“Codes,” Seth says, “you need to save your powers for whatever we’re dealing with.”
“Well, consider that next time you start hauling off andattacking people.”
Seth huffs. “Oh, he was gonna slit my throat, but suddenly, I’m the bad guy? Got it.”
“I’m just gonna ease his pain,” Cody says. “You know that doesn’t take much.” He turns his attention to me. “Is it okay if I touch you?”
Is he really about to help me, after what I just did? No, maybe it’s a trick and they’re gonna do something worse… But considering the pain, I nod.
Cody rests a hand on my cheek, grabs his necklace with the other, and closes his eyes, same as that night when I was attacked. Where he touches, the pain tingles at first, then feels almost like the spots Seth hit on me are vibrating, faster and faster, until it settles. As he pulls his hand away, my skin still feels like it’s vibrating. The pain has subsided, though there’s still something there, like a memory of what it felt like, same as in the days after I was impaled.
Cody removes his hand. “That better?”
“Yeah.”
“We need to work together,” he says, “to help Matteo.”
He’s right. Between that and him taking my pain away, this has really thrown me off my wholethese guys are my fucking enemies and I must stop them at all costs. But I’m not really concerned about my well-being. “Do you think you can help him?”
“We’ll try,” Luke says. “We were going to ask it some questions about why it’s inside him, but I have a funny feeling you have some thoughts about that.”
I nod, biting my bottom lip as I struggle to decide what Ishould and shouldn’t share. “I was trying to do a spell,” I confess. “Matteo offered to help me. We did the first part of the ritual last Friday, and we were supposed to do the next one tomorrow night.”
“What kind of spell?” Luke asks.
“It was for conjuring, but I don’t want to get into it.” There’s enough going on tonight without me getting all emotional about my brother.
“Okay, that’s fair,” Cody says. “So where did you get this spell from?”
“That’s another thing I don’t want to share.”
“You guys just let me know when you need me,” Seth says, settling at the desk. Cody ignores him and the comment, but Luke looks back, clearly annoyed by Seth’s less than helpful remark.
“Okay,” Cody says, “did anything strange happen during the spell?”
“No,” I say without thinking, but then… “Maybe? There was this heat. Matteo described it as almost a fever. We assumed it had to do with a pill he took, but I felt a warmth during, like a heat he was giving off. Maybe something was happening to him.”
Cody nods. “Thank you, Alexei. That helps. So now we’re gonna talk to it, see if we can get some answers.”
“Is that thing gonna hurt Matteo?” I ask.
“We’re not gonna let it hurt him. We’ll keep him down. If you want to help Brad hold him, we’ll see if it can offer us any insight before we try and get rid of it.”
“Try? I’ve seen what you guys can do. Can’t you just do it?”
I can tell by the concern in their expressions that they know just how much more we have to talk about once we’ve figured this out, but I can’t be bothered to worry about that just yet.
“You said Seth subdued it with his powers,” I say, “so can’t he just tell it to leave?”
“You think that wasn’t the first thing we tried?” Seth asks.
“It didn’t work,” Brad adds. “But Seth’s power has some effect on him, so we’re hoping he can extract some answers.”
“And maybe this thing will tell us how we can get rid of it,” Cody says.
“Why haven’t you guys done that already?”
“We were interrupted shortly after we managed to get him here and tied down,” Brad reminds me.
