“Move to where?” Thornton asked as he eyed up the room.
“Another safe house, one future away.”
Everything looked and smelt new. The apartment was large and very open, with a large sofa and dining table filling the open space that led the way into a large kitchen. It was beautiful, but not lived in. So that brought in the question, why the hell did Benedict have the keys to a random apartment? She could have asked, but in reality, she was too tired to care. Blood was now seeping through her top, and she was in so much pain she could cry.
“Everyone make yourself at home, I have a few calls to make.” Benedict left the room, leaving Jaycen, Thornton, Iris, and Caleb to sit in complete silence, so pain aside, Jaycen needed to speak, just to fill it. “I’m so tired.”
“You shouldn’t be, you slept for four days.” Caleb winked at her as he slumped into the large sofa, making room for Iris to sit next to him, which she did.
Jaycen watched them snuggle into each other and smiled, she hadn’t even been sure they were dating until now, it was cute.
“I wish I could have slept for four days, in fact right now I could sleep for a week.” She shifted her weight, trying to ease the pain of her watching Thornton as he headed into the kitchen, returning seconds later with bottles of water.
Caleb looked confused, as he absentmindedly played with Iris’s hair. “It might not have felt it, but you were sure as hell passed out for four whole days. We should know, Benedict made sure at least one person was with you day and night.” He snorted and reached for a bottle of water from Thornton as he passed him. “He shouldn’t really have bothered, Thorn was practically there twenty-four seven.”
Four days? She had been unconscious for four days? How was that even possible?
Thornton sat down on the sofa next to her, taking her hand in his. “We haven’t had chance yet to talk about what happened at The Cure.”
“Or the fact that I’ve been passed out for four flipping days?” she hissed, the pain in the abdomen quickly becoming too much.
“Wait, are you still in pain? What’s wrong?” Thornton sat back, his eyes scanning her and stopping when they saw blood. “My God, you’re bleeding. Why didn’t you say something?”
He actually sounded mad, and Jaycen was shook. “Well why didn’t you tell me I’ve been passed out for half a week? Hmm? Because I feel like that should be a thing that I should know.”
Thornton was on his feet and pulling off pillows so Jaycen could lie down. “A lot has been happening, okay?”
Caleb and Iris looked uncomfortable as hell as Jaycen eased onto her back and placing a pillow under her head.
“Oh wow, that’s a lot of blood. I’m going to get Benedict.” Caleb stood, pulling Iris up with him. “I think you’re going to need more stitches. Yep, definitely more stitches needed. I’ll go and get Benedict.”
He left the room, Iris quick on his heels.
Jaycen got comfortable as Thornton disappeared from her view, returning shorting after with a thick woolly throw. “We can put this over your legs, so you can lift your nightgown up.”
Jaycen nodded, thankful he had thought about that because she sure hadn’t. In fact, she’d somehow forgotten she was only wearing a thin, flimsy hospital gown.
“You should have told me you were in pain,” Thornton muttered, putting the throe over her legs and hips while she pulled up the gown, revealing the bloodied dressing of her wound.
“There was a lot going on,” she tried to defend, holding in her flinch as Thornton pulled back the bandage.
Thornton shot up, clearly annoyed by her answer. “Did you really just say that? Jaycen, I thought we’d been through this?”
“I wasn’t keeping it from you. But come on, I woke up to you guys smuggling me out of a hospital, and then we were attacked. I was attacked, my head just isn’t thinking straight right now, okay?” Her voice was raised by the end as tears stung her eyes.
Thornton knelt by her side, linking her fingers with his own and squeezing tight. “I hate the thought of bleeding on the backseat of the car and that it didn’t even occur to you to tell anyone. You have to get how crazy that is, right?”
Before Jaycen could answer Benedict came into the room, it wasn’t until he was closer that Jaycen noticed the medical box in his hand.
She turned away, hiding her face into the sofa’s cushion until she was sure her tears had dried.
