by Dannika Dark
“Any weaknesses?” Blue asked.
“He’s not good with knives and prefers a bow and arrow. Close combat was never his style.”
“It sure as hell is mine,” Raven said as she approached his bedside. “I’m glad you’re awake. You scared the hell out of us.”
Niko saw the guilt in her light. It matched what he saw in everyone else’s. It felt right to acknowledge their guilt before it festered. “I understand the decision you were faced with. You made the right choice,” he admitted. “I’ve lived a very long life, and this is not how I would have wanted to spend the rest of it. I hold no resentment, as I know you didn’t decide lightly.”
Everyone gave him a pat on the shoulder as they swarmed out of the room.
“Mage magic?” Raven murmured to someone. “What the hell does that mean?”
Once the team had left the room, Viktor moved closer to his side. “I will explain everything in detail when we return. The team is not aware of all the facts.”
“I appreciate it. I’m sure you understand the reasoning behind my keeping it a secret.”
“Da. And if there are more books, it is better that none of this is common knowledge.”
“Where is it?”
“Destroyed. And so you know, I did not intend to shorten your life today. I promised Gem an extra week, and I would have kept that promise if her plan failed. I considered it, but when I came in here and sat with you, I decided that I needed sufficient time to make plans. I am not happy it came to that, but what could I do? If the Mageri found out we were keeping your body alive, they would have used that against me. They would have also opened up an investigation to find out the cause, and as you know, we must keep those details to ourselves.”
Niko couldn’t see around Viktor’s light, but he looked in Gem’s direction. “And Gem?”
“I do not know her condition. We could not plan for what would happen. She is weak, and Shepherd has given her one of those bags.” Viktor muttered something in Russian. “It drips to her arm.”
“I know what you’re referring to.”
“Careful you don’t knock it over. They also used bags of ice to keep her cool.” Viktor’s light flickered with anxiety. “Switch is here with boy. I’ll have Kira lock up house. Is there anything you need before we leave?”
Viktor’s broken English often revealed as much as his light.
Niko swung his legs over the bed. “Yes. Help me put her in the bed. I won’t have Gem sleeping on the floor. Not after all she’s done.”
Chapter 9
When Gem opened her eyes, she saw orange flames dancing in front of her.
This is death, and I’m in hell.
As her surroundings came into focus, the light shaped into a fireplace. She rubbed her bleary eyes and stared in bewilderment at the tape on top of her right hand. The tape secured a clear tube that ran from her hand to a pole beside the bed. Shepherd occasionally used the setup to deliver intravenous fluids. She noticed the bag was empty.
“You’re awake.”
She gasped as if a ghost had spoken to her. “Niko?” Chills ran up her arms when she saw a gaunt figure approach from across the room.
Niko slowly sat down on her left and looked at her with concern. He was barely recognizable due to his thin beard and hollow cheeks.
Still disoriented, she stared into his timeless eyes. “Am I dead?”
“No, you’re very much alive. How are you feeling?”
“Me? What about you? You’re awake! Are you sure I’m not dead?”
He rocked with laughter, then inclined his head. “I’m almost positive. Your hands look better.”
“My hands?” Confused, she held them up in front of her face. They were slightly pink and a little warm. She guessed the IV was responsible for plumping up the fingers on her right hand.
“Viktor wasn’t sure if the spell transferred to you,” he said.
“The spell,” she parroted, slapping her forehead as she struggled to remember. Then it all flooded back: the team saying goodbye to Niko, the long walk across the property, and the book.
The book!
“Did it work? Is the book destroyed?”
“We’re alive,” he said firmly. “Are you thirsty?”
“No, but I, um… I really have to go.” She eyeballed the bathroom entrance, feeling as if her bladder might explode. None of their bathrooms had privacy doors, but Gem would never make it to a different bathroom in time.
Niko stood up and teetered a little before regaining his balance. “Shepherd said that might happen with the saline. Let me help you up. You’ve been asleep for hours, but your light is still weak.”
Yes, it was. Weak energy vibrated inside her as it slowly replenished. Gem peeled off the tape and pulled out the IV. A bubble of blood formed on her hand, but she ignored it and hobbled as quickly as she could to the bathroom. She sighed with relief once she sat down. Firelight glowed from the entryway.
“I can ask Kira to make you some food,” Niko suggested from the other room.
Was he kidding? Niko had been in a coma for over a month and had lost a significant amount of weight. Yet there he was, worrying about her.
“Are you all right in there?”
Gem’s eyes widened in horror when he appeared in the bathroom. Her bladder had long since emptied while she sat there, gathering her thoughts.
She discreetly reached for the toilet paper and barely spoke above a whisper. “I’m fine.”
Niko’s cheeks flushed, and he stepped out of sight. “Forgive my intrusion. I thought you’d passed out.”
Passed out? It was a wonder she was still alive. After she washed her hands and counted all her body parts to make sure they were still intact, Gem walked unsteadily back into the room and veered right, intending to sit by the corner fireplace.
“Please, take the bed,” he insisted. “I want to move around and build up my strength. Would you like fresh sheets or a lighter blanket?”
