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Davis
Panic grabs hold of my throat, choking me with fear as Miri’s body spasms against me before she collapses. Her body is dead weight, but thank fuck, I already had her in my arms. I swing her up to cradle her to me. The world around us is muted as all my focus is on Miri.
Somewhere nearby Lena’s shouting and Ezra is yelling something at me, but I can’t understand a damn thing except that Miri is twitching in my arms. Her body alternates between going completely limp to rigid, as if she’s being shocked.
Rhys and Archer appear from who the hell knows where, crowding the booth. Lena is tucked in under Archer’s arm as they lead me somewhere. I still can’t get my head clear. Seeing Miri like this is fucking me up. A pain seizes through my chest, like a fist gripping my heart and my breath hitches. I can’t fucking lose her. I just admitted that I need her, that I want her in my life and now this. Does the universe fucking hate me? I barely hold back the scream of rage building in my chest. If I didn’t need to keep my head for Miri’s sake, I’d be thrashing any asshole in front of me.
“Get in. Let’s get her off the beach.” Ezra has his ATV pulled up and I slide in the front, Miri clutched tightly in my arms. There’s only two seats and the way Ezra’s driving I really should buckle up, but I don’t want to shift Miri.
“What the fuck happened?” Ezra shouts over the noise of the wind and the snap and crunch of downed leaves and branches from the overgrown path he’s taking through the woods. It looks like we’re headed to my place, which makes sense since it’s the closest to where we were just at.
“I don’t fucking know.” I growl back. He knows my anger isn’t directed at him, but he still curses under his breath.
We’re at my place in less than five minutes. I do my best not to jostle Miri as we hurry into the house, but I don’t know if it makes any difference. Her body is still cycling through horrible spasms and going so limp it makes fear spike through my veins. I set her on the couch, kneeling beside her, and brushing the hair back off her forehead where it’s clinging to her skin. She’s sweaty even though it’s cold as hell out. My hands shake as I run them through my hair.
How the fuck am I supposed to fix her. There is no normal response to this since I’ve never seen anything like this happen. My first instinct would be to have someone create a potion to help her, but that someone would be Miri. I only know how to mix up a few different spells, and none of them will help with whatever the hell is making her thrash.
Ezra feels for her pulse, and I want to tell him to get his hands off her. I know it’s some base, territorial part of me feeling that way, but it’s howling inside me. Ezra is a doctor for Christ’s sake, even if he normally works with animals, so I bury the animalistic rage and let him check her out.
“Her pulse is thready and erratic.”
The front door of my cabin slams open and Rhys, Ruby, Archer and Lena pile into the living room that is significantly smaller than normal with all the bodies crowding it. Lena’s at my side in the next second, dropping to her knees next to me and scooping up Miri’s hand to clutch it between hers.
Lena’s eyes clamp shut, her brow furrowed in concentration and pain as she holds Miri’s hand against her heart. “It’s a curse.”
“What?” I roar. Archer’s shoving his way between me and Lena in the next breath.
“You do not yell at her.” Steel coats my friend’s words but now is not the time to have a pissing contest.
“What kind of curse?” I shout, unable to control my panic. Archer looks like he’s going to explode, but Lena pushes him aside.
“I can’t tell. I just sense the shadow moving around inside her.”
“What do we do?” Ruby’s white knuckling the back of the couch, looking between Ezra and Lena. Lena closes her eyes, swaying on her knees, her lips moving silently. I want to shake her, force her to tell me what is going on. I feel so damn helpless and the only thing I can do is feed the anger inside me.
Miri’s chest heaves in short, quick breaths and her skin is clammy with sweat. Anger burns me from the inside out, power thrumming through my veins with no means of release. I want to slam my fists into the wall, beat against them until this whole damn house crumbles and takes me with it.
I roar, shooting out my hand and aiming toward the fireplace where a blast of flame explodes, lighting up the wood bundled in the grate.
“What the hell?” Rhys shouts. Ruby and Ezra jump back while Archer and Lena stare at me with open mouths. I blink down at my hand, wondering how the foreign thing could be attached to my body.
“Since when can you do that?” Archer asks, his tone accusing.
“We do not have fucking time for this. How do we help Miri?” I move to wipe her hair back again, but my hand hovers helplessly over her face. What if I hurt her?
“I can’t fix a curse, Davis. I don’t know how,” Ezra apologizes.
I get it. None of us know magic beyond the stupid shit we figured out as kids. Why the hell would he know how to fix a magical curse.
“I might know how.”
I jerk my head to look at Lena, a small trickle of unfamiliar feeling blooming in my chest. Is that hope? Can she really do something?
“What do you think you know how to do, Lena? This shit isn’t something you mess around with like a Ouija Board.” Archer’s glaring at her but just Lena sniffs and shoves him out of her way so she’s back by Miri’s side.
“He’s right Lena. You could hurt yourself.” Rhys crosses the room and glares at his sister over the back of the couch.
“I’ve read about it before.” Lena licks her lips, and I can sense her nerves fraying under the scrutiny. She’s never enjoyed being the center of attention and having everyone focus on her is making her sweat. Literally. Drops of sweat bead on her forehead and for once she looks frazzled.
