Well, it’s probably just about true. But somehow I find the strength to shave and put on a clean set of clothes.
I’m exhausted by the time I get back downstairs. Hands has cooked fresh trout and couscous. It smells delicious—the couscous is buttery, the trout is flaky, and I have no appetite. But I can’t let Hands’s food go to waste.
I sit at the table and take a small bite. I know it’s good because Hands is a superb cook, but everything tastes like sawdust.
How was she today?he signs, taking a spot at the end of the table.
“The same.” I move the food around on the plate with my fork, simulating eating. “The doctor approached me again about letting her go.”
Maniac.
“I know. I get that he doesn’t know her and so he’s not invested, but I am. Her parents are; her family is.”
It’s too bad that your ability to see the future can’t save her now.
“I know.” Hands doesn’t mean that in a bad way, and I don’t take it like that. “But I don’t have my power anyway. Blair still does.”
Hands freezes while reaching for the salt. I assume to give it to me because Hands doesn’t eat.You can influence?
“Yeah.” I take a bite of the trout and force it down. “What?”
Could you influence her out of the coma?
What?I do a double take. “What did you say?”
Influence her out of the coma.
I drop the fork. Everything stops. The world tips on its side, and I’m falling off, crashing into stars—stars that could change my life.
I jump out of the chair, and it crashes to the floor behind me. “Oh my gods, Hands. You’re brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that? Influence Blair! I can influence her to come out.” I look around for my jacket, find it and slip it on. “Thanks for the meal, but I’ve got to go. I’ve got to reach the hospital as soon as possible.”
Clara and Phillipare with Blair when I arrive at the private room. Clara looks up. “I thought you were going home to get some rest.”
“I did.” My hands are twitching, I’m ready to jump in, but I don’t want to give her parents false hope.
Phillip wrinkles his brow. “Everything all right?”
The energy that I’ve got left pulses through my body—it’s antsy, jonesing to be released. “Can I be alone with her for just a moment?”
They exchange a look, and then Clara rises from the chair. “Of course.”
“Thanks. There’s something I need to say to her. It won’t take long.”
“We’ll leave you alone.” She ushers Phillip out the door. “We’ll grab something to drink,” she tells him.
As soon as they’re gone, I nearly leap into the chair. I take Blair’s hand and flare up her power.
Magic stirs in my heart, and I close my eyes, focusing it on reaching Blair. When I’ve done this in the past, all I’ve had to do was send a gentle (or in Storm’s case,notso gentle) suggestion down a line of magic and straight into the person I was targeting.
But this is going to take more than a gentle push. This will take it all. I focus my magic on breaking through the barrier to her mind and nudging her.
Wake up. Wake up. Come back.
I keep sending the thought, watching and waiting, putting every bit of power that’s in my body into nudging and nudging, pushing and pushing, wrapping my magic around her head like a pair of hands and diving deep into her mind, deeper than I had to go with Storm, diving like I’m trying to reach the bottom of the ocean and may not make it back up for air. It’s the one shot I’ve got, so everything has to go into it.
I think about the doctor saying she’s got less than a one percent chance of coming out of this, I think about a life of Blair never waking up, I think about how I want to see us married, with children, how I want to grow old with her, and how I want her to open a potion shop and really become the best version of herself.
It’s because of her that I’m the best version ofmyself.
