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My head hurt like a hangover when too many bright lights woke me from the deep sleep I hadn’t agreed to sink into. My mouth lolled open in lieu of asking the world what it wanted of me this time.
“October? Can you hear me?”
“Huh?”
Ollie’s voice was warmth, and I was so very cold. “We’ve been trying to wake you for hours! What happened?”
My weak limbs couldn’t move on their own, but if they could, they would’ve wrapped themselves around Ollie and squeezed for all they were worth. As it was, I couldn’t even lift my head; I was too far gone.
Ollie was adamant. “What happened? You screamed, and when we came up, you were out cold, Danny’s room was trashed, and he was gone.”
I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t locate the muscles that might move my jaw to form words. Danny had somehow resurrected Mariang. He’d taken her as his ghost bride or something. It was all very Heathcliff and Kathy, which was great for fiction in the Moors of Wuthering Heights, but not so great for the reality of demon Kathy thinking I was jonesing for her boyfriend.
“Danny!” I worked out, though I’m thinking it sounded more like “Nanny!” I feared that if I tried to warn them about Sama, it would come out “Mama”.
“Danny? What about him? Somebody phone Danny again!” Ezra demanded from my left. “Lynna, has he picked up at all?”
“No! What’s happened to his room? He hasn’t let me in since Lady Mariang... But I would’ve insisted if I’d known this is the state of the space he’s been living in. What happened here?” She picked up a broken shard from the gold and glass lamp that had fallen to pieces on the carpet, examining it curiously. “Oh, heavens!”
I didn’t want to know what “oh, heavens” equated to in Lynna’s mind. It could be anything from a dust bunny to a hole in the wall. Either way, I couldn’t turn my head.
Mason peered in my eyes using Von’s gold lighter. “Pupils are dilated. She’s been blissed out. I’m guessing Danny did this before he ran away?”
I worked out a barely intelligible “yes!” grateful that Mason understood enough of my predicament to make himself useful.
Mason slammed his fist on the nightstand, making Lynna jump. “Two Duwendes in the house! Two, and you’re attacked under this roof while we were right downstairs? I hate this job! We can never stay on top of you. It’s like you go looking for trouble.”
Ollie was in no mood to relinquish the biggest temper to Mason, so he lifted his volume to match my protector’s. “Calm yourself down or get out of here. Go check on Von. You’re not helping anything with that kinda talk.”
Carter’s beefy and hairy hand weighed atop his older brother’s shoulder. “Easy, Mase. Look around the room. See if there aren’t clues here while she’s coming out of her haze.”
No one was more impatient with my haze than me. It took a full twenty minutes before I could move my mouth enough to talk again. My limbs were still totally useless. I explained as much of the situation to them as I could, but I understood so little of what had happened. “I know I slound crazy, but I not! I saw it right here,” I slurred. I tried to lift my arm to point to the spot where Mariang had appeared near the closet, but my arm didn’t move at all.
Ezra clutched his chest, and for a second I worried that I was about to give him a heart attack. “You’re certain it was Mariang? You’re absolutely sure?”
“I sure.”
At my confirmation, Ollie dropped me from my leaning back position in his arms, leaving my body to flop on the bed as he darted to Ezra, who collapsed to unconsciousness under the weight of it all. I hated, absolutely hated being helpless, even more so when someone I loved was in agony. I was feet away from my poor broken father, but I couldn’t get there.
When strong, hairy arms slid under my knees and behind my back to tilt me up to sitting, I expected them to be Mason’s. The smell of patchouli was mixed with rocks instead of the waft of woods that my favorite wolf always smelled like. My vision locked in on Carter’s slate eyes that were worried, but still took the time to be kind. “Thought you might prefer being able to see the room. Are you alright, Lady October?”
“Where’s Von?” I asked, making sure my lower lip didn’t tremble, though to be certain, it wanted to. Ezra had fainted, and was just coming to as Ollie and Mason propped him up on the filthy floor, slapping his cheeks and calling his name. Lynna ran to get him a glass of orange juice, all while I sat there, doing friggin’ nothing.
Carter’s voice was gentle, trying to instill calm through the chaos. “Your other Duwende’s in his cell in the basement. You cut yourself rather deep. Or Lady Mariang cut you. He’s sweating out his grief and his desires in the cage with a blood bag until he comes back to his senses.” Carter didn’t know about my phobias, or I’m guessing normal behavior, because he offered me a drink from the dusty glass on Danny’s nightstand.
“No, thanks.” My mind raced as I thought about Sama and the promise I’d made to come to him without my Duwendes. It had seemed harrowing at the time, but now it seemed downright impossible. I could barely move, and I knew my two constant shadows wouldn’t let me out of their sight, now that I’d been attacked by an actual ghost. On top of that, I needed to find a guide who knew the ins and outs of Terraway.
I waited quietly amidst the chaos for my body to come back to me, hoping when it did, the world would have righted itself.