My graceful, ethereal father actually stumbles back, throwing his hands up as if protecting himself.
“Ash? What are you doing?”
“You know I can’t take that.”
“Sorry, sorry!”
I cradle the necklace against my chest, moving it as far away from him as possible. What was I thinking? How could I forget?
During my training, when Ash was teaching me about portals, he also told me about the Brinkburn itself. When he first said that he couldn’t touch the stone, he meant it. The point of the stone or the crystal or whatever the hell it is is that it has the power to neutralize fae magic. With another power, it can cancel out Melisandre’s spell and bring Nine back to me. But if Ash touched it? It might just neutralize him.
I asked him what that meant. As far as I knew, the only thing that affected the fae was iron. Ash, unsurprisingly, changed the subject. The matter was closed after that.
There was one tiny upside to being locked away. Because I purposely didn’t want to think about the mess I was in, I focused on things that I needed to understand.
Like the Brinkburn.
Gillespie is a halfling. No doubt about that since I saw the points of his ears. Like I’m supposed to be able to, he can wield this powerful crystal. I mean, hell, he wore it around his neck. That’s some cockiness right there.
Makes sense to me, though. The more I thought about it, the more I had to accept that the crystal can do everything that Ash promised. And you know why? Because Gillespie is a halfling. He never should’ve been able to push past the iron and salt barrier that was strong enough to keep me trapped.
Unless he had a magical stone that neutralized fae magic.
Like I do now.
Here goes nothing.
I still don’t know what it was that broke the paralysis spell on my parents. I have my suspicions about that, too, and I hope like hell I’m wrong. No time to worry about that right now, though.
Reaching up on my tip-toes, I widen the necklace as far as it goes before lowering it over Nine’s head. I take a deep breath, say a fervent prayer, and let it fall so that the Brinkburn settles over his chest just like Ash explained ages ago.
For a heartbeat, nothing happens. Then, to my surprise—despite my dad warning me how it would work—the pale pink stone starts to glow. A shot of pure white light jumps out of the crystal before arcing and streaking outward like a contained firework.
It all happens so fast after that.
Nine’s body goes boneless. As soon as he collapses, I drop to my knees and pull the necklace off of him. The nail gets tangled in his long, dark hair. I quickly unthread it from the thick strands. Once I have the whole necklace free, I pull it over my head, tucking the charms under the blue nurses’ scrubs.
He’s not a statue anymore.
Is he alive?
Yes.
His chest rises and falls. Even though his eyes are still clamped shut, I run my hand along his cheek. Cool, but not chilly. His skin is soft, too; no longer is he hard as stone.
I shudder out a breath.
Now all I have to do is wait for him to wake up again.
I don’t want to leave him alone, but I’m also extremely aware that it’s been way too long since I’ve changed my panties, had a shower, or even brushed my teeth. My hair’s a disaster and I had to trade my comfy jeans and my hoodie for shapeless scrubs to placate my bastard doctor.
Nine deserves better than that.
So, as soon as I’ve changed into my own clothes and my mouth is minty fresh and clean, I hurry back into the living room. One quick look reveals that Nine hasn’t moved an inch while I was gone.
I meet Callie’s gaze. She was the one who told me that my Shadow Man would be okay while I took a few minutes for myself. Now that I’m back, she nods and shares a smile before moving away from him, allowing me to take her place next to Nine.
He sleeps for more than an hour. I keep checking to see if his chest is moving, ready and willing to pull the Brinkburn back out if that’ll do something. That’s my last resort. Since Nine is no longer a statue—no longer under Melisndre’s spell—I don’t want to let the necklace get too close to him in case it hurts him instead.