He turned his gaze up to me, his eyes first resting on the aloe in my arms. “That won’t save my life. If I’m lucky, it’ll stave off the infection until you can brew an antidote. Then what? You call your boyfriend and have him drag me off to jail?”
I ignored the boyfriend comment. “You tried to kill me. You stole my property. What do you expect?” I stepped forward, at the same time cracking open the aloe leaf and smoothing balm over my hands as I muttered a simple spell.
As soon as I finished the chant, my hands began to glow as if surrounded by halos. The spell turned the thick sap from the plant into a healing glove. I lightly pressed my warm fingers to Thomas’s arm. He flinched when my skin touched his, but some of the pain seeped immediately from his face, and he stopped resisting. Instead, he closed his eyes and let me apply the salve.
I started at the top, at the place where his shoulder met his body, and applied it in a circle to stop the advance of the infection. Once I had a barrier against the infection spreading to the rest of his body, I stood up. “You won’t die.”
“The rest of my arm,” he spluttered. “Apply it!”
“Let Gus go.” I nodded toward the Comm Device circling his wrist. I recognized its similarity to the one Ranger X had given me a while back. Unfortunately, it was on my dresser at home. “Let Gus go, and I’ll apply the rest of the Aloe.”
Fury flashed in his eyes. “And you think I’m the monster?”
I struggled to keep my face passive. “Just let Gus go. I’m not asking for anything unreasonable. Think about it, Thomas. Who’ll continue your work after you’re gone? Not Gus. Not Harpin. From what it sounds like, you don’t have anyone.”
Thomas bowed his head, as if my words were a surprise sucker punch to his gut. The wheels turned in his brain, and I could almost hear the gears clicking as the notion sunk into his skull. Then, without looking up, he raised the Comm Device to his lips and activated it with a breath as he spoke quietly. “Let Gus go.”
I licked my lips. “How do I know it’s done?”
In an answer, Thomas held up his wrist. A moment later, it crackled with a response. “Are you sure?”
“Let him go, and then get out of there. Vanish,” Thomas said, “and make sure I never see you again.”
A long pause followed. Then there was a blink of a red light, a crackle of static, and the voice came back. “It’s done.”
Thomas looked up. “Are you happy?”
My heart ached with hope. There was no way to be absolutely certain Gus was free, but I was a woman of my word, and I stepped forward and laid my hands on Thomas’s arm. The healing began immediately, and the relief in his sigh shook the leaves of the trees overhead. It took longer than normal due to the advanced stage of the infection.
Ten minutes later, sweating and breathing heavily, I stepped back. “It’s done. You’ll have that bruise for a week, but it should fade. You may experience a slightly numbed sensitivity in the nerves of your fingers, but with a bit of luck, that’ll return to normal as well. You’ll still need to take the antidote within twenty-four hours, or your symptoms will come right back. Come with me to the bungalow.”
“I’ll have to have someone else prepare it,” he said slowly, turning his arm over before his eyes. Light streaks of blue wove around his arm where his veins had swelled. He flexed his fingers. “It’s a shame about the sensitivity.”
I reached into my pocket for the ring of pepper spray around my keychain. Sometimes, non-magical weapons worked wonders on wizards. They didn’t expect it, and their counter-curses didn’t work against it. “The sensitivity should return shortly.”
“Not shortly enough.” He looked up, his smile twisted. “Because the time has come for you to die, and I only wish I could feel it.”
I raised the pepper spray and turned to run, but he was faster. Before I could move, he propelled himself off the log toward me, his hands clasped around my throat. He squeezed tight, so tight that my breath vanished and all I could do was lock eyes with him as his voice turned into a sing-song chant. “Good-bye, Lily.”
Chapter 26
The blackness came swiftly. My senses shut down, the last buzzes and scuffles from The Forest spiraling into a muted cacophony at the base of my skull. The lack of oxygen burned my lungs, and I thrashed like a drowning victim.
No amount of arm flailing and leg kicking spurred Thomas into letting go. If anything, he gripped tighter, pushed harder, and smiled brighter the more I struggled until…
Until I couldn’t struggle any longer.