Chapter 17
seventeen
. . .
“Lacy!”
I have hardly any vision, but through the sliver I can see out of, I watch a middle-aged man kneel down beside me.
He touches my face and continues to say my name.
I don’t know this man, but looking in his eyes, I realize that I do.
I have never seen these eyes before, but I have also spent the last three days staring into them.
Kit. He came back for me. He came back to watch me die, because I don’t have an EpiPen and there is no way we can make it to a hospital in time.
I don’t even think we can make it to my car in time.
I keep gasping for breath, trying so hard to let the air in.
“Okay,” I hear Kit say. “Okay. I can do this.”
He slides his arms underneath me and lifts me into his grasp.
The sky is so bright. What a beautiful day.
Suddenly, I am not staring at the sky anymore but rather a painfully bright light. Is this it? Wait. That’s a fluorescent light.
“Help!” I hear Kit shout in his new deep voice. “Help! She’s allergic to bees. She got stung.”
I hear someone else say something, but I don’t register the words as darkness overcomes me.
When I open my eyes, I can one, breathe, which is thrilling, and two, see.
I’m in a hospital bed, propped up by a few pillows under my head.
A man sits on my left side, chair pulled as close to the bed as it can go.
His head is buried in a physical newspaper he holds with one hand.
The other hand is gripping mine tightly.
With tired eyes, I stare at him, wondering who he is before I remember.
“Kit,” I say, my voice raw and scratchy.
He regards me instantly, eyes wide. “Oh, thank god,” he says, tossing the newspaper aside and bringing my knuckles to his lips as he presses a light kiss to them.
I’m exhausted, but that still makes me laugh, which is painful. Kit is perplexed by my reaction.
“A demon just said, ‘thank god,’” I explain, my head heavy against the pillows.
“Right. Excuse me. Thank Satan.”
He’s still holding my hand. I try to ignore that.
“What happened?” I question, desperate for water.
Without my having to ask, he grabs a ready-made glass of water from the table beside me and carefully tips it into my mouth, relief traveling down my throat.
“You got stung by a bee,” he explains. “I’m so sorry.
You told me you were allergic. I should have been more careful—I didn’t think.
You started swelling up so fast, I couldn’t control you anymore.
Your face was completely puffed up. I…I left to see if I could find help.
The house wasn’t as empty as I thought it would be.
” He gestures to himself. “This guy was in there. A friend of the owners. He was watering their plants.” Kit closes his eyes.
“We were so far from the hospital. I…I had to jump to get you here. I’d never done it before, but I had to get you here.
And then I handed you over to the doctors, they administered some medicine and the swelling went down. They saved you.”
I can’t stop staring at him. “You saved me.” I swallow. “Thank you. You could have left me there.”
He shakes his head like the thought didn’t even occur to him. “Never.”
I squeeze his hand. “You teleported us here. Is he…?” I trail off, remembering what Kit said about a host potentially dying if it isn’t done correctly.
“He’s fine,” Kit says quickly. “I was careful.”
“Is he awake?”
“No. It’s just you and me right now.”
I smile painfully. “Just like I’m used to.”
Kit stands and says, “I’ll get a nurse. See if we can get you something to eat.” He presses a kiss to my forehead and leaves the curtained room I’m in.
I’m alone. I mean, I’m free. No longer possessed.
My hands clench against the sheet covering me as I stare at the closed curtains.
That poor man. Even if he’s not awake, I know what he’s going through.
It’s because of that that I know I still need to find a way to exorcise Kit—despite the idea of saying goodbye to him sitting heavily in my stomach.
I can’t just take the win of not being possessed and move on. Someone else is trapped now.
Does exorcising a demon kill them? I think it only sends them back to Hell, trapping them there, but I’m no expert. I can’t fathom killing Kit but…ugh. This is a real moral dilemma. But, no. It shouldn’t be. It’s not. Kit is a demon. The man he’s possessing is innocent. Moral dilemma solved.
I sign out as soon as the doctors let me leave. I want to go home and sleep in my own bed.
Kit and I stand on the curb outside the hospital. “I don’t suppose you feel comfortable teleporting us back to my place? I can call a car.”
He shakes his head. “No, no. I can do it.” He inspects me with big, open eyes. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” I answer without hesitation. I take his hand and squeeze my eyes shut.
