“Hey,” I whispered. I put a hand to my stomach. It was roiling so much that I eyed one of the stalls in case I needed to make a break for the toilet.
“Talk to me,” Draven said in a calmer voice. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. Just then, Rhys came into the ladies’ with a murderous look of rage on his face. I blinked, wondering if I was so sick I was imagining the stars swirling around him in what looked like a dark purple aura. I blinked again and saw a night sky with a swirling nebula. “I think I’m sick,” I said shakily. “Rhys looks like the night sky.”
“He’s brought out his Night powers?” If anything, Draven sounded more panicked about that.
What in the heck was going on!
Rhys sat next to me on the couch and moved my head tenderly to his lap without saying anything. He closed his eyes as he ran a star-swirled hand over my forehead and then held it at the crown of my head for a while. Mesmer was in the doorway, standing like an immovable mountain with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at anyone who dared come near with a full bladder.
Draven was still talking to me on the phone. “I’m on my way.” I could hear that. The sound of tires peeling away in the background made that extremely clear. “Talk to me. What is Rhys doing?”
“Umm.” I dared to open my eyes again and peek at Rhys, even though the room tilted like I was on a tilt-o-whirl. “He’s all swirly with the night, and he’s got a hand over my head. His eyes are closed,” I whispered.
“He’s checking your body for signs of something,” Draven explained.
“’K.”
Draven’s breathing next to my ear helped me to calm down, even though I was starting to feel a lot worse physically. Mesmer moved closer and extracted a bottle of golden powder from his coat pocket. “Here.” He tried to hand the powder to Rhys, but Rhys shook his head.
“You do it,” he said stiffly, clenching his teeth. “I have to focus to mutate it into something benign.”
I whimpered when the pain hit. Flames felt like they were licking my body with huge, blistering tongues. Rhys was shaking with rage and fatigue, Mesmer was coating my hands in the gold powder, and Draven was breathing harshly on the phone as he listened to my cries.
Man, I sucked at this paranormal stuff! And what the heck was going on!?
I asked Draven.
His tires squealed again, and I heard his door slam shut. “It sounds like someone poisoned you with something.”
I groaned. “Why do they keep taking pot-shots atme?” I mean, I didn’t want them to go after Draven either, but seriously, why me?
My eyes widened when my hands glowed hot pink. Oh, crud. That couldn’t be good.
“My hands are pink,” I whispered into the phone, and then pulled the phone away from my ear when Draven blistered it with curses. He came charging into the bathroom at a run and slipped his phone into his pocket. He took mine too and put it in the same pocket.
“Do you have the blue powder?” he asked Mesmer.
Mesmer nodded and handed it to him. Mesmer was looking a little chalky, like his body was trying to go full gargoyle, but there was too little space for him to change in here.
I eyed him a little worriedly. “You okay there, Mesmer?” I asked weakly. “No Hulk Smash, okay?”
He nodded and went to stand by the door again as Draven dumped the blue powder onto my hands and rubbed it in. Then he grabbed a basin from a side table and filled it with fresh water and tenderly dipped my hands into the water and washed them.
I hissed. Ouch-a-mommy, that hurt!
He took my hands out and dried them gently with a towel. I looked at them in dismay. There were blisters all over my palms. The back of my hands were fine, but my palms were scorched and blistering.
Dancing doxies! Ouch, that hurt. I whimpered and closed my eyes.
Rhys spoke from above me. “I’m almost finished,” he grunted. I squinted at him. Sweat was pouring down his face, and his mouth was about as tense as someone who was being asked to pee in a cup for a sample.
I tried to send him grateful vibes, hoping he’d pick them up. In my current predicament, it was the best I could do. He winked and kissed my forehead.
Message received then.
Rhys finally sat back in exhaustion and looked at me with concern. I was just glad he’d downgraded from murderous rage to concern. My bestie was scary when he was ticked! “Go home. I’ll key in a healing draught for you and bring it by in the morning.”
