubbing his face. Creases of worry remained across his forehead when he finally looked up.
“For starters, after nearly a year and a half like this, she’s already malnourished. The hospital does what they can, but she’s often borderline dehydrated, and they can’t get her to take enough food. They’re already talking about giving her a feeding tube.” He paused to take another slow breath. Cara’s heart squeezed at the strain he was under. “And with the limited mobility on top of that, she’s at risk for DVTs and PEs.”
She frowned at the medical jargon he used casually—a product of his neurosurgeon dad, no doubt.
Wes saw her expression and spoke up. “Blood clots. Deep vein thromboses or pulmonary embolisms. Either one could kill her at anytime.”
His bluntness was jarring, but it might be for the best. This was all starting to sound like Liv was doomed anyway if they didn’t do something.
“My dad arranged for her to stay at the hospital to keep her close. That way we can both see her easily. I dropped out of school and started homeschooling to stay in town where she is. She’s right there close to trained emergency medical staff if anything happens. But there are a lot of problems with the condition she’s in. More than just losing my sister and never hearing her voice, she could be gone forever.” He pulled his features back together, but she could see the effort it cost him. “It’s not a guarantee, though. She could live a long time.”
“She could,” Jenyx agreed, “but is this the life you would choose for her?”
That was the big one for Rhys. His face didn’t crumble this time. It hardened at the idea of Liv staying this way, with no improvement, for the rest of her life. However long that was.
Maybe they should at least consider this extreme path. Maybe even failure would be better, though she didn’t want to think about what Liv’s death would mean for Rhys and his family. Ultimately, only he could make the decision. It had to be someone who loved her.
The front door closed behind him when he left, still torn, but agreeing to think about it. As soon as it clicked shut, she turned into Wes, who stood like he’d been waiting to catch her. The tears slid silently down her cheeks to his shoulder as he held her with one hand on the back of her head. He didn’t say a word.
When she recovered and lifted her head to dry her eyes, all he said was, “I know.” She wasn’t even sure what he meant. He knew how horrible that had been? He knew how awful it was to consider killing someone, even though they didn’t want her dead? Or did he know about the hole through the center of her chest where the piece of her that used to flutter and flip over had followed the boy who probably hated her out the door?
He gave her shoulder an extra squeeze before he let her go. Whichever one it was, it made her feel better.
She nodded. “Let’s go find Jory.” She pressed a hand over her hollowed-out heart and followed Wes up the stairs. She forced the wall back up inside her with every step she climbed.
They found Jory right where Wes had left him, playing video games in his room. He looked a little too satisfied at all the things he was shooting on the screen for what they were about to tell him. She went in and sat beside him on the low sofa in his bedroom.
“Just a sec,” he said. The figure on the screen leaped over a crumbling brick wall to deftly shoot three more people coming out of the shadows.
“There.” He set down the controller and glanced up at Wes still standing near the doorway. “Rude-abaga gone now?”
Wes rolled his eyes.
“Rutabaga?” Cara asked. “Is that what you’re calling him now?”
“Yeah. Rude, and I don’t like him.” The hostility was still in his voice, but he was working hard to control his face into a grin resembling the one he usually wore.
She snorted. “You know what, Jor? I think you’re getting the hang of this nickname thing.” He needed the encouragement. She nudged his arm with her elbow and was rewarded with a slightly more authentic grin. “And yes, Rhys is gone.”
“Good. Well? What’s the plan? Is he going to let the Pyx go?”
Wes took another couple steps into the room and sat on the floor in front of them. “We didn’t get to that yet.”
Jory stretched out his legs. “You said Jenyx told him his sister had to die and that’s why he flipped out. So what does that mean?”
“It means we might have to kill her—to save her.” Wes watched his friend carefully as Jory took in the news. His eyes narrowed when the only response was a shrug.
“Okay. How do we do that?” Jory leaned back, relaxed. His shoulder pressed into Cara’s.
“That’s what we have to figure out, assuming Rhys actually agrees, which is still a pretty big stretch.” Now she was worrying about how nonchalant Jory was at this idea.
“Why wouldn’t he agree? I mean, it’s the only way, right?”
“We think so. But it’s still a living, breathing person we’re talking about. Crap, Jory. What’s up with you?” She was growing angry. He couldn’t actually care this little about the thought of killing someone.
“Nothing. I’m fine. If it bugs you so much, then why did you say we’d help this girl in the first place? We don’t even know her.”
She wanted to talk some sense into him, but how could she explain the connection she felt to a girl she didn’t know? Jenyx spoke to her and Wes from the doorway for a moment, and the drawn-out silence for Jory did nothing to improve his mood. His jaw was set, and he shifted to lean into her even more.
“You must make him understand the seriousness,” Jenyx finished.
