Page 71 of Hex You

“No,” Hunter said firmly. “She didn’t kill you and she’s not going to kill anyone else. Don’t stress. Just concentrate on healing. We’re going to stop her.I’mgoing to stop her.”

Behind them, Kylie’s sobs verged on hysteria.

“H,” Mercy said softly when they reached the cars. “Jax needs to take Kylie home. This has all been too much for her.”

Hunter nodded and looked up at her best friend. “Mag is right. We’ll ride with Emily. Drive Kylie around until she gets herself together.” She opened the door to Em’s vintage T-bird and pushed the front seat forward. “Jax, put Mercy in the back. I’ll get in with her. Khenti can crawl in beside us after he puts Xena in the front seat.”

Mercy managed a half smile at her twin. “You’re real bossy.”

“Yeah, that’s what happens when my sister almost dies; so don’t almost die again. Just sit back there and keep breathing,” ordered Hunter.

Jax bent and gently put Mercy in the backseat. Then he straightened and pulled Hunter into a tight hug. When he released her Kylie was there beside him. She stared at Hunter through swollen, red eyes.

“I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry,” she said between sobs.

Hunter sighed heavily and then pulled Kylie into a quick hug and murmured, “Like Em said, this wasn’t your fault.”

When Kylie stepped out of her arms she bent so that she could meet Mercy’s gaze. “Please don’t die.”

Mercy had to force herself to smile, even though she felt too exhausted to make her face move at all. But she nodded and said, “I’ll do my best.”

Then the two of them were gone and Khenti gently placed Xena in the front passenger’s seat before he jogged around to the other side of the car and squeezed in on Mercy’s left side. He put his arm around her and Mercy rested her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and struggled against sleep.

From somewhere that seemed very distant, she heard Emily close the car door and start up the T-bird. She blasted the heat, turning all the vents to point at Xena. Over the motor sounds, Hunter’s voice drifted to Mercy. She opened her eyes to see that her sister was standing outside the passenger’s side of the car.

“Xena, what did you do?” Hunter asked.

“Simple, kitten. I gave Mercy the spark of my immortality.” Xena had stopped shivering, but she sounded as weak as Mercy felt.

“Thank you, Xena! Thank you!” Hunter burst into loud, snotty tears as she put her arms around Xena and cried into her mother’s bathrobe.

Xena patted her back soothingly. “It will be okay, kitten. We shall make it be okay. But now I am quite hungry and very cold. I need food, a hot bath, and a lot of cannabis.”

Hunter laughed as she smushed into the backseat on the other side of Mercy. “Are you sure you don’t want a sparrow or ten, too?”

As Emily pulled out of the easement, Xena turned her head and caught Hunter’s eye. “Well, now, kitten. That would truly be lovely.”

During the drive home Mercy could feel Hunter’s eyes on her. She could even feel Em’s gaze in the rearview mirror, but she was just so, so tired that all she could do was rest her head against Khenti’s warm shoulder and hold tightly to Hunter’s hand. She was almost asleep when Hunter’s voice pulled her wide awake.

“Xena, Mag said she saw Amphitrite back there. Did you see her, too?”

The top of Xena’s hair moved as the cat person shook her head. “No, kitten, but I was rather busy working magic to save our Mercy.”

“She was there,” Mercy said softly.

Khenti held her a little tighter. “I scented the ocean and thought I heard laughter, but I, too, was rather distracted.”

“She was there,”Mercy insisted.

“It’s okay! We believe you,” Hunter said hastily. “I just wonder why no one else could see her. Do you know why, Xena?”

“I might,” Xena said and then added quickly, “but it is something I must consider, and right now I am entirely too cold and tired.”

“Right. Okay. Yeah, we can figure it out later,” said Hunter.

The rest of the short drive was spent in silence as Mercy stared at the back of Xena’s head and wondered why the cat didn’t sound as if she was telling the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…

Emily parked as close to the porch as she could, and then Khenti unfurled from the backseat, taking Mercy’s arm and guiding her out as well.