Chapter 18
“Jena. Say something. I’m gonna be super pissed if you’re dead.”
Jena’s brow furrowed at Felix’s voice, his sweaty hand holding hers.
She worked her tongue around her mouth, tasting sulfur.
“I dunno, am I?” she murmured, feeling bad enough to wish she was.
A motor was running somewhere, and its discordant drone was sawing through her head.
Ugh. Magic hangovers were seriously the worst, and this one was a doozy.
“Oh my God—finally!” Felix squealed.
Whatever she was on bounced, and her brow furrowed, pain shooting through her temples. She slapped her palm over her eyes, squeezing them shut. “No, no bouncing, ow…”
“You’re fine,” he tsked, dropping her other hand. “Stop being a baby. You’re not allowed to die. Like, ever. Well, not before I do. I don’t even know what you’d want to be buried in, but after that whole wolf-ageddon thing, I been thinking about it. If you left the choice up to me—”
Jena’s eyes snapped open. “No.”
“Bodycon,” he whispered dramatically.
“Oh my God, ow, no, don’t make me laugh,” she winced, looking around.
The clock below the bedside light said it wasn’t quite four-thirty in the morning.
She was tucked into a fluffy, pillow-heaped bed, and the dimly lit room was totally unfamiliar.
It looked like someone had vomited LL Bauer, Eddie Bean—ugh, whatever that company was—all over the place.
Everything was green and blue plaid, and the silhouettes of moose were sprinkled liberally about.
Christ, were those vintage snow shoes tacked up on the wall?
“What? You’d be uber hot in one of those bandage dresses, and it would be like a whole mummy homage,” Felix said, gesturing at her vaguely.
She rolled her eyes. More like a homage to a pastry-wrapped sausage. Speaking of which, she sniffed, smelling breakfast. No, she had to be crazy. Who was up this early, never mind cooking already? Her stomach rumbled, adamant somebody was. “What happened?”
Felix abruptly became serious. “You passed out and totally crapped your pants.”
“What?” She shot up, clutching the comforter to her chest and put a hand to her head, wincing. Ow…
He nodded. “It was disgusting—Oh wait, no, that was me. You reestablished the pack’s wards and then some, and now everyone thinks you’re amazing, which I already knew. We even get house privileges,” he said, looking around. “Such that they are…”
“I hate you so much,” she grumbled, falling back against the pillows. Her gaze flicked to him. “Did you seriously shit yourself?”
“Little bit.” He held his fingers up, not quite touching. “But in my defense, the Westside pack had breached the outer ward at the tracks and were tearing things up. All that bullshit about the Eastside killing Wallace Montgomery made them mental. They were in full-on revenge mode.”
Jena fought to swallow the lump in her throat. “He’s really dead?”
“Oh yeah.” Felix looked queasy. “I saw them bag up what was left, and it wasn’t pretty.
One of the Eastsiders said they saw Westsiders dump him out of a van and take off.
I heard the sheriff say there were tire tracks supporting that when Phil was giving his statement, so, hello, smear job.
I told them I bet it was the same van they took Chase in.
A missing persons has been filed, FYI, and you’re welcome. ”
Chase. Jena’s breath caught. That vision—
Aggie.
“Where’s my phone?” she asked, anxiety tightening her voice.
“Drying out, along with everything else in your bag, and before you ask for it, little Miss EMP, it’s dead along with the rest of the peninsula’s technology. The compound is running on generators, and I don’t even want to know what’s going on in town.”
Was that what that godawful sound was? “What? No, I have to call the shop. I saw—I saw her dying, Felix. Her and Chase. That’s why I promised the node—”
Her stomach dropped, and she choked back a surge of bile.
Oh, God. She’d promised the node.
“Keep going,” Felix said, a finger spinning for her to keep talking. “You promised the node…”
“My service for theirs,” she muttered.
Felix’s brow knit. “Theirs?”
“Yeah, there’s voices—it doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head and regretting the motion. “I just wanted to reinforce the old wards, but it wouldn’t let me, got all pissy, then showed me Aggie and Chase dying and…I promised.”
“Oh, well, then you’re screwed.”
She glared at him and scowled.
“What?” He put a hand to his chest, like he was offended. “Don’t kill the messenger. And I call bullshit. Don’t you think it a little odd that right at that exact moment both of them were in mortal danger?”