Cara nodded, turning to sit at an angle to face Jory and relieving the pressure on her shoulder. “The fact that a Pyx is using Liv as a pyxis is reason enough for Jenyx and Tomyx to be involved. They have to act when another Pyx breaks their laws. They can’t just let it go. But it’s more than that for me. I wish I knew how to explain it. It’s like I feel drawn to her.”
“The same way you kept going back to the mansion when I told you not to.” Jory exchanged a glance with Wes.
The swoop of guilt in her belly prevented her from defending herself, and she focused on her mission instead. “I’m doing whatever I can to help Liv whether you’re in or not.”
Jory flinched. “Ouch. I never said I wasn’t in. Of course I’m with you. So if we do this, how do we get away with it? I mean—she’s in a hospital, right? We can’t exactly walk in and kill someone.”
“No, we can’t,” Wes replied. The tightness around his jaw showed he was still concerned about Jory’s casual tone. The guy did have a point, though.
Cara chewed her lower lip. Jory crossed one foot onto his other knee and stretched his arm across the back of the sofa behind her, brushing her shoulder again. He was altogether too
cool about this. She stood up.
“Let’s sleep on it and talk tomorrow. I’ll let myself out.” She jerked her head at Wes as she stood, and he took the hint. He followed her out, mumbling about getting a glass of water to Jory.
“Is he okay?” she whispered at the bottom of the stairs.
“Yeah. He’s okay.”
“He’s not actually that chill about murdering someone, is he? That’s what we’re talking about here. It’s someone’s life. It’s not a video game. It’s a real person. I’ve met her.”
“He knows. I promise. I’ve seen him like this before, but not for a while.”
“You have? What’s going on with him?”
“The couple times he was like this growing up, it was when his parents cancelled a trip for him to visit them because it wasn’t going to work out or whatever. He sort of turned off his feelings to avoid dealing with the rejection.”
Her anger at his parents seethed again. Jory deserved so much better. She wanted to rush back upstairs and smother him in a giant hug. Wes must have sensed it, because he opened the door for her.
“He’ll be fine. I know him.”
“I’m glad he has you. I’m glad we both do.” She gave him a sad smile. “You staying here tonight?”
He nodded.
“Good,” she said. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
WHEN SHE AND JENNER got back to Jory’s house the next day, he was acting almost like his normal self. Sitting out on the stone patio, she only caught him slipping into a brooding stare a couple times when he thought she wasn’t looking.
“So, did you guys come up with anything last night?”
“We did a bunch of research. Well, Wes did,” Jory said, adjusting his sunglasses and reclining in his lounge chair.
“We both talked it over,” Wes added.
“I tried to as well, but I didn’t find much. I considered asking my uncle, but I really don’t think we can tell anyone.” Cara had selected one of the upright chairs and scooted it around so she was facing Jory.
“Probably a good plan.” He flashed her a grin.
“We basically ruled out anything physical,” Wes started.
Cara and Jory turned away from each other to look at him.
She nodded. “Yeah, I thought that too. Anything like . . . um, stabbing her or something”—she couldn’t believe they were sitting in the bright sun talking about this—“would be too unpredictable. We don’t know enough to know what we might hit. If it was enough to kill her, it would probably mean she’d stay dead.”
“Plus, we’d never get away with it. We’re going to have to be there to get her help right away once the Pyx—Livyx, I guess she’s called . . .” Wes grimaced and stopped talking. The already grim mood darkened. It was unsettling to give the Pyx her identity when that name came from a human being.
“This is still awful.” Cara sighed. “But yeah, you’re right. We’ll have to stay, so whatever we do can’t be too obvious. Maybe it should look like one of those things you said could happen to her naturally.” She deliberately left Rhys out of her sentence so Jory wasn’t reminded of his root vegetable nemesis. “Is there a way to fake one of those things?”
“Nothing I found last night really works. We wouldn’t be faking anything, and blood clots would be risky. I can try searching some more,” Wes answered.
“You said we have to stop her heart, right?” Jory asked. When Wes nodded, he continued. “What about electrocuting her?”
The idea had potential. They talked about problems like possible burn marks and how to figure out how much voltage would be right to stop her heart but not too much to make it never restart. There was also the problem of what they would use. In the end, they needed to do some more research on that one.
“Good thinking, though, Sunshine,” Cara said. “Hey, what about your grandma? Does she take any heart medications that might work in the right dose?”
Jory shook his head. “Gram has some health issues, but her heart’s not one of them, unfortunately.”
“He didn’t mean unfortunately,” Wes said for Cara’s sake.
“Course not.” Jory looked at his friend with his head tilted to the side. “Anyone thirsty?”
“I am. I can get us some drinks.” Cara stood up.
The sudden change of topic was odd, but she appreciated the break from the dark subject and was happy to step away for a minute to regroup. She took a deep breath in the cool air of the house, grabbed some canned drinks from Jory’s fridge, and refilled Jenner’s dish while she was there. Jenner lapped up some water and lay down on the cool kitchen floor, out of the heat. Thomas was already lying in the open doorway. She took the drinks back out to the patio, where Wes and Jory sat with their backs to her. She caught a bit of their conversation before they noticed her.