“No, please don’t put yourself out.” She managed to make it to the bed without collapsing. Never had she felt so physically drained in all her life, as if she could sleep for decades.
Niko guided her to sit and then helped lift her legs onto the bed. Someone had taken off her sneakers and socks, so she slipped her bare feet beneath the sheets while Niko pulled a warm blanket up to her knees. Suddenly her floral dress seemed wildly inappropriate under the circumstances, and all she wanted was her pajamas. What a silly thought.
Gem yawned and noticed he’d moved the pole to a position beside his armoire. She stared at the half-open door of it. The shirts she’d tossed about while searching his room still lay on the floor. No one had bothered to clean it. Disgusted by the mess they’d left behind, she rolled onto her side.
“I’m sorry about your shirts I threw on the floor and never picked up,” Gem said. “And I’m sorry that I moved your things around while you were asleep.”
The firelight behind Niko created a soft silhouette. “If you mean the shirts you placed in my wardrobe, I rather enjoy those.”
She blinked in surprise. “You knew about them?”
“Of course. I wasn’t sure what they were at first, but everyone seemed to enjoy when I wore the Pink Panther one.”
She wanted to bury her face in the pillow. “Why did you wear it if it made everyone laugh at you?”
He slowly turned away and crossed the room, heading toward the armoire. “Because, Gem, I don’t care about such inconsequential matters.”
“How did you even know which one it was?”
“I cut the tags in a special way. I first knew about them because when you left them with the others, they didn’t smell like our detergent, and your perfume was on them.”
She stared at the fire, lost in the flames that reminded her of those final moments. “Did they find the book?”
“It’s destroyed. Christian only found the stone. It’s on the table beside you.”
Gem rolled over. On the bedside
table, beside a glass of water, was the opal. She picked up the stone and felt residual warmth and energy as she closed her fingers around it. Afraid it would steal more of her light, she quickly put it back on the table.
When Gem turned back to the fire, she nearly split in half with laughter. Niko had on the infamous unicorn shirt. The white T-shirt had a giant rainbow-colored unicorn on the front.
“Nothing you did was spiteful,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I don’t need people tiptoeing around what they perceive is a disability. Everyone in this house has been the victim of a prank, and many were extreme. This one I’ve enjoyed immensely because the joke was on you.”
She touched the sleeve. “You look good in white. And pink. And purple.”
“And green? What sparked the idea?”
She brushed her hair back. “I just thought your wardrobe was rather dull.”
He chuckled softly. “Dull but practical. I wear black so I’m not troubled with things like matching colors. This is obviously not how all blind people live, but I’ve chosen to do what’s easiest, given my line of work. I can’t exactly go on a stakeout wearing a shamrock shirt. The objective is to blend in and be forgettable.”
She moved her hand close to his but didn’t touch him. “You could never be forgettable.”
With a pensive look, he tilted his head and cast his eyes toward her. “Do people stare at me because I’m different?”
“Because you’re blind? How would they know? You don’t exactly carry a cane around.”
“No, because my eyes are pale blue.”
“I’m barely over five feet tall, and I have purple hair. I doubt anyone notices your eyes when we go out.”
He put his hands in his lap and rubbed his right palm as if it were sore. “I’ve always speculated that I’m mixed. I can’t see what others do, so it matters little to me. But I wonder how much it matters to them.”
Gem eased up on one elbow. “You didn’t know your parents?”
“I knew my mother and sister but not my real father. My mother never spoke of him. Whether my conception was forced or consensual, she had brought shame to her family by having a child with no man to claim it. Marriage existed back then, but not as it does today with certificates.”
“What made you think you were mixed if your mother didn’t talk about him? Your eye color could be a genetic flaw.”
“It wasn’t just eye color. Some thought my pale eyes were related to my blindness. I was much taller than the other men, and that offended them. When in public, I kept my head down.”
“Why?”
“Subservient behavior was the only way to protect my mother’s honor. Cyrus always called me a mongrel. He said no other Asian in any part of the world has my eyes. He was wrong. I’ve heard that some now have blue eyes in parts of Japan, but I wonder whether that’s because of a natural occurrence or a traveler in their ancestry. Regardless, Cyrus never treated me as an equal. When you are two halves of a whole, there are people on both sides who will never accept you. I can’t see the differences, so it’s something I’ll never understand. People in my village made me feel different because I looked different, but I have been and always will be Japanese. That is my culture, and I have little desire to learn about a man who had no interest in learning about me.”
“He’s dead, you know. Cyrus.”
“Viktor informed me.” Relief filled Niko’s voice. “You cannot imagine the gratitude I feel. To never have to look over my shoulder again is the greatest gift that anyone could have given me. Well, besides my life.” He turned his gaze to the fire.
Gem felt the desire to open up to Niko about her own past. “I didn’t know my parents. You’re lucky that you have a culture you’re connected to. I can’t even take one of those mail-in DNA tests since Breed aren’t allowed. But you know what? I don’t care anymore. How would knowing if I’m Danish or Scottish change anything about who I am? I was raised by books.” She fluffed her pillow and rested her head on it. “You shouldn’t care how others see you. People are more accepting nowadays but barely. Narrow-minded individuals will always find fault in others so they can feel superior. If the world were blind, men like Cyrus would discriminate based on voices. He was a monster. Not everyone is like him.”
