“Okay,” I say, not arguing this time. The spell will be hard on him as well. “I have a guest room,” I tell Felix, turning away from Lucas. “It’s being used as more of a storage room right now, but it’s clean.”
“Thank you,” he tells me and starts to put some of the magical supplies back in the bag. “It’ll be just fine.”
“Thank you again for coming,” I tell him, reluctantly breaking away from Lucas. “Are you hungry or anything? I just realized I never offered you anything to eat or drink.”
“It’s okay,” Felix tells me. “You have a lot going on.”
“You can say that again,” I mumble and run my hand over my face. “I’m going to go upstairs with Lucas, and then I’ll be back down. I’m hungry,” I add quickly, before Lucas can protest. Though I think he’s feeling too crappy right now to say otherwise anyway.
Scarlet barks right as I’m reaching for Lucas’s hand, and Eliza jerks around.
“Your friends are here,” she tells me. I go to the front door, opening it for Evander, and am surprised to see Nicole and Naomi behind him.
“Hey,” I say, relieved to see them. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We couldn’t get away from the Grand Coven earlier,” they say at the same time.
“Are they still here?” I ask, stepping aside to let them in.
“Yes,” Evander tells me. “Which is why my mother isn’t with us.”
“Right.” I nod and swallow hard, trying to shove the lump in my throat back down. “It’s probably for the best she’s not here. The spell we’re going to preform isn’t the, uh, most legal.”
Naomi smiles. “Now I’m really glad we came. Does this spell involve corpses again?”
“Yeah, actually, it does.” I telekinetically shut the door behind them. Scarlet yips, jumping up at everyone.
Nicole bends down, holding out her hand for the hellhound to sniff. “She’s the same size as she was before,” she says quietly.
“I know,” I whisper back. “When this is over, I’ll try to adjust the glamour.”
“I’d keep her as a puppy forever.” Nicole picks up Scarlet and lets her lick her face. “She’s so cute.”
“She’s a hell—” Naomi says sharply but cuts off when Felix steps into the foyer. “A hellion. Don’t let that thing chew my shoes.” She puts on a fake smile. “Hello, Felix.”
“Naomi. It’s been a while.” His eyes to go Scarlet, who’s trying to wriggle out of Nicole’s arms. “I do have to say I was surprised to see Callie had a dog. I always thought she was a cat-person.”
“I am,” I say, and Scarlet whips her head around to stare at me. “But the puppy was a wedding gift, and she’s really grown on me.”
I wave everyone into the living room, and Naomi flashes a coy grin when her eyes meet Eliza’s. Lucas is sitting on the couch, trying to look relaxed, but I can sense the tension in his posture.
“What’s the plan?” Evander asks.
Felix opens his notebook and passes it to Evander. “This.”
Evander looks it over for a minute. “This is bloody brilliant.”
“Thank you.” Felix nudges me with his arm. “And with Callie’s familiar lending a legion of his spirits, I think we can pull it off.”
“Now?” Naomi asks eagerly, and Eliza smiles.
“In the morning,” he tells her. “There are a few details I’ll need the night to work through, and it would be best if we all got a few hours of sleep.”
“Let us know how to help,” Nicole says. “And we’ll be back in the morning.”
“Thank you,” I tell them and start to feel a bit of relief. If anyone can figure this out, it’s us, and I still don’t know how I got so lucky to have such good fucking friends. We just have to make it through the morning, and lying down next to my husband for the night isn’t so bad.
But then Lucas moves, and I see blood on his shirt.
He might not make it until the morning.Chapter 13My lips part, but no sound comes out. Chances are the glue that was stopping the blood from oozing out of the tiny holes around each stitch came off, and if I touch it up, he’ll be back to how he was before. But I can’t keep doing that. It won’t be long until Lucas gets an infection and dies.
Suddenly, I feel like I’m going to puke. I close my eyes and wait for the room to stop spinning. We don’t have everything we need, and Felix isn’t even sure what exactly we do need.
But there might be someone who does, and I have to talk to him.
Now.
“You’re all welcome to stay here,” I say, fighting to keep my voice from shaking. No one will let me go through with my plan—including Lucas. But I don’t see any other option. We are running out of time. “I know there’s not much room.” I nervously twist my hair around my fingers. “Too bad the new house isn’t done yet. We’d have plenty of rooms.”