Chapter Thirty-Four Things without all remedy
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Things without all remedy
“IT’S MY FAULT.”
“Explain?”
“I encouraged her to talk about the night of the stabbing. It triggered a panic attack. I didn’t realize how traumatizing it’d been for her.”
We were in the medical center. Or more accurately, I was in the medical center, hooked up to an IV, while Kasem and Angelica spoke about me behind the curtain.
The dizziness I’d been feeling earlier had stopped, and I was finally getting back to myself except for the echoes of a headache cutting through my mind.
When I reached for my forehead, the lace gloves Kasem had given me acted as a barrier between my skin and my burnt palms.
This time, my forehead was plastered with Band-Aids where I’d scratched myself.
Across from me, there was a mirror and a desk with medical supplies.
The Sianna in the reflection looked tired and worn.
Her curly black hair was all matted, her skin dull with a blue tint to her veins from screaming.
Even my bottom lip was slightly pink from biting down so hard.
I glanced at my hands, taking in the black lace gloves and the bracelet clinging to my wrist. Away from my fingertips, I wasn’t as at risk from touching it and could still be protected by its magic.
KSJ.
Kent Saint James. And now, Kasem Saint James.
“You haven’t even healed from the stabbing. And that poor girl. She’s broken, can barely keep herself together. Why look for trouble, Kasem? Why test fate like this?” Angelica said.
Kasem didn’t answer her, and for the faintest of moments, it was as if he’d noticed me watching him through the curtain.
My mind raced remembering my hands wrapped around his neck, and his body against mine: his musky scent, the traces of salt and sweat, our body heat.
Someone drew back the curtain, and suddenly Kasem and Angelica were staring at me.
“You’re awake,” Kasem said.
I sat up, fluffing my hair and trying to cross my arms, only to tangle myself in the IV line connected to me.
“Slow down,” he said, quickly shifting me so that the cord wouldn’t rip out of my arm. “You just woke up.”
“What time is it?”
“Classes are over for the evening,” Angelica said. “And I’d like to keep you in the center for a few days, just to make sure your vitals are okay. Your professors won’t dock you points for the absences. I’ve already cleared the days in your student profile.”
I glanced to the desk near the bed, where my wallet had been placed.
Someone had taken out my ID and left it on the table.
My book bag was on the ground, and beside it, a canvas tote had been filled with clothes from my dorm.
And then there, on the desk near my things, were the gloves I’d been missing since I first arrived at Westfield.
“Vivian and Luke,” Kasem said. “They stopped by earlier.”
I picked up the gloves, staring at them in disbelief before tossing them in my bag.
“She’s so dead. She’s so, so dead.”
I’d been sure I’d brought my gloves with me, and all this time, they’d been pilfered from my things by a poltergeist. Kasem gave me a curious look, his lashes fluttering in surprise. He looked so genuinely concerned and boyish in that moment that I laughed.
“It’s nothing,” I said. I didn’t feel like explaining this new development about my stolen gloves. And to be honest, I was too tired to be anything but relieved that now I had two sets of protection against unwanted visions.
Kasem approached my bed.
To my surprise, he leaned in, settling so close I couldn’t help but turn to face him. In his brown eyes, confliction loomed.
“Do the gloves help?” he asked.
“What?” I said, my gaze shifting away shyly. “Oh. Yes. They do. How did you know they would?”
“I didn’t,” he said. “But you were wearing ones at that pawnshop. When you mentioned your powers being triggered when your fingertips touched things, and with what happened in the quiet room, I made the connection. It was a last resort.”
“Nice observation,” I admitted.
Angelica peeked her head around the other side of the curtain.
“Your brother just messaged me.” She paused. “He heard about what happened. He’s coming to see her.”
The mention of Jojo sucked the air from the room.
The softness in Kasem’s expression dimmed, his lips curving in a twisted smile, as if he’d come to a conclusion for whatever he’d been internally debating.
“You don’t have to go,” I said when he stood to leave. “Just stay. Talk with him. I want you both here.”
He wouldn’t look at me. I hated when he did that, how far he seemed even though he was here with me.
“He won’t want to see me. And he’d probably be right for it. I’ve put you in harm’s way enough as it is. Besides, I don’t want to keep you from getting rest.”
There was no point in trying to argue with him. So we said our goodbyes and I watched him go, longing for him still.