Boundary Born (Boundary Magic Book 3) - Melissa F. Olson Page 0,55

It must have showed on my face, because Quinn winced, his hand stroking the uninjured side of my face. “Sorry, I’m so sorry. No more jokes. I’m glad you’re okay.”

My eyes dropped to his chest. He was wearing a clean button-down shirt, although I could see a tiny smear of dried blood near his collarbone. He followed my eyes down, touched the spot on his chest where Emil’s stake had pierced him. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I drank some of the bagged blood I got for Maven, and it’s almost healed. I’m a lot more worried about you.”

I couldn’t say anything yet, so I just smiled at him. The left side of my face ached with the movement. Quinn’s eyes softened, but didn’t leave my face.

I glanced around without moving my neck, recognizing the concrete walls and the sparse furniture. It was the Basement of Dr. Moreau, but this was Simon’s bedroom. Probably Maven was still in the spare room. I flexed my arms and legs, trying to feel for broken bones. My body was weak and exhausted, not to mention sore, but generally okay. Quinn saw the movement. “You’re going to be fine,” he assured me. “Scrapes and bruises on your back and chest. You’ve also got a pretty impressive bruise on your cheekbone, and your throat will hurt for a few days, but Lily said you just need rest and some ice packs.”

Emil? I mouthed.

His face clouded over. “He got away. Simon and Lily are working on a locator spell using the crystals we found, but it’s already failed twice. I went back to the St. Julien and pressed a bellboy to get into his room, but it was empty.” He kissed my forehead again. “I’m going to go get that ice pack.”

When he was gone, I began to drift off again. My last thought before I sank into the dark was: crystals?

The next time I woke, the clock next to Simon’s bed said 7:42, presumably in the morning. Someone had left the little lamp on the dresser switched on, so I had no trouble making out the figure huddled in the bed next to me, snoring lightly. Lily.

“Hey,” I tried to say, but it came out as an unintelligible rasp. Lily’s eyes popped open anyway. “Hi!” she said, relief heavy in her voice. She sat up, folding her legs in a lotus position. “Thank the goddess. I was a little worried when the ice packs didn’t wake you up. Here.” She twisted at the waist and picked up a sweating glass of water from the nightstand. There was a bendy straw inside. “You need to keep drinking, or we’ll have to do the IV again.”

I took an experimental sip of water. My cheek hurt when I closed my lips around the straw, but swallowing wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. The cold water felt wonderful and painful at the same time. It was like trying to drink when you have strep throat. Or after the tracheotomy I’d gotten the previous year.

Lily was watching carefully, giving me a little nod of approval when I was able to get the water down. “Good. Your trachea is swollen, but the hyoid bone is intact. You might be a little nauseous or light-headed today from the hypoxia, but you’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

She called for Simon, who leaned in the doorway and gave me a tired smile. “Welcome back to the living,” he joked. Lily smacked his arm, but without much energy. They both looked exhausted.

The cold water soothed the back of my throat, so I tried a whisper. “Did you find Emil?”

Simon’s face darkened. “No. Our locator spells aren’t working.”

Lily gestured helplessly. “We need either something that belongs to him or something that’s a part of him, like hair or fingernails. But the only thing we have is the crystal he left behind, and that’s gravitational magic, so it’s all wonky.”

“His blood?” I whispered. There must have been a little bit left in the IV tubing.

But Lily shook her head. “We tried, but the belladonna in his system messed it up. It was like when Emil tried a locator spell for you and your sister at the same time—the results were all confused.”

“No matter how many times we tried,” Simon added, dejected.

That’s why they looked so tired. They’d been up all night trying spells. For me. “Where does your mother think you are right now?” I whispered.

Simon and Lily exchanged a complicated look. It hit me in