“Holy ccccrap on a cracker with toe jjjjam,” I said, my body curled atop the frozen rock. Shivers shook through me. Eli, whose eyes were looking to the side to give me as much privacy as possible, pulled something from under his shirt and tossed it over me. It was a blanket kept warm by his body heat. I sat up and wrapped it around me. “Cccccrap, this feels good.” I focused on him and said, “I found EJ. I think. Lego took him. But Lego and the Flayer weren’t working together. And now the Flayer has him.”
“Good work, Janie.” Moonlight glowed on the snow, then dimmed as fast-moving clouds hid its face for a moment before freeing the light again. Eli pulled out his cell and tapped in a number. He said, “She’s safe. There are definitely two groups of fangheads. Copy. Copy.”
He ended the call and said, “That was Bruiser. He’s with Molly, using his Onorio gifts to keep her from killing everything in sight.”
I pushed up with an arm, trying to stand. Pain slivered through my middle like blades of glass. I gasped and my arm gave out. The pain of my weight resettling stole my breath entirely. Eli didn’t move, evaluating, his face as unemotional as a vamp’s in the darkness. Battle face. He went back to laying fresh warm clothes in my lap. “Stay down. How bad is the pain?”
My plan to race back to the house and get a group together to save EJ was seriously not happening. It took a few breaths before I could reply. “Fifteen, on a one-to-ten,” I managed. “You didn’t happen to bring the Anzu feather, did you?” Eli pulled the blue feather from a pocket and I stuck it against my belly. The pain faded from fifteen to about a five. Bearable.
Beneath the blanket I touched my belly, finding the hard points of the star tumor. No bigger, but still there. “Still there,” I whispered. “I’m gonna give it a name.”
Eli opened a thermos but I waved it away, sick to my stomach. He asked, “Give what a name?”
Moving slowly, holding the feather in place, I pulled on warm sweatpants and wool socks. “My tumor.”
Eli said, “Interesting. What are you leaning toward?”
I loved that my chosen brother was willing to play along. I pulled the sweatshirt over my head. “Voldemort, Sauron, Darth Vader, Gargamel. Gargamel is the Smurf wizard. You know. Magic workers. Because of magical cancer.”
“Um. I like Dudley. Or Basile. Something less powerful. Vaguely emasculated.”
“I could go with Dudley.”
Eli gave me an evil smile. “While you think of names, you also need to figure out how you’re getting back across the creek. Someone threw the tree bridge in the water.”
I stopped to catch my breath. “In hindsight that may not have been my smartest move.”
He breathed a soft laugh that didn’t touch his eyes. “Thank you for leaving a trail in the snow that a three-year-old could follow.”
EJ was in the hands of bloodsuckers. “Welcome. I need to shift to half-form.”
Eli didn’t reply. I pulled on boots, trying to breathe through the pain of movement. When I had them on, Eli handed me the open thermos, steam rising from it. “Try it. It might settle your stomach.” I could smell the chocolate and my mouth watered as I raised the metal cylinder and sipped. It was his wonderful brew, with a hint of bitter undertaste.
I looked at him, questioning.
“A double dose of CBD oil. It doesn’t stay in your system when you shift.”
I sipped some more and my stomach settled. “Thanks. This helped.”
Eli gathered up my other clothes, the ones buried under an inch of snow. He helped me into a coat. I picked up the high-calorie-drink bottle I had brought, but it was frozen solid. That wasn’t good. Eli ripped open a strip of beef jerky and I took it. Managed to eat and keep it down. I waved away a second roll and the protein bar. No way could I keep that thing down.
I drank my hot chocolate and felt better. I thought about my half-form, but it seemed very far away. Beast? She didn’t answer. I had shifted into a form she couldn’t share. Had I hurt her? It was always a possibility. I closed my eyes and thought about my Beast, thought about my soul home. I could feel her there, in the darkness, but distant. I’m sorry, I thought at her. She didn’t reply. From my soul home, I could