I followed her in, bracing for…I didn’t know what. A part of me worried I’d pushed too hard, because that was something I did a lot.
A part of me worried I’d botched the entire soul thing. That letting Bathin take the scissors and use them on himself had done even more damage to her.
“Myra, are you okay?” Delaney sat on the bed in comfy leggings and one of Ryder’s old sweatshirts. Her hair was pulled back in an easy pony tail, and her skin was flushed like she’d just gotten out of a shower.
Ryder sat in the bed with her, leaning back against the headboard, arm thrown across the bed like she’d just been lying there, her head on his arm before we came in.
“Me?” I said with a smile. “I wasn’t the one in a coma.”
She frowned and shook her head. “Still really weird to hear that. I hate that I’ve lost so much time. Just. Ugh.” She rubbed at her arm that had a small cotton square taped down, but no IV lines.
Ryder’s hand stroked her back, soothing circles. His gaze locked on me. “What happened?” His voice was easy and low, but it carried a little bit of the power from the god who had claimed him as a follower. I was immune to said power, but I found it interesting that he was projecting it.
He’d been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours. I didn’t blame him for still being a little on edge.
“Bathin’s gone,” I said. “So is Xtelle. The vortex is closed. Yes, there was another vortex. Down on the beach at the river, practically in the middle of the parade.”
“Today’s the parade, isn’t it?” Delaney said.
“Yes. You’re not getting out of bed,” I said. “You don’t need to. Bertie has it covered.”
“C.O.C.K.s and K.I.N.K.s for the win!” Jean declared. She waved me toward the single chair and even though I was trying to prove to them that I was fine, I decided sitting down sounded okay too.
Delaney rolled her eyes at Jean. “I figured you’d find a way to get out of helping Bertie.”
“Me?” Jean gave her a cheeky grin. “I’ll make it up on the next crazy thing Bertie has planned. That’s in what, a week?”
“Two,” Delaney said. “Yoga and Yodel-in.”
Jean winced. “Yay.”
“All of it,” Delaney leveled her boss glare my way. “Tell me everything.”
I sighed, rubbed at my forehead for a second and wished I’d thought about making Jean stop for tea.
Yeah, I was wishing I’d done a lot of things differently.
“My?” Delaney asked. The concern just dripped off that word.
“It’s good. It’s fine. Okay. We’re going to start with Xtelle trapped in your kitchen and how Than and I didn’t shove her into the teapot like I’d planned.”
“Sure,” Delaney said, settling back into Ryder as he made himself a comfortable leaning structure. “Let’s start with the demon in the teapot.”
“Not in the teapot,” I said.
“Right. Go.”
So I told her. Everything that had happened. Everything I remembered. I left out the last words Bathin said. I should have just told her. I was used to relating every last detail of an event. Police work relied on accurate recall of details.
But that was too personal. It wasn’t something I could share with anyone yet. Might not be something I’d ever share.
“Okay.” Delaney tucked invisible hair behind her ears, a familiar, self-soothing habit. “So the parade is fine?” She glanced at Jean.
Jean lifted her phone. “Hatter and Shoe say everything’s smooth as salmon pâté. They both send their congrats on you being awake, but note that you did it at the moment when it would pull both me and Myra away, and leave them at Bertie’s mercy.”
“I can feel the love,” Delaney said. Ryder snorted. “Parade’s good, vortexes are good. Both demons are gone. Right? Both?”
“I think so?” I said. “You have a better feel for that than me. I mean, there’s probably something back in the library that would tell me how I can sweep the town to make sure they’re both gone. Or you could just send your dragon pig to find out.”