“This looks bad Benedict. She might need to go back to the hospital.” Thornton stood, making way for Benedict to get a good look at her wound.
Benedict reached into the box and pulled out a syringe and small bottle of clear liquid. Both Jaycen and Thornton silently watched him fill the syringe and flick it twice, like a TV doctor would.
“Wha–what are you going to do with that?” She was already edging away from him on the sofa. Because she knew what he was not going to do with it, and that was stick it in her.
“Just a little something to help you deal with the pain. You’re going to need it for me to stitch your wound back up.”
Benedict said it so casually that Jaycen actually nodded along with him, as the thought of him stitching her back up was completely normal, it was Thornton that spoke up.
“What? You can’t be serious.”
Ignoring Thornton, Benedict bent down and lifted the sheet just enough to put the syringe in the side of Jaycen’s leg.
“Ow, a little notice would have been nice.” She rubbed the skin he had just injected and moaned. “You know what guys, I think I’m going to be okay. Just, just leave me. Okay?”
Benedict smiled down at her a little before ignoring her and saying, “Thornton, I’m going to need a bowl of boiling water and some cloths, there should be some in the far cupboard. Jaycen, I’m going to have to clean your wound and then stitch it back up, okay?”
Thornton looked worried as hell but went and got Benedict what he needed.
“Jaycen, I’m here for you emotionally, but physically we’re going to stay in another room,” Caleb called from somewhere that Jaycen couldn’t see.
Jaycen’s reply was a nervous laugh. She was starting to panic, surely this couldn’t really be happening. Surely, Benedict was about to tell her that he was joking and just drive her to the hospital?
Apparently not. Because when Thornton returned with water and cloths Benedict got prepared. He pulled a table closer to where Jaycen was lying, and he carefully laid out what he needed. Thornton stayed at her side, holding her hand and looking as worried as she felt. And then the morphine hit, and Jaycen just couldn’t stop talking.
“Those men today were awful. That one guy, you know the guy that attacked me? Well, he wasn’t even going to take me back. Nope. Just wanted to kill me, right then and there.”
Benedict was stitching up her wound, and she didn’t feel a thing.
“Yep, you told us.” Thornton smiled down at her, clearly amused at her babbling. “You sure you don’t feel any pain?”
She shook her head and yawned. “You know today? I tried to cast a spell and, nothing.” She blew out air from her mouth.
Benedict jerked, before shooting to his feet. Alarm Thornton jumped up too.
“What happened? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just need a break.” He walked away briskly.
And that got Jaycen thinking. “Benedict? What star sign are you?”
“Virgo.”
“Cool. Cool.” She had no idea what that meant. Jaycen had never been a star sign kinda girl, but maybe she could become one. “I’m so tired.” She yawned again, her eyes shutting just as Benedict came over to finish his job. “Four days just wasn’t enough.” And then she fell asleep.
***********
The pain was back when Jaycen awoke. She was still on the sofa, the fluffy quilt was wrapped securely around her, and the only light in the room came from the large windows and the moon that shone through it.
She stretched, wincing as the pain shot from her stomach. Sh
e pulled back the quilt to see a newly dressed wound, she didn’t dare pull the dressing back to see it, she wasn’t ready for that.
“The stitching was fine, and your wound is clean.”
Jaycen jumped and grabbed her chest as her heart beat erratically. “Oh my God. What are you doing? And why are you sitting in the dark?”
Benedict stood and turned on the main light, the dark room now dimly lit as he took his seat again opposite the sofa Jaycen was lying on.
Carefully Jaycen pulled herself up and gathered the pillows to stuff behind her. “So, do you always watch people sleep, or is this a creepy new hobby you’ve picked up?”
Benedict smirked as he rubbed his chin. “I take it you’re feeling better?”
Jaycen nodded. “I mean, as much as I can I guess with a hole in my stomach.”
“Good, good.”
“Benedict, you’re kind of freaking me out here. What’s up? Is it The Cure? Do we have to go back?”
