Chapter 50
Chapter Fifty
Siobhan
I wake up feeling much more ‘with it’ than I did last night. I try to swallow a whimper when I consider moving my arm and it sends pain shooting through my entire body.
“Shh,” Hayden soothes, running a gentle hand through my hair. Their warm brown eyes gaze down at me as they prop themselves up on one elbow by my side. “What hurts, amorcito?”
“Everything,” I groan and give up on the bathroom. I can hold it. Although my raspy throat would appreciate some water.
“What kind of pain? Stabbing? Aching?” Their eyes flit over me, but I’m covered in blankets so I don’t know what they think they’re looking for.
“Aching. Feels like I got hit by a truck.” I wrinkle my nose, and even that makes my head hurt.
Hayden nods and kisses my temple. “Your body went through a lot last night. I’ll grab you some painkillers and water. Anything else I can get you while I’m up?”
I shake my head, then close my eyes with a mental note not to do that again.
“Do you need to use the bathroom?”
“Kinda,” I mumble.
“I’ll help,” Jayce says.
I squint one eye open to see a freckle-covered chest filling my vision.
Jayce has been sending waves of comfort, love, and strength down the bond since the moment Aury wrapped me in his arms last night.
Every time I woke up, whenever I had a bad dream or an anxious thought, he was there sending me reassurance.
I hope he didn’t stay awake all night, but I suspect my distress kept him up.
“Did you sleep?” I ask, reaching my arms out with a groan in acceptance of his help.
He grunts in reply, which means ‘no’ in Jayce language. My eyes fall closed again and I let him maneuver me around the bathroom.
“Why does everything hurt?” I ask when Hayden returns. I take the pills they hand me and gulp down the water.
They don’t answer for a moment, and I crack my eyes open to check they’re still here. Aury reaches over to clasp my hand in his, and I squeeze it for comfort. Hayden scoops my feet into their lap and digs their thumbs into my arches.
“Well,” they finally say, “stress on the body, especially during and after an assault, causes an adrenaline rush and then crash.” They work around my ankles and then up my calves.
Aury starts massaging the hand he’s holding, and Jayce begins rubbing my neck and shoulders.
I groan, my body melting into their strong fingers.
“All of that can lead to hypertension in the muscles, buildup of lactic acid, and extreme soreness the next few days.”
That certainly adds up to what I’m experiencing.
My mind is feeling floaty now, though, so I don’t worry about it too much.
I must fall back asleep, because I wake again to the sun slanting through my nest with late afternoon light.
My gauzy green curtains are pulled back, and the sun sparkles off my vintage glass containers and the sun-catcher I have hanging in the window.
Dappled light streams in through the leaves of my hanging plants, and Bunny is snoozing on a pillow in the middle of the sunbeam.
I roll over, attempting to disentangle myself from the thick purple comforter and soft green sheets, but there are arms banded around the entire bundle of blankets, sheets, and me.
Jayce gazes down at me, his hazel eyes lined with dark rings.
“You still haven’t slept?” I croak
“I napped. Are you hungry?”
Of course he’d want to feed me. I huff, pretending it’s not amusement and fondness I’m feeling instead of irritation at his babying.
He smiles like he sees right through me, then releases his hold so I can wiggle out of the cocoon. When we get to the kitchen, there’s a bowl of yogurt and fruit waiting for me, and Aury jumps up to get more.
“This is good for now,” I say. “Kinda want to start slow.”
He nods and sits down, then both of their eyes fix on me. I pause, looking back and forth between the two of them.
“Stop watching me. It’s creepy. If you’re gonna sit here, you have to eat too so I don’t feel weird.”
“Oh,” Jayce says, looking surprised that I don’t want to be stared at like an animal in the zoo.
Aury hops up again and quickly fixes two similar bowls for him and Jayce, then sits down and pointedly looks at Jayce instead of me. I grin, covering it by taking a bite.
Then I notice my phone sitting on the charger.
My smile falls, as does my spoon, and that attracts their attention again. They follow my gaze, and Aury cringes.
“Ah,” he says, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. “So I kinda forgot to turn the live stream off when Helen… You know…”
It takes a couple moments for his words to sink in. “So they saw…?”