I hear him take in a big breath, then there’s a pull in my stomach, all of the air leaving my lungs, a large crackling in my ears, then everything settles. When I reopen my eyes, we’re in my living room.
“Holy shit,” I swear, stumbling forward, Kit’s hand on my arm the only thing keeping me upright. My head whips around like I expect my apartment to disappear and for us to end up back in front of the hospital. “That worked.”
“It did.” He releases me.
I’d like to focus on the fact that we just teleported for a bit longer, but he moves on, rubbing his hands together.
“All right. You should take a nice long shower. I wish you had a bathtub. I’d draw you a bath.
But no, a shower will be fine. Use one of those thingies your friend brought by. ” He means the shower steamers.
I backtrack us. “Kit, we teleported.”
His mouth pinches to conceal a smile. “Yes, we did.” He splays his arms out, wiggling his fingers. Jazz hands. “Ta-da.”
“But, teleported.”
“Jumped, but correct. Are you feeling nauseous? Dizzy?”
“No.”
“Good. So, shower, then you can get in bed. And if you’re hungry I can make you something. Or I can order a pizza. I don’t need to eat, but I’d eat pizza. Or anything you want.”
I stare at him for a long moment. “Are all demons this”—human, I want to say—“nice?”
“Definitely not. I’m a special case.” He nods toward my bathroom. “Now, go on. I’ll get you something to eat.”
I want to tell him he doesn’t have to stay. That he doesn’t need to do anything for me. That he shouldn’t do anything for me. But I want to keep my eye on him. On the man whose name I don’t even know who is now being forced to be in my apartment.
And honestly, I like having Kit here.
I do as he says and take a nice long shower.
My hair has finally been through enough, so I have to do my whole routine to get it to curl correctly and not come out in a bush of hair.
Before I turn on the water, I take the time to separate my hair into sections and detangle it with leave-in conditioner, running my fingers through to separate the strands.
After about twenty minutes, I start the shower and let the water get warm before stepping in.
After washing my hair, exfoliating my entire body, and doing everything I can in the shower, I finally step out.
In front of the mirror, I take my time doing my entire face routine, put on lotion, and eventually wrap myself in my soft gray robe.
I’ve missed not being able to take care of myself like this.
Kit has been taking care of me fine, but self-care is something else.
I exit the bathroom in a cloud of steam as Kit is thanking the pizza deliveryman at the door. I witness him hand the man a twenty-dollar bill.
“Fake money?” I ask after he closes the door.
Kit looks back at me and smiles. “No, I used some of the money from the Market.” He holds the pizza box up in a gesture. “I hope you don’t mind. You never actually told me what you wanted to eat.”
“Pizza’s good,” I say. I make my way toward the kitchen, but he shakes his head at me. “Nope, go get in bed. I’ll bring it to you.”
No point in arguing. I go to my room and close the door behind myself so I can put on clothes.
I pull on a T-shirt and sweatpants then reopen my door and climb in my bed.
I sit up awkwardly as I wait for him, arms around my knees.
Kit enters moments later with two plates with two slices of pizza each.
He hands me one and says, “It’s been a few days since you’ve eaten anything, besides the hospital Jell-O that is, so let me know if you want any more. I’ll get it for you.”
“Thanks.”
He takes a seat on my floor against the wall. “I’m sorry,” he says again.
“You didn’t ask the bee to sting me, Kit.”
“No, I mean…” He trails off, shaking his head. “Yeah, that’s true.”
We eat the pizza together in silence. Two slices are enough. I’m nearly too tired to be hungry anyway. Once the pizza is gone, Kit gets back up and collects my plate. He goes into the kitchen to refill my water then brings the full glass back to me.
“I’m going to go get your car. I’ll be back soon. Get some rest, okay?”
“Okay,” I say, sliding deeper into the covers at even the mere thought of sleep.
He presses a kiss to my forehead, the second time he’s done that now, and flips the light off as he leaves, closing my door behind him.
As soon as I’m sure he’s gone, I pull out my phone to call Matthias.
He answers after one ring. “Lacy? Hey.”
“Matthias. Hi. So, that text I sent you a few nights ago…”
“Which text?” His tone is casual.
“The one about me being possessed.”
Less casually, he asks, “Did you send me a text about that?”
My eyes lift to the ceiling. “Matthias, it’s me. I’m Lacy. The Lacy who knows that fiction books in non-English languages get shelved with their languages.”