Benedict shook his head. “No, no. It’s not that, but we do need to talk. So I’m just going to tell you, quick and sharp. It’ll hurt, but it won’t last long.” He seemed to be assuring himself of that more than her. “Back at The Cure, when Darius stabbed you, he . . .”
“It wasn’t Darius that stabbed me, it was his son, McKenzie.” She motioned with her hand for him to continue.
“He has another son? How old? What. . . you know what? We’re going to have to come back to him. Okay?”
Jaycen nodded.
“Right so, when you were stabbed, by McKenzie. They didn’t use a normal knife, it had magical qualities.” He was staring at her so intensely.
Jaycen nodded her head. “I could feel that it was different, that it was powerful.”
“Yes, well, they used its magic to draw a part of you out. The magical part.” Benedict stared at her, his eyes widening as he waited for some sort of reaction.
“What do you mean, took?”
Benedict cleared this throat as he scratched his thick beard. “As in, you don’t have it anymore, and they do. It’s something I’ve seen them do before- when they killed other witches and warlocks. They stripped their life and their power leaving nothing but bones and skin. It’s-”
Images of her other nameless brother filled her head, the way his lifeless body slumped to the floor. She shuddered. “It’s awful. I’ve seen it happen.” She wet her lips, trying to keep her sudden nausea and panic at bay. “But, but how did that not happen to me? How did they just take my magic and not my life? Is it gone for good? Can we get it back? Can I get it back?”
“I stopped it. The spell, I mean. I could feel it in you, drawing away your life, your soul. I was too late to save your magic. I could feel it leaving your body. I don’t know where it went, we still don’t fully understand the spell that took it. But if there is a way to get you your magic back, I’ll find it.”
She couldn’t speak, she knew that if she did she’d be sick. So instead she nodded jerkily, shifting in her seat. The small twinges of pain shooting from her abdomen nothing compared to the pain that now lay inside her, a pain that felt like her insides were being twisted and pulled apart.
Benedict stood from his seat and walked over to her, she didn’t look up, not even as he shifted her leg to make way for him to sit next to her.
Their arms were touching, but that was it. He made no move to hug her or comfort her in any way. His proximity was enough and they both knew it.
“I don’t know how, but we’ll figure this out. I promise you.”
Again, she couldn’t speak. So she nodded silently, and focused keeping the tears at bay, pushing down her pain, her loss. It was no use; they were coming anyway. She needed to get away, refusing to let Benedict see her break down.
“I need to–” She made a move to stand, gritting her teeth as pain shot through her. “I need a minute.” She hobbled to the toilet, aware that Benedict was hot on her heels.
She shut the door without looking at him and let her sobs overtake her in a silent cry.
“Jaycen? Please come out.”
She pressed her head against the door, her tears still falling no matter how hard she tried to stop them. She didn’t want him to see her like this, all red and broken.
“I want you to know I’m here for you. And I’m going to fix this. I promise.”
Finally, after a few more minutes of silent crying, her tears slowed. She wiped the moisture off her face with the back of her hands as she took deep long breaths. She couldn’t break like this. She couldn’t fall apart.
Squeezing her eyes shut she pushed it all down. Her pain at losing the one thing she had, her magic. The fear that she would lose the only family she had left. The fear that now she was well and truly alone.
She suppressed and pushed until there was nothing left. No pain, no loss no fear. Nothing. Just a girl standing in an empty bathroom with a red nose. She turned and opened the door to a weary-looking Benedict. He assessed her face and couldn’t hide the sadness from his.
“I’m so sorry, Jaycen.”
Shaking her head, she walked, and he moved out of the way. “Why are you sorry? It wasn’t your fault.”
“I should have been protecting you. It was my job to protect you and I failed.”
That was sweet, she acknowledged as she sat back down the sofa she had been sleeping on. Would he still feel this way about her when she wasn’t magical? Probably not. Why should he when she wouldn’t be one of his students anymore?
