Page 94 of The Turning of the Tables

I get it. Eat my bodyweight in food.

Good.

I put my phone down, leaning my head back and letting my eyes close. I was still exhausted. Then it buzzed again.

Still Elliot.

Take care of yourself.

Noah will make sure I do.

Promise?

Promise.

24

ELLIOT CRANE

Feeling any better, baby shifter?

SETH MAYS

Tired.

Achy.

My brain is fuzzy.

That’s normal.

It’ll get better.

But I have to go back to work.

Why?

If I don’t, I don’t keep my job.

That’s bullshit.

You should be able to go back when you’re ready.

I have to go back tomorrow.

I’m sorry.

Can I help?

No.

But thanks.

I’d lookedup the post-Arcana policies at work, which stated that I had forty-eight hours from being ‘cleared’ to go back to work, request unpaid medical leave, or give notice. That was tomorrow, and I was fairly certain I wasn’t going to manage even five minutes of sleep.

It had been six days since I’d last shifted. It felt like I had a better understanding of the things the made my skin prickle and my fingertips ache, my pulse pounding in my ears and squeezing at my lungs. Things that caused me stress or anxiety. Things that triggered emotional responses, whether anger or sadness.

It did not help at all that going back to work made me stressed, anxious, and angry all at the same time. And also terrified. And that was also a big trigger—fear. The last thing I wanted was to risk shifting at work and hurting the people there I liked, respected, and cared about. The most horrifying part about it was that the more I worried about it happening, the more likely it was to happen.