“It could work,” Sorik says, stepping out of his room and into the conversation. “But we’re assuming that’s what’s wrong with Vaughn, that he’s stuck in the transition somehow.”
“But what else could it be?” I ask, my hope deflating slightly. “He became like this after Adriel tried to turn him. Isn’t being stuck in the transition the most logical conclusion?”
“Maybe, Squeaks, but it could be because he’s a Sentinel too. Lamia can be turned to Sentinels, but maybe Sentinels can’t be turned into lamia. This could be what happens instead,” Ryker tells me.
“It’s worth a shot, don’t you think though?” Valen asks Ryker.
“I mean, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but at least we tried,” Bastien adds, agreeing with his brother.
“But what if this could hurt us? None of us knows how much power it would take to complete Vaughn’s transition into a lamia. Even if we can pull it off, it could drain all of us badly. We’d be vulnerable in a time that we really can’t afford to be vulnerable. What if the Sovereign comes for us?” Sabin asks.
Everyone goes quiet as they think through the shit ton of info I’ve just dumped all over them. My heart speeds up, but the hopeful little shit has gotten me in trouble too many times for me to just follow it blindly.
“So we’re smart about it. We set up barriers around us, and we don’t push past what happened to all of us when we crossed over into Tierit and altered their barrier. You guys were out for about three hours. Enoch, Kallan, Becket, Nash and Sorik can watch our back for that long,” I propose.
“So what would we do?” Siah asks hesitantly, and I try to take a deep breath and calm myself down. This is going to happen. I can feel it, but I don’t need to get carried away with excitement until it works.
“We would push our magic into you, and you would push it into Vaughn.”
“That’s it?” Knox queries.
“That’s it,” I confirm. “Siah would finish the turning with our help.”
“Is that safe for Siah?” Kallan asks.
“I would never do anything to hurt any of you,” I defend.
“I know you wouldn’t purposely do something, but didn’t you say if he has too much magic or too little, he could die?”
“That was before though. He’s Chosen now. He’s a lamia Sentinel hybrid who can share magic with me and his compeers. There should be zero risk. At least not to him.”
“So what if Vaughn needs more magic to heal him than the barrier did, what then?” Nash asks.
“I don’t know. We won’t know what might or might not work without trying,” I counter.
“So should we try to drain him again and start the process all over or just push magic into him and see if anything happens?” Valen asks.
“I think we should push magic into him and see if that heals his mind enough to pull him out of this functioning catatonic state,” Sorik proposes, and I nod my head agreeing with him.
“So do we want to do this now or wait until after we get out of here?” Sabin questions.
Mentally, I try to weigh the pros and cons of attempting this now versus waiting. Maybe it’s dumb to push for it now with everything going on around us, but I just feel in my gut that we need to try and now is the time to do it.
“I feel like now is the best option,” I tell them. “Enoch, Becket, Nash and Kallan, would you be okay to stand guard in case any of us go down for a while?” I ask.
They nod, and Becket immediately starts setting up additional barriers around our suite.
“Well, okay then, let’s see if this works,” Torrez announces, and he pushes out of his seat on the couch and saunters over to Vaughn and Sorik’s room.
The rest of my Chosen follow Torrez, and nerves trickle through me as I bring up the rear. Vaughn is sitting in a chair, staring at the empty fireplace, and anxiety begins to gnaw at my gut. What if this doesn’t work? What if it does? What happens then? Will he know what’s going on, be aware of everything he’s lost or that’s changed around him?
I honestly don’t know which would be worse, him beingstuckin there this whole time or him waking up to all of this like he’s been asleep through everything that’s happened. What if he doesn’t know that Grier is gone? My heart aches, and my mind whirls with all the endless possibilities. For a brief moment, I wonder if it would be better to leave things as they are. Waking him up could be devastating, but I banish that thought and hope that if this does work, he can overcome everything that’s happened.
I wipe my suddenly sweaty palms on my armored pants as Sorik instructs Vaughn to move to the bed and lie down. I’m oddly aware of my breathing as Vaughn does as he’s told, and I feel like my heart’s going to beat out of my chest. I keep telling it to calm the fuck down. This may not even work. There’s also the possibility that if it does, I could be diving head first into another Lachlan situation.
I beg my heart to stop with the hope, but each beat is filled with it anyway.
“Okay, everyone ready?” Siah asks.
