Page 170 of Jinxes and Drumsticks

I just glare up at him in answer.

“Right,” he says. “Give me about a half hour. Wren, prepare your best wards. You’re going to need them, with the amount of magic Lillith will use healing him. It’s going to be like a beacon to that creature. I’m certain he’s just been waiting for her to leave. He may have even orchestrated this disaster.”

“I’m going to call Oren,” I say.

“Alright.”

“I’ll get something of a cloaking spell ready for you,” Bastion says.

I don’t say anything else as I step away, dialing Oren’s number and slipping behind some trees for the illusion of privacy.

It only rings once before Oren picks up.

“Jesus Christ, is it good to see your name on my phone screen.”

My throat immediately tightens with a lump. “I’m so, so sorry,” I choke out. “We’ve been busy over here. I—we were trying to sort something out, and I had my phone on Do Not Disturb. Fuck. Are you and the others okay?”

“A couple little surface level burns from trying to get the curtain off Damien. Satoshi got kind of fucked up. Nothing as serious as Damien’s burns, though.”

“What’s happening with him?”

“They have him in a medically induced coma right now to prevent him from moving too much or being in too much pain. The major concern right now is infection and shock. He’s had a couple seizures from the toll it’s had on his body. Did you see my text?”

“Yes,” I say. “We’re on our way. I should be there in about half an hour.”

“Half an—how?” he asks.

“Aemon,” I say. “He’s going to make a portal for us to get there, but we’re going to have to fly back.”

“Holy shit. Please tell him I say thank you,” Oren says, his own voice breaking now. “Do you think you can heal him?”

“Yeah, I can,” I say. “We’re going to have to keep the staff distracted, but I’m going to fix him right up.”

“They’re saying the scar tissue could keep him from ever drumming again.”

“No scar tissue to worry about,” I promise.

“But what about you?” Oren asks. “I know Damien wouldn’t want you to come if it would put you in danger.”

“That’s what we were figuring out over here,” I lie. “We figured out a solution, and I can leave now. No more big bad guy to worry about. At least not for me.”

“No shit? Fuck, Damien’s going to be elated. You can come with us on the rest of our stops over here.”

“Yeah...” I say despite knowing in my gut that won’t be happening. “Do you need anything else from me before I come?”

“No,” he says, exhaling a relieved breath. “God. Lillith. Thank you. I don’t know what we would have done if we didn’t meet you.”

I can’t bring myself to tell him that Damien probably wouldn’t even be in this position if it wasn’t for me. So I just say, “See you soon.”

“See you.”

It’s nice to at least have those next twenty minutes to rest. It gives me time to sit and breathe and banish the lingering waves of vertigo that often follow a seizure. Bastion sits next to me eventually, and he braids the cloaking spell into my hair, tying the spell to one of his little trinkets as a taglock. He promises to keep his intention on the spell as long as he can, and I thank him for it even though I’m certain it won’t be enough.

“I would come with you. But...”

“You should stay with The Buried City. One of us should always be here. That’s why I didn’t ask you.” I hold his hand and look into his eyes. “I know if Wren wasn’t here, you’d be coming with me. I know if you really thought I wasn’t coming back, you wouldn’t let me go.”

His pale eyelashes shimmer with tears as his dark irises flicker around my face. “You do?” he asks. “I was worried that—with the tension between us lately—”