I absolutely knew it was her without having to be told. Ava’s heartbroken screams shook the halls, tearing the fragmented remains of what was left of my soul in half. The screams didn’t stop, increasing in intensity.
I lost my godsdamned mind when I heard Ava scream like that. Instinct kicked in, driving me into a dead sprint.
Whenever Ava cried out like that, I responded, because I was certain she was crying for me. Fuck this divorce or whatever else we were going through. She needed me. I couldn’t hold myself back from hurrying as fast as I could when her shrieks were this tormented. Nothing in the world mattered except being there when she was calling for my help, even if she didn’t realize it.
She was still my wife. I would do anything to make those screams stop. Anything.
I ran ahead while the rest of them raced behind me. I turned a few hallways until we reached Hemlock’s quarters.
I smelled the blood the same moment Ava gave another wretched cry that turned my bones to ice. Hemlock wheezed from where she lay on the ground, gasping in pain. Ava had flung herself out of her chair, posed by Hemlock’s side.
“Professor!” I scrambled to kneel. Warm blood seeped through the fabric of my trousers. Hemlock’s hand found mine, but her grip was weak.
A dagger to the gut, Oberi told me. It’s deep.
Can we save her? I asked desperately.
Oberi’s tone was hesitant. She’s lost a lot of blood. Without Ava’s healing powers, or access to my own, I fear she won’t make it.
The reality was clear. Hemlock was dying. And Ava had been the one to find her like this.
Hemlock’s skin turned cold against my own. She had seconds, if that.
“We need a doctor!” Ava screamed, refusing to give up. Her hands fumbled to keep the blood in, but it spurted between her fingers.
“I— I don’t understand,” Danny stammered. “She was fine when I left a moment ago!”
“Charlie, do something!” Ava begged.
I wanted to. So badly. But there was nothing anybody could do here. I remained at her side, if nothing else, letting her know that I was here and I wasn’t going anywhere. If we had to survive this moment, I was enduring it with her.
Marcus’s soft voice cut through the chaos. “Ava, I can feel her soul teetering on the edge of death. Not even a healer’s magic could stop her from leaving now.”
“Fuck you!” Ava spat, her voice edged with despair. “We can stop this! We have to help her!”
We couldn’t. Her pulse was faint against my skin. Hemlock had seconds. “Professor, who did this to you?”
Hemlock’s strained voice came out in a death rattle. “He… he made me do it. I had… no control…”
Her hand went limp in mine. I couldn’t feel death the way Marcus could, but I’d be damned if the room didn’t drop several degrees. Her soul fled the palace, going to a place beyond what we could reach.
“No! No, no, no!” Ava sobbed. “Please don’t leave me!”
Hemlock didn’t say anything. She was already gone.
Ava kept holding the wound that had killed Hemlock, as if it was imperative she keep the blood in. “Marcus, bring her back!”
“I can’t bring the dead back to life, Ava,” Marcus said brokenly. “You know that.”
Everything shifted in an instant. I couldn’t wrap my head around what we’d just witnessed. I’d seen so much death, but most of it had happened in the throes of the battlefield or as the result of some great conflict between rivals. Never had I seen a death occur so suddenly, with no warning at all.
Yet Hemlock’s body lay beneath me, with no traces of illusion magic or lingering clues that this was some sort of deception. Hemlock had been here one minute… and gone the next.
“Damn you! Damn all of you!” Ava cried, and I became numb as I heard her sobs… which had become so commonplace. “You’re all useless!”
Every time I didn’t think Ava could be broken any more, something else happened to ruin her. Hemlock had been her mentor, her friend, and a grandmotherly figure that had safeguarded her against the worst of the Institute. How much more could she shatter?
Kallie knelt beside Ava, reaching out to take her in her arms. “Ava, I’m sorry. There’s nothing we can do.”
