“This is nice,” I breathe, hooking my arms around his neck. I arch my back, pressing my hips into his.
“Hasan told me about the spell.”
“Right! I almost forgot,” I say with a smile, bringing my mouth to his once more. “You’re a little distracting.”
He runs his hands down my arms, stepping back and looking through the house for Thomas and Gilbert, who are just walking through the door.
“Incredible,” Jacques says out loud to himself. He gives my hands a squeeze before letting go so he can look Thomas and Gilbert over. I sit on the couch, heart feeling full as I watch the guys talk.
Hasan comes into the house a moment later, dark eyes shining as he tries not to smile.
“You’re not the only one with surprises,” he says, and flicks his gaze to Jacques, who gives him a tiny nod. Hasan strides forward, holding out his hand.
“What is that?” I ask, leaning forward. Hasan sits next to me, and the couch groans under his weight. I slide closer and pick up an oval-shaped stone. It’s black and smooth and has something engraved on one side.
I recognize the engravings right away as runes, but don’t get the significance. I turn the stone over in my hand, and it has that same static feeling the herbs did when I invoked them to cast the glamour spell.
“Where did you get these?” I ask, taking another stone from Hasan’s paw of a hand.
“The roof.”
I lift an eyebrow. “The roof? I don’t—no way. No fucking way.”
Hasan laughs and nods. “Yes.”
Thomas and Gilbert come over, looking at the runes with confusion. I line them up, shaking my head in disbelief.
“How?” I ask, stunned.
“I had a theory,” Jacques starts, coming back over. He puts his hand on his chest, wincing slightly as he moves, and sits down in an armchair across from me. “You brought up a point that made me curious, and after a little investigating, we found them.”
“Investigating?” I question.
“I smashed things and he looked,” Hasan explains.
“What’s going on?” Thomas asks, poking at the runes.
“The stones are what forces you outside every morning,” I say. “So I think that means if I move them to the library, that’s where you’ll go. Right?”
“We think the same,” Hasan says. “And we’ll find out in a few hours.” He reaches into the bag of Chinese takeout. “Are you tired, Ace?”
“A little. I’m off this weekend, so it’s okay. I can stay up until sunrise and make sure you guys are okay.”
“Or you could rest until then and we can wake you up,” Jacques suggests.
“I like that idea.” I push up off the couch and go over to him, pressing my hand to his forehead. “I don’t think you have a fever anymore.”
“That medicine worked,” Jacques says, shaking his head in disbelief. He has a hard time believing in modern medical advancements, just like I had a hard time believing in magic. It’s funny how rooted our beliefs are. It’s a bit eye-opening, really, to experience it firsthand.
I never believed in magic, and it’s still hard for me to wrap my head around. A tiny pill that can cure illness and rid you of fevers would have been considered magic back in Jacques’s day, and he was rightly skeptical.
“You’re supposed to take the antibiotics once a day for a week,” I remind him, carefully pulling the gauze back to look at the wound. “I don’t want you to become septic or anything.”
“What is septic?” Hasan asks.
“Basically blood poisoning. The infection spreads through you, and even with the advancements we have today, it can be life-threatening.”
“I’ll be fine in the morning,” Jacques presses, and he might very well be. I have no idea what’ll happen to the medication in his system when he turns to stone. Still, I’d rather not take any chances. I love Jac with my whole heart and having him wake up sick and weak isn’t happening on my watch.
