me… h-heard me find you.” Alex paused, not really looking at me, but through me, seeing only the memories playing behind his eyes. “When Jocelyn came in, he tried to find a thought or any kind of sign in your mind, but there was nothing. It didn’t even look like you were breathing.” He continued to tighten his grip on my hand as he spoke, without appearing to be aware of it. After a long pause, he cleared his throat and closed his eyes, as if to push out the unwanted images. He cleared his throat once more and looked up, finally meeting my eyes with a weak smile. “Just as Min arrived, we were able to find your pulse. It was thin and weak, but we were thrilled – until Min found the broken shards of glass in the hall.”
The what?
“When Anderson and Reid were struggling with the man in the hall, the glass bottle he’d been holding broke. Neither of them thought anything of it, but as soon as Min saw the pieces of glass, and the remnants of your saol still hovering around them, she knew immediately what they were. It was a Spirit Vial. Min had read about them, but didn’t realize that anyone had ever successfully created one. When we realized what it was… realized what had been in it… we didn’t have much hope.” He took another long breath, then ploughed on in a very matter-of-fact tone. “Min said that without being able to replace the life you’d lost, that there were only two possibilities. Either the tiny bit of energy you still had would be strong enough to regenerate and you would wake up, or you would simply fade away,” he finished, his voice tight.
So, you’ve just been sitting here… for five days… waiting?
He brought his hand back up to my cheek. “Like I said,” he smiled, as his eyes became bright again, “I’m very happy you woke me up.”
Looking up into his drawn complexion and tired eyes I knew I had never felt worse in my life. The fact that my bullheaded stupidity had caused him so much worry and pain was more than I could take, not to mention the stress and trouble I’d undoubtedly brought to everyone else. I’m so sorry, I apologized, closing my eyes, ashamed, I never should have left.
He ran his thumb over my cheek. “It wasn’t your fault. You were worried about Ryland, and Taron took advantage.”
I knew he was trying to comfort me, but I still felt like an idiot. I opened my eyes, but didn’t look at him. If I would have stayed, none of this would have happened. I should have listened.
“Yes, you should have. But in the end it wouldn’t have mattered. Taron had everything planned down to the last detail. You can bet he would have found a way to get you out of the building, one way or another.” I looked up as he finished and saw the flash of anger tense his face.
I’m sorry for that too, I said, my heart going out to him. I know he was your friend.
“I don’t know if ‘friend’ is the word,” he sighed, “but I did trust him. We all did.”
Yeah, I laughed. Everyone but me. Ironic. What’s going to happen to him?
“Jocelyn hasn’t decided yet, bu–”
Oh! Cormac! I know where Cormac is! I interrupted, panicking at the thought of poor Cormac locked in a shed for almost a week.
“Shh,” Alex soothed. “We found him, don’t worry. He’d been drugged, but Min took care of him, he’s fine. The last thing you need is to get worked up.”
But he’s OK?
“He’s fine,” he said, raising my fingers to his lips. “I promise.”
What about Taron?
“He is under house arrest until we decided what to do with him. Jocelyn is still in the process of doing a full reading on him – thoughts, memories, everything – to find out the extent of the damage he has done to us over the years, as well as get any information he might have that could help us.”
And?
“So far, all we have is a name, Ciaran Shea.”
Who is that?
“We don’t know.”
And that’s it? That’s all he’s found out? That can’t be! He has to at least know what Darragh is planning, right?
“We’d hoped so, but Darragh is a smarter man than that. Think about it, why would he tell Taron his plans when he knew that there was always a chance that Taron would be caught and his