“Gideon, light your ass on fire. It’s about to get real fuckin’ cold here and we need to keep Jennifer warm.”
Gideon immediately went up in flames. He got close enough to keep everyone warm but was far enough not to set anyone else on fire.
“Zander and Catriona, need y’all to patrol the grounds and make sure none of them fuckin’ zombies come back.”
They exited immediately.
“What about me?” I asked. “What can I do?”
Candy leveled me with a look. “Hope and pray that this works, Angel of Mercy. Otherwise, Jennifer’s gonna join Gram and the ghosts.” Candy paused for only a moment, then got back to business. “One. Two. Three.”
It all happened so fast, I wasn’t sure I’d even seen it. Heather cut Jennifer from top to bottom with no hesitation. Tim’s hands were barely attached to his body after Candy made her cuts. He immediately shoved one hand into Jennifer’s open body and hisother wrist into her mouth. Charlie held Tim’s hand steady so the blood wouldn’t be wasted and gently massaged Jennifer’s throat so it would go down.
Candy had been correct. The temperature dropped dramatically. Gideon stepped a little closer and kept everyone warm. I’d seen some stuff in my time, but nothing as harrowing as this. I prayed hard just like Candy had told me to, but I wasn’t sure who would get the message. I hoped it was the universe and not the Higher Power.
After what felt like a year, but in reality was only a few minutes, Candy announced we were done. Jennifer still wasn’t moving. With a wave of her hands and a few lines of a melodic and ancient chant, Candy Vargo closed the wounds on Jennifer’s body. Tim healed up fast and gently pulled Jennifer back into his arms. He kept kissing her hair and whispering to her. It was tragic.
The temperature went back to normal and Gideon joined me along with Alana Catherine and Shitty Ritchie.
“What happens now?” I asked.
Candy shook her head and picked her ear with the toothpick that had been in her mouth. “We wait.”
“How long?” I pressed.
“Don’t know,” she replied. “But if she ain’t back after a couple of days, I’m gonna say she’s a goner.”
Tim’s sobs began again, and my heart felt crazy heavy in my chest.
“Do you believe that Jennifer is the third of the Trinity?” I asked Candy.
She shrugged. “You need to ask them.” She pointed to Shitty Ritchie and Alana Catherine.
Both nodded in unison. One imperative part of the future of the Immortal world might die. This was unacceptable. Beyond unacceptable.
“Shitty Ritchie, Alana Catherine,” I said. “Is there anything you can do?”
“I don’t know,” my daughter said. “But we can try.”
They knelt down on the ground next to their missing piece and began to glow again. The colorful magic seeped into Jennifer, and she slowly but surely began to breathe. It wasn’t steady. It wasn’t sure or strong, but it was something.
Jennifer would live. I felt it in my bones and my heart.
Anything was possible. I just had to believe.
And what came next? Well, that was obvious. It was time we figured out how to take the Higher Power. For good.
CHAPTER THREE
The moodin the house over the last three days had been somber and filled with mostly unspoken tension. Even my dogs, Donna and Karen, were subdued. Jennifer was here but she wasn’t. Her joyous take on just about everything was sorely missed. We tried to behave as if everything was normal. It was anything but. The absurdity that all of us still sparkled like the vampire Edward fromTwilightwas fitting. When Jennifer woke up—and shewouldwake up—she’d be thrilled that we all looked like shimmery freaks.
As a mother, I often wished for time to slow down so I could savor each moment with my child… who was no longer a child at all. Alana Catherine was a twenty-year-old woman. My gut told me it was permanent. A small part of my heart broke that Gideon and I had missed the terrible twos, the hormonal teenage years, school dances and graduations. However, the fact that she was alive and with us surpassed those milestones.
Today…today, I wanted more than a slowdown. I wanted Father Time to take a long-ass vacation. With each passing hour, Jennifer lay deadly still in a coma-like state in the great room of our home. She was coming perilously close to the end.
If Candy had been correct on the timeline, we were nearing the end of Jennifer’s life. Her death would mean that the Higher Power had won. That was unacceptable. My dear friend’s breath was barely detectable, and what was there was shaky and inconsistent. Every Immortal here had taken turns sending healing magic through Jennifer. In between sessions, we rested. Candy had conjured up a bed near the fireplace with a down comforter and loads of pillows. Charlie kept the fire burning bright and warm.
It seemed a given that Jennifer had become Immortal. No human could have withstood the blow from the Higher Power and then the gruesome magical surgery that had been performed after the fact. When I’d asked why she was teetering on the edge, Candy Vargo had explained that Jennifer had been human-ish before the attack. She’d been wounded before her Immortality had come in, so to speak.
