But once he did...
The wind began to die.
The gray swirling above them went silent. Gray slipped away to reveal midnight blue and gentle white flakes under a ceiling of a bright, white moon and silvery stars.
“Penny! It’s working! It’s working! Oh, thank fuck, I can wiggle my toes and feel’em a little,” Brax cried, licking his palm as he stared up at the clearing sky.
Penny didn’t answer.
“Penny? Penny!” Brax was still too cold to be fast. This time, when she shuddered and blinked blearily at him, he wasn’t in time to catch her.
Chapter Eight
“Ithink we stopped the destruction of Pine Ridge and all, but Penny’s out. Like, fainted, and twitching, and she’s not red anymore, she’s pale as one of us.” Brax shouted into his cell phone as he lay Penny on the couch.
Her apartment had damp, glistening walls, but her thermostat now read a sensible number in the seventies. He wouldn’t have known he was looking at a site of near death—if not for the moaning blonde with a bloody hand.
Mr. Minegold’s voice was grave. “Her fever was supernaturally induced, and now it’s broken—if the spell is—and it seems to be. The Kane brothers and a team of witches are out thawing the roads now.”
Brax couldn’t give a toss about the roads. “Well, what do I do with that? If it’s broken, she should feel better, not worse.”
“I wish I had answers for this, but I don’t. I would guess her human form has suffered from a fever that would cause seizures or even death.”
“And then she was out in the cold just now, in next to nothing, ‘cause—well, never mind, it worked.”
“Oh, goodness. You’ve got to regulate her body temperature.”
“You’re asking the wrong fucking person to do that!” Brax snarled. “I’m coming up to room temp, and she’s... Well, she’s pale but still hot.”
“Get her into a tepid bath, and keep her head above water. Get fluids into her. If this were pure heat stroke, I’d say a cold bath, but this is so far from normal—yes, dear, the eggnog is on the second shelf.”
“Are you having a party in the midst of all this?” Brax gaped as he rushed to the fridge. Penny had drunk anything liquid. He started filling cups with water from the tap. At least it didn’t bubble out steaming any longer.
“Our town has survived. Can you think of a better time to party? Besides, I already had my grandchildren over when all this occurred. I imagine the carol service will start an hour late, so no harm done. And if you’d like to come tomorrow for Christmas lunch...”
“I might. Maybe. I don’t know. What else do I do?”
“I’m already asking Farrah and Madge. If there’s something that’ll cure a magical infection, they’ll know it and have it over at Penny’s in a few minutes. That’s one benefit of living in a place like this.”
Brax grunted and hung up.
He knew someone else who could probably make sure Penny was okay.
Marietta. What about my soul for the girl’s life?If he thought it, would she come? What if he said it out loud?
