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Dante helps lift him up onto Evan’s shoulder.
I follow the guys to the street, and they put Kurtis in the SUV.
I stand there without motivation to move anymore. Kurtis still hasn’t stirred. He’s just another person hurt by my actions.
When I don’t get in the car, Dante takes charge and guides me into the front passenger seat.
* * *
As we burst through the front door, Chara’s coming down the stairs. Her eyes widen. “Is he alright?”
“Like you care,” Dante growls.
We hurry up the stairs to Kurtis’s room and set him on the bed. Evan inspects the damage in the light.
The gash has sealed, and only crusted blood remains. Dante runs out and returns with a rag and a bowl of water, then Evan cleans off the blood.
Dante takes a turn to heal him, tutoring me during the process. “Imagine the cosmic energies being drawn into your body and then focus the energy on the problem area.”
“I sent him energy,” I say, my voice sounding thin. “Except I used my feelings of love and harmony.”
Evan abruptly stands up and faces me. He presses his hands to the sides of my head and psychically scans me. “Dammit. You pulled from yourownsource. It drained you. That’s probably why you’re still shivering.”
I look down at my shaking hands peeking out from Dante’s borrowed shirt.
“Get a hot shower and bundle up in bed,” Evan orders and works on Kurtis again.
I nod, wandering down the hall and heading to the showers.
The hot water starts right up, and I strip down. I’m smeared with blood. When I step under the spray, the shower floor streaks with crimson—Kurtis’s blood… blood I spilled.
I shiver uncontrollably. I can’t get warm, even though the water is blistering hot. My skin turns an angry red from the intense heat.
I don’t know how long I’m in here, but when I hear the door open, I don’t care.
“Tessa?” Dante calls. “You’ve been in here a long time.”
I don’t respond.
“I’m coming in, okay?”
He curses when he steps into the shower and pulls me from the stream. “You’re burning your skin off.”
I glance down to see my angry red skin.
Dante wraps a large towel around my still shivering body, cocooning me, then he sets me down on the vanity.
I pull the towel tighter and curl in on myself.
With another towel, Dante dries my hair and then my dangling legs. Softly, he asks, “What’s going on? If you are upset about Kurtis, he’s going to be okay. He’s awake now.”
I nod but say nothing. I can’t even pinpoint what’s going on with me. My mind feels trapped, bouncing around an empty abyss. Am I finally having my long overdue nervous breakdown?
Dante rubs my back to stir me. “Can you walk to your room? Or should I carry you?”
I lean against his bare chest, as if I’m a piece of space junk being pulled in by his gravitational field. Understanding that I’m no longer functional, he picks me up off the counter, and I wrap my legs around his sides.
Shoving my door open, he sets me on the edge of my bed. “Shirt? Pants?” He pulls a sweater out of my drawer.