His lips twist. “They didn’t see much, but they definitely heard more than we probably wanted them to. Hayden found it still streaming after we sat down by the river. They said you were okay but taking some time to rest and probably wouldn’t be on for a few days, then shut it off.”
I nod, tearing my eyes from the phone. I’ll deal with it later. Right now, I want to relax and spend some time with my pack. The pack I want to bond me. The pack I hope will agree to move in with me.
Anxiety tightens my throat, because it seems like a dream.
Too good to be true, despite two of them sitting here in front of me, proof that it’s already happening, and I’ve all but adopted Aury’s cat.
I’m pretty sure most of her things are here at my place now instead of his.
I distract myself by pushing the empty bowl away and striding to the reading room to snag an emotional support tarot deck.
“Oh, wait,” I mutter to myself, stopping suddenly on my way to the couch.
“Oof.” Aury bumps into my back. “Sorry, Moonbeam. Didn’t expect you to stop so fast.”
“My deck and crystals. I need to cleanse them. Do you know where they are?” Why can’t I remember what I did with them?
“Hayden put them in a guest room. We weren’t sure where would be safe, but figured you’d want to cleanse them before bringing them near any of your other ones. I’ll show you,” Aury says, snagging my hand.
I set this deck back down and grab some Palo Santo. I follow him to the guest room, then bundle up my altar cloth, cards, and crystals, and lead him and Jayce outside. I have a water fountain for the birds near the willow tree, and I sit down next to it with the creek a few feet away.
“Flowing water, wind, sun, and moonlight can all be cleansing,” I say. “Salt and smoke as well.”
I spread out my altar cloth and arrange everything on it, touching the crystals reverently and thanking them for their protection and service last night. I do the same with my tarot deck, then focus my thoughts on cleansing as I light the Palo Santo and swirl each item through the smoke.
Aury and Jayce watch in silence, having sat down on either side of me. I’m grateful for their quiet respect and support, surprised to feel happy that they’re here with me.
When I’m done, thoughts of my phone tug at me.
I can’t ignore it any longer. The anxiety will only continue to build if I do, so after placing my newly cleansed items back in the reading room, I settle down on the couch and open my phone.
So many notifications that all it says is 99+ at the top. I suck in a deep breath, focusing on maintaining calm, then start with my pinned messages.
From a witchy influencer group, there are countless messages asking if I’m okay, sending love and support, offering healing thoughts, among a decent amount of outrage towards Hels Spells who has reportedly been removed from the chat.
My tagged posts are similar, with some pretty popular witchy influencers posting videos in support of me and calling out Helen for her poor behavior, denouncing the way she practices her magic, and rallying around keeping the community a positive and healthy space.
My recent posts are flooded with comments that don’t have anything to do with the posts themselves, and my follower count has skyrocketed.
It was already high before, but there are tens of thousands of new followers within the last twenty-four hours.
I scroll through the comments, which range from calling Helen terrible names and wishing death on her (appalling) all the way to asking if they can send me healing flowers, crystals, tinctures, etc.
I do have a PO box, but I don’t need or want everyone to start sending me things.
Bunny noses her way onto my lap and starts purring, bringing a welcome sense of calm.
I quickly type up a message with my thoughts, focusing mainly on how thankful I am for the support and that I’m okay physically but need some time to mentally recover, then I post it with a simple picture of me holding my tarot deck from last night.
The comments and messages keep pouring in, too fast for me to keep up.
My heart starts pounding, and my hands turn clammy. “Can one of you distract me from this?” I toss my phone onto the furthest couch cushion.
“How about we go out for tea?” Aury says, bending over the back of the couch to run his fingers through my hair. “Get some fresh air, take in the pretty fall colors?”
“That sounds great.” I doubt anyone in town knows what happened last night. I’d be surprised if anyone other than the omega gardening club follows my socials. “Maybe we can stop at the library after?”
Aury shoots a suspicious look at me, and I hold up my empty hands. “No crystals this time.”
“Uh-huh,” he says with an amused head-shake. “Sure, Moonbeam. Sure.”