I finally shifted in my bed to let her know I was awake, and her head snapped toward me immediately.
I grinned, the last of the lingering fuzziness clearing from my mind.
Elena gasped at the sight of me, slapping a hand over her mouth. A smile peeked through around the edges of her fingers, making the skin around her brown eyes crinkle.
A flood of silent tears leaked down her cheeks.
“¿Que pasa?” I teased, testing out my voice. It was cracked and raw, but the words came out anyway. “Jesús, María, y José.You look like somebodydied, Elena.”
At this, my sister burst out laughing.
Dios mio, that was a good sound to come home to.
“Youasshole,” she said, smacking my shoulder, but she was still laughing. “You had us all scared out of our minds, thinking we’d be planning a funeral this weekend, and now you’re cracking jokes?”
“What better time for a laugh then when you’re standing on Death’s door?”
“Speaking of Death’s door,” she said, “where is your friend Liam? I’ve got a few choice words for him, too.”
Liam…At the sound of his name, a new memory surfaced, but I couldn’t hold onto it. He’d been there that night, I was sure of it now. Helped me somehow. But that was all I had.
“I haven’t heard from him,” I said, still chasing that memory. But it was gone, like so many others from that night. Perhaps that was for the best. “As far as I know, he’s still tracking Jonathan in Gray’s realm.”
Elena narrowed her eyes, but if she knew more, she wasn’t saying a word.
I sat up a bit, and Elena propped an extra pillow behind my head. That, too, smelled like Gray, and I glanced around the room, searching for her, though I knew she wasn’t here. The scent of her on my sheets was fading.
“She’s resting,” Elena said, answering the question before my lips had even formed the words. “For the first time in days. It took all of us multiple attempts and a few threats to convince her to finally leave your side for more than just a quick bite to eat and a trip to the bathroom.”
“So she’s… okay?”
Elena smiled. “Tired from the ordeal, but yes, Emilio. Now that you’re here, we’re all okay.”
“And the witches? Reva? Haley and the others?”
“All present and accounted for. Getting stronger every day. I should know—I’m feeding and housing them. All this time, Emilio, I had no idea how much these women could eat!”
“You love it, and you know it.”
“Guilty as charged. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a full house. As chaotic as it is, it’s also kind of nice. Big meals. Late-night talks. Fighting over the bathrooms.” She took my hands in hers, her smile slowly slipping away. She held my gaze a moment longer, then looked out the window again, her attention drifting back to whatever she’d been watching before I’d woken up.
Wind howled against the side of the house, lashing the windows with heavy, wet snow I’d only just begun to notice—fiercer than any storm I’d ever seen in the Pacific Northwest.
“Wow,” I said. “How long have I been out?” I was sure it’d been months. I’d probably missed Christmas, missed New Year’s. It might be past Valentine’s Day for all I knew.
“Three days,” Elena said. “In and out of consciousness as your body healed.”
I blew out a breath. Three days? That was a relief. “What’s with the snow?”
“They’re saying on the news it’s a once-in-a-lifetime storm,” Elena said, though something in her voice had changed. Was thatfearI detected? “It started in the Bay and has been working its way westward ever since. Most of the state is feeling the impacts.” She rattled off snowfall amounts and temperatures, wind chill factors, all the facts and figures as if she were a weather reporter. But she was holding back the deeper truth. I could practically smell the lies of omission in her blood.
“Elena. What aren’t you telling me?”
She shook her head, turning her gaze on me once again and forcing a smile. “There’s plenty of time for catching up and making plans of attack now that you’re awake. Right now, I want you to focus on healing. Can you do that for me?”
She swept the hair from my forehead, a gesture so unexpectedly sweet and motherly it made my throat tighten. She must’ve seen the emotion in my eyes, but this time she didn’t look away or change the subject or feign some excuse about getting dinner started. Instead, she held my gaze, her own deepening with a mix of shadows and regrets and memories and even, most shocking of all, love.
“What are you thinking, Lainey?” I whispered.