“ . . . with her. It’s different.”
“Is it, though?” Wes caught sight of her and sat back quickly.
“Here,” she said, handing them each a can. She gave Wes a curious look, but his face gave nothing away. She wasn’t sure what she’d overheard, but the way they’d shut up, she assumed she shouldn’t have heard it at all. Were they talking about her behind her back?
“Thanks.” Jory took the drink she held out and leaned back again while a dazzling smile flashed under his sunglasses. “Now if we only had a pool, this summer would be perfect.”
Cara forced a smile as she took her seat. “A pool would be nice. I’m not sure it would make the summer perfect, though. We are still sitting here planning how to kill someone.” She had bigger problems than whatever they had been talking about when she’d stepped away.
“True,” Jory admitted as the darker mood crept back. “It would make it better, then.”
“True. Anyway, I’m glad your grandma doesn’t have heart problems, Sunshine, but you’re right. That would have been convenient for us.” She gave him a reassuring look. “Is there any other way we can get our hands on some strong meds that would work?”
Wes leaned in. “Proper heart medication will be tough, unless . . .” He stopped and looked at Jory.
Jory let his head fall back against the lounge chair, looking to the sky with an exasperated breath. “We have to talk to Rutabaga again, don’t we?”
“If any of us have a chance, it’s him—with his dad’s connections at the hospital.” The tension in Wes’s face relaxed when it appeared Jory was willing to entertain the idea.
A thought occurred to Cara. She was almost too afraid to ask with Jory’s fragile mood. “Um, did anyone get his number?”
They stared blankly at each other.
“Wow, with you lot on the case, that girl is doomed,” Tomyx said from the doorway.
CHAPTER 18
Too Hot
THEY SIMPLY SHOWED up at Rhys’s door after lunch the following day and hoped for the best. Cara pressed the doorbell, and they listened to it ring deep inside the enormous home. When the heavy door opened in front of her, she braced herself for the worst.
“What took you guys so long?” Rhys asked, standing aside to let them in.
Cara, Wes, and Jory glanced at each other in surprise. Cara took the first step through the open door. She checked his face as she walked past Rhys, trying to see if this was some sort of trick. Nope. This was happening.
She stopped in the vaulted foyer again, heart pounding at the memories of the last time she was here. Jenner stepped cautiously inside after her, with Wes right beside him. She kept one eye on Jory, but he sauntered inside, looking unbothered.
“We didn’t have your number,” Wes explained, raising his phone in his hand.
“Right. Should have thought of that,” Rhys said. “Here.” He reached out.
Wes unlocked his phone and handed it over so Rhys could enter his number in the contacts. Cara was still stunned at the abrupt change in attitude.
“You can . . .” Rhys hesitated when his eyes swept over Jory. “Never mind. Text me so I have yours too,” he said to Wes
as he handed back his phone. He pulled his own phone out of his back pocket to check it quickly.
“I could just give it to you,” Wes said. His hand started to reach out to take Rhys’s phone, but Rhys tucked it back into his pocket.
“Nah, just text me.” He turned to head down the hall to the kitchen.
Wes shrugged at Cara’s raised eyebrows, and they followed. Jory trailed behind.
Maybe Rhys was some sort of germophobe who didn’t like other people touching his phone. The weirder part was how he was acting. It was as if none of the explosions and shouting had ever happened.
They passed through the kitchen out another archway, through an elegant dining room with miles of space around an enormous table, and finally through a room whose sole purpose was housing a grand piano. Cara’s jaw dropped at the gleaming surface begging to make music. Sheet music sat in front of the keys, giving the feeling someone had just stood up from playing. They breezed past it to the doors leading outside.
“Do you play?” she breathed in awe, catching up to Rhys.
“No. Liv does.” A note of sorrow rang in his voice, but he was controlled today, not fully letting it out—or anyone in.
Her stomach clenched, but she followed him. At least he was talking. Something, or someone, had made him willing to talk to them. Maybe even willing to release the Pyx.
They crossed the backyard. At the size of a small park, the sounds of the city faded away. Bees hummed over low flowering bushes, and the aroma of the blossoms sweetened the air. The bouncy lawn underfoot made her want to kick off her flip-flops and do cartwheels like a kid. Water tinkled from a fountain beside another, smaller structure next to the main house, and Jory let out a long, low whistle at the sparkling swimming pool they walked past. Cara could relate. This place was magnificent.
Rhys looked back over his shoulder. “I’ve been keeping them back here.”
She glanced down at Jenner padding softly beside her. The green gleam crossed his eyes, and nervous relief flooded through her. Jenyx thought the Pyx were here too. Rhys had decided to embrace this . . . for some reason.