“You know what? I had tried to cast a spell, back in the hospital. It hadn’t worked. I thought maybe it was medication- but nope.” Jaycen was surprised at how calm her voice sounded.
“I promise. I swear it. If there is a way to fix this, I will find it.” Benedict came around to sit beside her. He looked so determined, so sure.
She wished she could match his hopefulness, but she feared this was too big of a promise, even for the great Benedict Ravensmith to keep.
Chapter 13
“I think you’re in shock,” Thornton stated, rolling up the quilt he had used the night before and stuffing it into the bag.
Jaycen was staring out the window, watching the buildings tenants leave, most likely on their way to work, all of them living their lives completely unaware of the magic that surrounds them. An existence that seemed odd to her now, it seemed blind. Could she go back to that life? A life of normalcy knowing that there was more out there. She shuddered, pushing the thought away and turned around to face Thornton as he looked at her expectantly, and she had not been listening.
“Sorry?”
Rolling his eyes Thornton sat on the end of the bed and held out his hand to her, she took it and let him pull her towards him and settle in between his legs.
“You’re definitely in shock.” He wrapped his arms around her tight and pulling up at her, frowning slightly. She could see the worry in his eyes. Would he ever stop worrying about her?
Her lips twitched as she ran her hands through his hair. Maybe she was in shock, maybe she wasn’t. Maybe she had just become incredibly good at handling bad information. “You frown way too much,” she said, instead of answering his statement.
“And that just proves my point.” He sighed, staring up at her in what could only be described as disbelief. “How are you feeling about this? About, what they took from you? Are you angry? Sad?”
Jaycen tried to pull away, only for his arms to tighten around her. “I just don’t want to talk about it.” She struggled, the emotion threatening to overspill and break her.
“There’s nothing to talk about.” She pulled harder until Thornton had no choice but to let go. “I had magic, then they took it away. What else is there to say? They stabbed me and took something I was just starting to understand, and there Is nothing I can do about it.” Breathe, just breathe, she silently chanted as she turned away and tried to get her pounding heart under control.
“Who says there’s nothing you can do about it?”
She s
norted and looked over her shoulder. “Why? Do you have some grand plan to get it back?”
Gritting his teeth and shaking his head, Thornton clapped his hands tightly together. “I just don’t understand. It can’t be final. It just can’t.”
She smiled a little and stood. “We don’t have to understand it, sometimes it just is.”
Thornton looked like he was about to speak. Instead, he frowned, his eyes focused on something just behind her.
“What the hell is tha–” He moved before he finished talking, grabbing hold of her just as the window she had just been stood by shattered into a million pieces.
Thornton pulled her to the ground, and she grunted in pain, his body twisting them on the floor, so he was completely covering her, his weight almost too much.
“Stay down,” he shouted over the noise of the glass breaking around them as bullets flew just above them. Bullets. Someone was shooting at them!
“Why are people shooting at us?” she shrieked, grabbing Thornton’s collar and pulling him further down until eventually, the bullets slowed.
“You two, stay low and crawl out of the room. The bullets won’t be able to go through the brick,” Benedict instructed, from where she had no idea, but she replied nonetheless.
“Okay.”
Thornton lifted his head just an inch, so he could look her in her eyes. “Are you ready to move?”
And seeing the only alternative was to stay there and possibly get shot, she nodded.
He rolled off her until he was lying directly next to her, both of them staring up at the ceiling and the few bullets still flying.
Thornton turned to look at her. “Stay low, as low as you can and make your way to the door.”
“Not yet, start crawling when I say,” Benedict said, his voice a hell of a lot clearer with the broken glass. She lifted her head just the tiniest bit to see him standing in the open doorway, Caleb by his side. Both of them shielded from the flying bullets by the thick brick wall of the building.
“Caleb, find out where the bullets are coming from, now,” Benedict gritted out. The smash of another window making Jaycen jump and shriek.
Cursed and Crazed Page 9
