she pulled apart each side of the wound to create as much of an opening as she could.
“Now, I need you to pour that in slowly. Try not to spill any on the floor.”
I nodded, my heart hammering in my chest, and slowly poured the silver liquid into the wound. It slithered into the opening as though being sucked into a vacuum until there wasn’t a drop of it left.
I placed the empty bottle on the floor beside me. The clink of the glass against the tile echoed through the quiet church.
“Now what?” I asked.
“Now we wait,” she answered, grabbing hold of my hand for support. I reached out and took hold of Finn’s, too, placing it in my lap and rubbing my thumb over his palm.
At first, he felt overly warm, but a minute later his hand turned icy cold. Not deathly cold, but a preternatural sort of cold, a purifying one. My eyes were drawn to the wound; the blood had all dried up, and the skin was knitting itself back together. My heart slowed in relief. I let go of Rita’s hand so I could pull her to me in a one-armed hug. I was too afraid to let go of Finn’s hand for fear it’d disturb the healing.
“Thank you,” I whispered to Rita. “I seriously owe you for saving him. He would have died if you weren’t here.”
She got all awkward then, pulling away and patting me on the shoulder. “It’s okay. Just doing my job as part-time emergency saviour,” she quipped.
I jumped in fright when Finn let out a groan. He blearily opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. When he saw his blood-soaked clothing, he croaked out a simple, “Jesus Christ.”
“Hey,” Rita patted him softly on the leg. “No saying the lord’s name in vain in here.”
“I think I’m allowed a pass given the circumstances,” he replied wearily. My heart lifted with joy that he was talking, that his wound had healed.
“What was in that mixture?” I asked Rita in amazement, looking from Finn’s face to his closed wound and back again.
She gave me a teacherly head tilt. “It’s a magical healing elixir, similar to the poultice I used for Finn’s leg after he’d been shot. A little above your learning grade right now though. Just keep practising at night like I showed you and soon I’ll be able to teach you all my tricks.”
This learning magic business was such a slow process. I’d been practising almost every night before I went to bed, but Rita only seemed willing to feed me tiny bits of information at a time.
Finn squeezed my hand, and I realised that I was still holding his in a vice grip. I looked at him. “Do you remember what just happened?”
“Every detail, unfortunately,” he croaked, closing his eyes as though in pain.
“Do you still hurt?” Rita questioned worriedly.
“Not presently, but the memory is there. I’ve been stabbed enough times to know that the pain isn’t something you quickly forget.” He regarded Rita warmly. “That’s twice you’ve healed me now.”
She shrugged. “No biggie. Though you might want to start a tab.”
Finn smiled, and it was so good to see him do that, to see the life in his face. “We’ll see,” he answered her teasingly.
“You going to let go of my hand, petal? You’re cutting the blood off, and I’ve lost enough today as it is,” he said gently.
I quickly released my hold. “Sorry. I’m just still a little in shock.”
“That’s you and me both.”
“I can’t believe I stabbed you,” I breathed, peering down at the scar on his abdomen that was now silver like all the others.
“I can’t believe I almost choked you to death,” he countered, sounding guilty, which was silly. He’d been possessed. It wasn’t like he could have helped it.
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“I know that, but Christ, look at the bruises on your neck.” He reached out and ran his hand along my skin. I closed my eyes for a second and suppressed a shudder. “I hate knowing that the mist can get into me at any time and make me do things like that. Especially to you.” His words were tender.
“That’s why we need to keep hunting them every night until we’ve killed them all,” Rita said, breaking the intense moment between Finn and me.
We sat there for another few minutes, gathering our strength after the ordeal, before going to make sure that Father McGuire and the other people in the church had recovered. Finn