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“Did you hear that, Dr. Bryant? Okay. Yeah. Come now.” Cyril gestured to Dane. “Can you get your mom too?”
He nodded. “Done. She and Dad have just left the hotel. She’ll be here in ten.”
Dane’s parents arrived only minutes before the coven doctor. Thora had worsened with each grueling second that passed. She’d vomited an orange substance with the consistency of bile, and her muscles had gone rigid. Worst of all, she’d lost consciousness, though Romy thought that might be a small mercy for poor Thora, who had never looked more scared.
Upon realizing the seriousness of the situation, Dr. Bryant called the entire medical team.
Romy fought tears as she stroked Thora’s hair. “I’m so sorry, Thor. I love you. It’s going to be okay. They’ll figure it out and fix this.”
“They need to perform some tests, Andromeda,” Cassia said, sharp enough to snap Romy’s attention her way. Medical personnel filtered around them in a flurry of crisp linens and leather bags. “Let’s allow them to do their jobs in peace.”
“I’m not leaving her, Mom,” she countered with the same brusque tone. “Somebodyneeds to be with her.” The implication that Cassia wanted to leave was unwarranted, but Romy wouldn’t apologize. At least not until Thora was safe.
Cassia started to reply but paused when Dane’s hand settled on Romy’s shoulder.
“My mom will come and get us if anything changes. I promise you,” Dane said gently. “Mom’s got her.”
“But what if… she…” The statement caught in her throat. A world without her sister wasn't a world at all.
“She won’t, Romy. She’s not,” he reassured with such fervor that Romy almost believed him. A nurse carefully reached between Thora’s head and Romy’s arm to place a sensor for the EKG machine. Romywasin the way, and as long as Dane’s mom would come get them, she’d relent and wait outside.
Reluctantly, she took Dane’s outstretched hand and followed him into the next room.
Thirty minutes later,Dr. Bryant met with the Delacroixs to give the prognosis. Rosemary stood at his side.
“Some of the lab work came back. Her white count and sed rate are dangerously high. The fact that she’s a preternatural is the only thing saving her right now.” He waited for the family to process the information. “If she were mortal, we’d be in an entirely different situation, and I’ll be honest, that’s both fortunate and unfortunate.”
“How so?” Cyril asked. He sounded there but also not.
“Our systems are enhanced because of the magic in our blood, and this buys us a small amount of time… yet…” Clearly, Dr. Bryant didn’t want to continue.
“Go on,” Cassia pressed.
“Yet…I have never seen a case like this. Not once.” He turned to Rosemary. “Neither has Dr. Teche. No exaggeration is involved when we say neither of us has ever dealt with anything like this. Thora’s metabolic composition is altered. She is completely changing. The process is slow, but it’s almost as if she’s turning into another species.”
Cassia’s eyes widened, but she didn’t speak.
“How is this possible? Has she ingested something? Or is this specific within Thora herself? Candescence wouldn’t trigger this, would it?” Cyril paced the room as if movement alone would generate a solution. Then he answered his own question. “No… I’m grasping at straws here.”
“Anything is possible, Cyril, but it’s unlikely. There’s no way to know whether the increased power would help or hurt. We’d need time to study it… but you don’t have time.”
“What’s the recommendation?” Cassia asked, her voice mechanical, robotic.
“I’m sorry to say this, but call the healers.”
The reality of those words hit Romy with a force that pushed her into the back wall, and she couldn’t remain quiet any longer. “Call the healers? Call the motherfuckinghealers? You just got here, and you automatically know Thora’s a lost cause within an hour? How about getting a second opinion? Healers are for old witches, for the terminally ill.”
No one spoke. No one wanted to say it. But Romy would—for Thora. She would do anything for Thora. “She’s not a lost cause. She’s worth more than five minutes of trying.”
Cyril reached for Romy’s arm, but she batted him away. “Sweetheart, you know our laws. We have to release her to The One and The Only.”
“Fuck our goddamn laws, Dad.” Her stare centered on her mother. “And fuck our stupid coven for believing in a deity that thinks it’s okay to just let somebody go without trying. Thora is twelve and healthy.”
“You know it’s more complicated than that, Andromeda.”
Cassia seemed to rise with each word, but Romy knew it was an illusion used to intimidate. The high priestess would never back down, but neither would she. “Call your fucking healers. Let them lay hands on her, but I swear to you if something happens to Thora, it’s onyou, Mom.”
Cassia’s face bloomed with red. “Don’t threaten me, Andromeda.”
