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When Claire became aware again, she was greeted by blackness. She blinked her eyes open again but only blackness greeted her. This must be death. She did die then. Her heart started racing as she tried to gain her bearings. The air was cool against her skin though? Was she supposed to feel the chill when she was dead?
“Hey,” Desmond’s soft voice grounded her from nearby.
Even though she knew that they probably died with her, Claire’s heart sank and she felt a tear track down the side of her face.
“You’re not dead,” Everett’s warm hand cupped her cheek.
She wasn’t? She took a breath, fighting through the fog over her brain. She still couldn’t see anything but gradually her other senses came back to her.
She was lying on something soft. A bed? The air was slightly cool but there was a warm blanket over her. A warm hand still cupped her cheek. Everett. But she had to be dead. She felt herself fade from the world. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe they didn’t think they were dead either? Her brain hurt.
“I can practically see her brain racing,” she heard Cody’s voice say. Wait, her friends were dead too?
“No one’s dead,” Desmond’s voice came again. The bed dipped at her head as the heater at her side started vibrating. No, growling. Cinnamon and smoke. Malcolm.
“He’s right,” Holly’s warm voice sounded from the foot of the bed. “We’re alive, your Triad’s alive, you’re alive.”
“Despite your best efforts,” Bethany’s voice was snarky but Claire could hear the waver in it. Something had scared her unshakeable lioness friend.
Claire blinked her eyes again, trying to see their faces but the darkness remained. “If I’m not dead, why can’t I see?”
Silence greeted her question and in the silence, Claire recalled the last few moments of the fight, shuffling through the memories.
“All magic comes at a cost,” she murmured, answering her own question.
“What was that?” Desmond’s spearmint scent tickled her nose as he smoothed her forehead with a few fingers, brushing a curl away from her face.
“All magic comes at a cost,” she said again louder. “My mother told me that. Then Professor Storm did. Right before I… killed him. I didn’t realize what they meant then. I do now.”
“And what did they mean?” Desmond prompted her gently when she paused to sort through her now racing thoughts. It was a jarring difference going from thinking nothing at all with her brain in a fog to her thoughts racing around like Puck on a magic high.
“Puck!” She tried to sit up but Malcolm’s arm caught her.
The warmth at her feet moved and soft paws padded up her body. Warm fur brushed her cheek. Claire disengaged an arm from the covers to wrap it around his furry body as she buried her face in his fur.
“They meant that all magic comes at a cost,” she repeated again, her voice muffled by Puck’s fur. “I thought my mother meant in her warning that the cost of using my magic like that before my birthday would be my life.”
Claire could feel her men exchange looks over her and winced. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
Malcolm’s chest rumbled and he squeezed her tighter. “Forgiven,” he grumbled, “But no more secrets.”
Claire nodded quickly.
“No more secrets ever,” Bethany reiterated. “Your Triad might be tempted to treat you with kid gloves from here on out, but Queen or not, you pull something like that again and I’ll sic Greta on you.”
Claire laughed along with the others but she released Puck and wiggled out her other arm to extend them both towards Bethany. Because under all that snark and bravado, she had really scared her friend.
Bethany huffed but then Claire’s arms were filled with her friend. Claire gripped her tightly in apology and Bethany did the same. Holly pressed herself to Bethany’s back, her hands brushing Claire’s hair and a few tears squeezed out of the corner of her eyes. Zack and Cody squeezed one of her feet but didn’t move closer and Claire guessed it was due to the growly dragon at her back who had refused to relinquish her even during her friends’ hugs.
“Finish what you were saying,” Desmond prompted gently. Claire was sure his brain was racing trying to figure out what exactly had happened and probably how to prevent it in the future.
“In those last few moments, when I drained all of the magic I could find trying to destroy that Metallicum, I felt like I did when I first came to the Academy. A low-level witch. And I realized that even though I didn’t have magic and that I was blind, that I would give anything to go back there because…” She tilted her head to look in Desmond’s direction even though she could no longer see his brilliant blue eyes. “It would give me more time with you.”
The room was silent, processing Claire’s words. The scent of spearmint grew stronger as he leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead.
“And in that moment,” he said softly, “You changed the intention of your magic. You altered the cost.”
