“We got company!”Lexi yelled, not moving. Not even looking away from Daisy. Instead, she started using her increased power to pull her spirit people to her. They were in that mishmash of fae spirit, with the strange magic and odd storms, but she had figured out enough to learn the lay of the land. She used that now, since the god blocking her way was currently busy.
“Lexi, are you animating these cadavers?” Bria called in. “I really hope so, because their power feels intense.”
“Fuck,” Lexi muttered, working on those prongs. She would not leave her kid. They were so close. “Bria, get active. Get those spirits out of those cadavers!” she yelled. “What’s the story with Daisy’s body?” she asked Faelynn and Kieran.
“She’s close,” the female fae said, sweat beading her brow. She held one of the items—a chalice. It glowed in her hand. “The body suffered extensive magical trauma and has been shut down for a long time, but she’s coming along. She’s coming back.”
“I’m trying to will myself, for what good that’ll do,” Daisy’s spirit said, holding on.
The prongs of her soul kept breaking, the body trying to give up and get her out. Lexi fixed first one, then the other, docking her tightly and putting as much spirit into the prongs as she could.
“Jack!” Kieran yelled, pumping Daisy’s chest to get her heart working. They were moving toward the red line. Healing her needed to happen now.
Jack jogged in, his eyes tight. “Yes, sir?”
“Take over.” Kieran jerked his head to bring Jack over. “I’m needed out there.”
“Of course.” Jack kicked the other chalices out of the way and slid in beside Daisy. His hand moved in as Kieran’s moved away. “Come on, Gremlin,” he murmured through clenched teeth. “Come on. You don’t die, remember? You don’t get saved. You save yourself.Save yourself.”
“Can you tell him that that is very unhelpful right now?” Daisy drawled. “I don’t have hands with which to pump my own heart.”
Lexi repeated it, and the handsome fae at Daisy’s side looked at Lexi hard. “You can actually hear spirits?”
“Don’t you start,” she muttered as Jack pumped and Faelynn did…whatever it was she was doing.
“It is not uncommon to hear spirits,” the old fae in the room said, looking on. “But repairing the body to accept the soul…thatisuncommon. How very interesting. I have so many questions.”
“He’s like a smart version of Frank,” Lexi mumbled. “Equally as annoying.”
“I heard that!” Frank said from just outside the door. He’d definitely run away from that god the first time and was now keeping his distance.
“Come on, Gremlin,” Jack pushed, bending to blow air into Daisy’s mouth. “Come on. Don’t stay a spirit. It is not fun. You’ll hate it.”
“Also not fucking helpful,” Daisy said, which Lexi repeated, minus the swear. Daisy chuckled.
A grin worked up Jack’s face. “She’s got fight. She can do this. Just hang on, Daisy. That was my problem. I didn’t hang on long enough. Lexi will fix you. Just hang in there.”
“It’s Faelynn we need,” Lexi said as yells rang through the halls. “Fuck.” She was needed out there. An army of undead required a Spirit Walker. “What the fuck is up with that god? Usually they are happy to have their people live. Mine is ecstatic I can save people as well as kill.”
“These gods aren’t like yours, and fae aren’t like people,” the handsome male said. “The gods here are using me for sport in their mundane existence. And now…they are using you as well.”
“As the gods will it,” the older male said.
“You should go, Tarian,” Faelynn told the handsome male. “You’re needed there more than here.”
He leaned down and put his forehead to Daisy’s. His eyes closed tightly, his words whispered but impassioned. Urgent. “C’mon, little dove. Fight your way back to me. Back to your family.”
“This isn’t the time, and I know that, but we’ve got a score to settle regarding her,” Jack told the fae—Tarian.
“She won’t let you settle that score,” Tarian told Jack without moving away from Daisy. “We’ll just have to ask forgiveness rather than permission.”
“I can fucking hear you,” Daisy groused. Lexi didn’t bother repeating that.
“Hack up those bodies!” Bria yelled. “Hack them all up. Now is notthe time for a weak stomach,Jerry. Get in there!”
Mia popped out from behind the veil, followed by John.
“Go!” Lexi shouted. “Help with the spirits coming our way.”
