He stood up, the injured one perched and shaking, on a toe on the floor. “Geez, Dahlia, there’s a time and place for everything.”
“You wish,” Dahlia said, “take your jeans off before you bleed to death.”
Looking decidedly pale, BJ hobbled backwards and, wincing with pain, he sat back down. He unbuttoned his jeans, breathing deeply, and jiggled them down to mid-thigh level. Dahlia grabbed them and pulled them to his ankles. Blood oozed like a slow running tap from two small, deep cuts. BJ turned his head away and took a few heaving breaths.
“This is not quite what I had in mind,” BJ muttered, “when I pictured you taking my jeans down, Dahlia.”
Dahlia huffed a laugh. Then she closed her eyes, waved her hand above his leg, and chanted softly, over and over.
“El Morsa Repair’es. El Morsa Repair’es.”
A pale golden glow radiated from her hands and seeped into his leg. The skin pulled in slowly, like a zip pulled back together. The bleeding slowed. The wound had half closed. BJ’s face relaxed, as if his pain was gone. Even with all I knew, it was still perplexing to me.
“How the . . .” I paused, befuddled, “did you . . . how did you just heal that?”
“Enough to stop the bleeding, for a while at least, and remove the pain. It’s one of my gifts,” she declared earnestly. She rose as BJ pulled his jeans back up.
“You knew they were coming.” Karson raised his voice. He hovered threateningly over her. “You should have warned us.”
Dahlia lifted her chin, not a trace of fear in her eyes. “They said they were going to do something, I just didn’t know what. I came as soon as I found out, and I did warn them.” She shot Ethan and I a bitter, accusatory look. “They wouldn’t listen.”
Suddenly I felt faint. The small room reeked of the metallic stench of blood and death, it felt like a tomb. I had to get out. I turned, my legs feeling like I’d gained a hundred pounds, and walked numbly down the hallway. They followed behind.
“Who are they?” I asked Dahlia, blinking into the bright light as I stepped outside. My head pounded like hammers. The BMW was gone.
“They’re part of the same coven I’m in. We come when we are needed to protect the waters. It’s coming, Amy, and you need to be ready. We didn’t have time to wait for you to accept what you are, we need to train you to fight.”
“Well they are fucking fabulous,” I said furious and confused.“What waters, what’s coming, and why me? You’re making no sense, Dahlia. None of this is making sense.” As Iranted, the story of the boy Bob had told me hit my mind. The waters in the mountains which gave the boy impossible strength. Could it be true?
I turned to Ethan, he had his arm wrapped around BJ’s back, helping him hobble down the lane.
“Is it true—the story. Are there waters that heal in the mountains?”
He looked at me for a long beat. What was it I could see? Guilt? Uncertainty? Definitely something disturbingly grim. “It’s all true.”
“There is someone, or lots of someone’s, about to try and get those waters,” Dahlia said, before Ethan could add more.
I didn’t know what it all meant but the looks on their faces were enough to tell me that someone getting the waters was not a good thing.
“Cole?”
“Maybe, but it’s more than him. A simple mortal couldn’t draw the wolf, there are more, and you can bet they’ll be powerful.”
“Wolf? The wolf that runs with me?”
“That’s how we know it’s you.”
A man laid over a tree trunk his back arched like a skilled ballerina. His eyes frozen.
BJ draw in a sharp breath and jerked his head to Karson. “What are you two? You’re not witches, so what the hell are you?”
“It’s okay BJ, I’ll explain later,” I reassured him. “How did Caron get past you?’”
“I didn’t see them, I smelled blood but I was focused on getting into the room. They must have cloaked themselves.”
Cloaked themselves. I was certain we were in a scene from a fantasy novel. I half expected a movie producer to jump out and yell cut at any moment.
We arrived at the end of the lane. Karson grabbed a box of baby wipes from his car, and handed one to BJ and one to me. BJ lowered himself to the edge of the back seat and with trembling hands began removing the blood.