“Yes. I have known many good men and women from all over the world. Cyrus was a disgrace to his culture, but now you understand how the beginning of my life shaped me. Even now, as old as I am, I still dwell on things I cannot see.”
Her gaze went adrift, and something occurred to her. “Why am I in your bedroom? Where’s Viktor?”
“Kallisto escaped.”
Kallisto! How could she have forgotten? “I didn’t think of him. Why didn’t I think of him before I did this?”
“Is it not enough that you destroyed the book?”
The door creaked open, and Hunter peered inside. His blue eyes sparkled when he saw Gem and Niko on the bed, and he took that as his cue to run and jump right in.
“Well, hi there.” Gem smiled widely.
Hunter looked like he’d stepped out of the pages of a Peter Pan book with his unruly hair and mischievous blue eyes. He glanced between them but seemed especially curious about Niko. He hadn’t seen Niko but once since the spell was cast. Shepherd hadn’t wanted him in the room when he had no real explanation as to why Niko wouldn’t wake up.
Switch bustled into the room. “Sorry. He’s been distracted since the earthquake. Running here, running there. School’s canceled today.” Switch jerked his head and let out a short whistle to coax him down. “What’s all this tomfoolery? Can’t you see these people are trying to, uh, sleep?”
Niko stood up to greet him. Gem hated the way his white shirt hung loosely on him. All his shirts used to fit his body snugly.
Switch swaggered to the foot of the bed and swept back a strand of hair that had fallen out of his ponytail. He nodded at Niko. “It’s good to see you, man. Thought for a minute there you weren’t gonna make it.”
Niko clasped his hands in front of him. “It would seem that this world isn’t done with me yet.”
“So I see.”
Switch wasn’t good at masking his feelings. He obviously didn’t know that something had happened to Gem. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been casting such a critical stare at her lying between Niko’s sheets. He must have thought that there were some shenanigans going on behind Viktor’s back.
Gem would have giggled over the insinuation if she hadn’t been so sleepy. She could barely keep her eyes open in the dimly lit room.
Hunter reached up and grasped Niko’s hand, and the three of them walked into the hallway. While Switch and Niko conversed privately, Gem wondered if this was all a dream. A shiver ran up her spine when she remembered destroying the book. She’d truly thought she would die in that moment. Except instead of fear like she’d felt when Arcadius had drowned her, she’d embraced her death. That acceptance confused her. She’d done it for Niko, but even if he had been beyond saving, at least that deceitful spellbook would never harm anyone again. But here she was, still breathing.
Still alive.
Chapter 10
Something smelled delicious, and it wasn’t the sheets beneath her nose. When Gem lifted her head and looked around, she spotted a food cart next to the bed. Someone must have had a time pulling that up the stairs. A fire hissed and crackled in the hearth, but that wasn’t the noise that drew her attention. It was the heavy breathing in the center of the room where Niko was doing push-ups. His muscles quivered, and his back glistened with sweat.
“What time is it?” Gem propped the pillows behind her and sat up. “My internal clock is all screwy.”
When he rested on his forearms and turned toward her, he looked more like himself. He no longer had that strange beard, and his long hair was bound in a thin braid. “Time is irrelevant when your body requires healing. Rest all you need.”
“I don’t see you resting.”
“But I did. For over a
month.”
Her eyes rounded when she looked down at her black shorts and turquoise shirt. Where did her dress go? These were her sleep clothes!
Niko stood up and approached the bed. “What troubles you?”
She blushed all over. How mortifying!
“Maybe you can’t see like everyone else, Niko, but that doesn’t mean you can just walk in on people in the bathroom or strip off their clothes. I was perfectly fine in that dress.”
Niko bowed. “My apologies for entering the bathroom.”
“And taking off my clothes?”
He strode to the food cart. “I will not apologize for that.”
She pulled the sheet up to her chin. “And why not?”
Niko poured some orange juice into a glass and held it out to her. “If you wish for an apology, you’ll have to ask Kira for one. She came in and dressed you hours ago. Then Switch lifted you while we changed the bedding.”
She took the orange juice. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so critical. I just have insecurities about people seeing me naked.”
A smile touched his lips. “Then you have nothing to worry about with me.” He lifted a silver dome on the cart and revealed a platter filled with sausages, bacon, hash browns, and freshly sliced tomatoes.
“Eat with me,” she insisted, still in disbelief that she’d slept through all that. “There’s a chair just behind you that Viktor brought in during your coma.”
While Niko retrieved the wooden chair from the corner, Gem fixed them both a plate before pushing the low cart out of the way.
Niko sat facing the cart, and she handed him his food.
“Thank you.”
Gem crossed her legs and put a cloth napkin over them. She decided it was time for a change in subject before she stuck her foot in her mouth again. “Where do you think Kira shifts? I’ve never seen her animal. It’s all very mysterious.”
“I assume she likes her privacy.”
“We all like privacy, but I don’t see how her animal can be happy inside a room. Maybe she’s a turtle.”
