‘Thank you,’ Riley says, exhaling softly.‘Sorry, Kade.’
‘Fuck yourself sideways,boss,’Kade spits, trying to breathe as the muscle spasms lock tight, nothing to do but wait it out and stay calm.
Riley asks Lachlan, ‘Did you get your ritual from a book?’
‘Yes.’
‘And was it pre-written like a contract?’
‘Some parts.Most of it rhymed.There were instructions.’
‘Tell me explicitly what these instructions said.’
‘I don’t remember.’
‘Bullshit.You have a photographic memory.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘It’s in your file.’
‘Like RB, huh?’
‘Tell me what you remember.’
‘There was a gold kestrel on the page.I remember the instructions were like, make a circle on the ground with your own blood and sit in it, then sign your name on this page and await a guide.’
‘Did a guide come?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Who was it?’
‘A demony version of myself.’
‘Demony?’
‘Look, if you want to replicate it, you—’
‘I don’t want to replicate your ritual.I want toendone.’
‘What are you…?’Kade gasps, unable to pull enough air into his lungs for a full sentence.Every breath hurts.Dizziness crashes through him in waves.
‘It’s just your body making sure you’re not really shot.Doing the rounds.Breathe,’ Lachlan tells him, stroking his hair very gently.‘It’ll pass.’
It’ll pass if you let it.
But he doesn’twantit to pass, not really, can’t understand why.
Kade slips into a dreamy, bright headspace where light dances on water and the stars are all singing a different note and there’s someone waiting for him in the shadows cast by trees.
?
When he wakes, Riley is gone, but Lachlan is still there.
Coming around slowly, Kade blinks the blurred shape of his bedroom back into focus.Lachlan is sitting nearby holding a single framed photograph.Kade stiffens and pushes himself upright.His muscles protest immediately, deep aches pulling through his body, but even now the pain is already easing.He really does heal fast.
Lachlan glances up at the movement, unsurprised to find him awake.‘How are you feeling?’he asks gently.
