off, the bigger the risk he took. Life could strip him of his essence, shred him like ribbons and leave him flapping like bloody rags in the firmament.
But what was his existence without seeing and hearing and smelling and tasting? He was enamored with it, even just the small bits he had seen so far. Perhaps there was something to what the other daemons said, that there was a toxin in the air of the Earth that made you hungry, made you want more and more and ever more. That made you want to go rogue and take over a human’s body just to stay (they didn’t talk about those daemons much—that was what made one a demon, after all, rather than a daemon).
It was a lot to think about. So Asa, too tired to give the matter the consideration it deserved, merely decided to ignore his thoughts for now. He unhinged his jaw like a snake, swallowed the pound cake in a single gulp, and lay down on the floor to sleep while his human body repaired itself.
CHAPTER 8
3 MONTHS
AND
18 DAYS
REMAIN.
I sat up with Mother Morevna as best I could, but after the spell, my bones felt like sand and my blood like water. A nurse came in then, walking carefully around the pentagram on the floor, probably for fear of turning into a salamander. Her name was Ada Speer, and she was one of the younger, nicer nurses.
As I watched her check Mother Morevna’s pulse, her hands seemed so plump and healthy next to Mother Morevna’s. In her white nightgown, it was suddenly obvious how frail and thin Mother Morevna was. How mortal. And this mortality hit me like a hammer and left me reeling.
“She’s going to be all right,” said Nurse Ada. “It’ll take some time, but she’ll be all right.”
“She says she’s sick,” I said.
“She is…” the nurse admitted. “But she’s a pretty tough old witch—” Nurse Ada’s eyes widened. “I—I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean—”
“Will she make it to… will she make it to the ten-year mark?” I heard myself ask.
“We’ll see,” said Nurse Ada. “If she rests and doesn’t push herself too hard, maybe. And now that we have that magician around—maybe things will be easier for her—and you, of course. Another witch couldn’t hurt, after all.”
Asa Skander. Another witch. The witch who had stopped the storm when I couldn’t. There was certainly more to him than met the eye.…
The air grew thick with silence. Then we heard a loud crash and a wail from the second floor: the room across from mine.
“Poor Miss Ibarra,” she said. Then she turned to me. “It’s so good of Mother Morevna to take interest.”
“What?” I asked. “Miss Ibarra?”
“Mother Morevna didn’t tell you she was coming?” said Nurse Ada. “Perhaps not. But we’re glad she decided to take her. There was only so much that could be done at the hospital.”
I wasn’t sure what to think. This was the patient who had visions, who threw bedpans at windows. Why would Mother Morevna possibly want her here?
Nurse Ada soon gathered her things and left but just before she closed the church door behind her, she turned and handed me what looked like a small stack of postcards folded in half.
“This was in Mother Morevna’s pocket when she fell,” said Nurse Ada. “Just some water rations, but they’re Dowsing Well ones, so I figured just in case.”
I looked down at the folded rations, puzzled. What did Mother Morevna need rations for? We had all we needed at the church. I unfolded the papers. There were five of them in all. Good for a month. All of them seemed to have a black smudge at one corner, but it was probably a misprint. She was most likely going to take them to the office or something before the storm hit. I’d give it back to her later.
For the next three days, the doors and windows of the Robertson house were closed and shuttered. Asa Skander was nowhere to be found. Not on his soapbox, not walking around, exploring Elysium. But he was never far from my thoughts. What he had done, how he had essentially had to jump in and save me, had humbled me more than I cared to admit. And something like anger was steadily growing inside me. Simple magician my eye! And what’s more, the townspeople had just… accepted him? Just like that. And how long had he had magic, anyway? Was he a witch too? Could