Goddamn it, he had a point, but—
Jena brightened. But maybe they weren’t dead.
“Do you think it lied?” Could it lie? She chewed her lip.
Regardless, she needed to get back to the shop and check in.
She didn’t like leaving Aggie for this long.
The coven members would probably try to keep tabs on the older witch, but Jena was all too aware of how Aggie got when she thought people were babysitting her.
The woman turned into pure, unhinged misery.
“I hate to break it to you, but whatever you tapped into out there was wild magic, and it isn’t exactly known to ‘follow the rules,’” Felix finger quoted, “and not for nothing, but the node’s been holding out for you to come back for a long time.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it kicked you when you were down to get what it wanted.
What I’m more curious about is who exactly you agreed to serve.
It might be pissy, but last I knew, magic wasn’t sentient enough to speak, and that ‘theirs’ bothers me. ”
Jena frowned. How the hell had she channeled wild magic? He had to be wrong. “You and me both, but I can’t stay here, Felix—”
“You might want to rethink that, considering how badly you fucked up the Westside pack. I can’t imagine you’re their favorite person right about now. Staying’s probably for the best. The coven will make sure Aggie’s okay.”
Jena groaned, pushing farther back into the pillows and terrified of what her scales looked like. Even if she hadn’t used it to power the spell, she’d still accrue its karmic weight. “I-I didn’t kill anyone, did I?”
“Not that I know of, but a few of them probably wish you had. That ward of yours hit them with the equivalent of Kelsey’s cattle prod until they crossed back to their side of the tracks.”
Jena gave a huge sigh of relief. “What about the Eastsiders, was anyone hurt?”
“A couple of them.” He frowned and then forced a smile.
“But weres heal quick. Last I heard, the sheriff’s department was rounding up every Westsider they could find for questioning and charges will be filed.
Meanwhile, none of the Eastside pack is leaving the protection of the ward, and they’ve officially locked their borders down. No one in, and no one out.”
“I don’t care,” she said, fighting with the blankets to get up. “I have to go back to the shop. I-I saw Ms. Pao giving Aggie CPR.” Jena’s eyes welled up, oh God, what if she—what if Chase—really was dead? She couldn’t take that chance.
“Knock, knock,” Kelsey’s mom, Tess, said sing-song, hipping open the door and carrying in a loaded tray.
She brought it over to the bed, and Jena froze, her mouth watering.
“Oh, don’t get up, honey. I’m bringing it to you.
I wasn’t sure what you liked, so there’s pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and a blueberry muffin. Plenty to share.” She winked at Felix.
Jena rescued one of the sloshing cups of coffee as Tess set the tray across her lap. “Thank you, but you didn’t have to do all this.”
“Oh, please. This is nothing. You should see the lumberjack’s breakfast I pull together every morning for the pack,” the older were said. “That ward going up when it did saved our boys’ bacon. Least I could do was make you a serving of your own.”
Jena looked down at the spread and grabbed a fork, too hungry to argue.
Felix had already helped himself to the muffin, damn him.
She stabbed a sausage, her stomach not about to let her go anywhere until she put something in it.
“Is it true the border’s closed? I need to get back to my shop.
I-I think something happened to my aunt last night… she’s been really sick.”
“It is,” Tess’s brow furrowed, “but let me see if I can work something out while you eat. This pack owes you a sight more than breakfast. Go on, dig in while it’s hot, and I’ll be back.”
Jena blinked back tears as Tess left the room, and Felix handed her half the muffin, buttered.
“God, you’re always so dramatic.” He huffed. “You don’t have to cry about it, I was going to share.”
She sniffled, laughing. “Thanks.”
“And we’ll figure something out even if she doesn’t,” he said, glancing at the door. “I mean, it’s your ward, it’s not like you can’t get past it.”
Jena gave a little nod, not entirely sure that was true. The boundary by the tracks encompassed the same swath of land the node was on, and it’d been pretty adamant about her heading there next—not in the opposite direction.
Chase paced the pitch-black perimeter of the tube, his body thrumming with energy. The leyline didn’t sound appeased anymore. Its hum had ticked up, waking him from a troubled sleep. It’d started as anticipatory, but damn, if it didn’t feel impatient now.
Shit, maybe that was just him. He was itching to get the hell out of here, and it was just a dumb magical current, right? He muttered to himself, trailing a hand over the damp concrete as he walked, the water-swollen pads of his fingers worn raw.