“No,” she spoke again, her voice still a weak thread. Her eyelids were falling back down as she continued. “I remember…”
“You remember?” I asked.
“Yes…” she whispered again, her voice barely audible as it trailed off, and she drifted back into a hazy sleep.
“Hey, Kemosabe,” Ben’s voice came at me from above. “Let me give ya’ a hand.”
I looked up and saw my friend in front of me. He knelt down and slipped a large hand behind Felicity’s shoulders, then began gently lifting her up into a sitting position as I supported her neck. I pushed back and twisted my legs around, dragging myself up to my knees again and slipping my arms around her torso. Once Ben had helped me get her up off the ground, and I lifted her into my arms, he ran ahead to open the side door of the van.
I carried her the thirty-odd feet to the vehicle, and my friend was already waiting for us.
“How’s she doin’?” he asked as he helped me settle her into the seat.
“She woke up for a second,” I told him hurriedly. “And she said that she remembers.”
“Remembers what?” he asked as he carefully reclined the seat several inches while I buckled her in.
“Something about what she saw on the other side, but I’m not sure exactly. She drifted back off before she said anything else.”
“Shit,” he muttered and then looked at me. “Okay, let’s get rid of this rent-a-cop and get ‘er somewhere comfortable so we can talk.”
“I really don’t want to leave her alone right now,” I said.
He gave me an understanding nod. “Yeah, I know what ya’ mean. You stay with ‘er, and I’ll handle it.”
My friend took off at a trot, covering the distance quickly with his long-legged gait. I watched as he repeated the same action Constance had with the business card and continued talking to the officer as he wrote.
The wind was picking up, and the chill in the autumn air was beginning to take on an unpleasant bite. I looked back to check on Felicity and noticed her body was twisting away from the open door, most likely out of reflex, reacting to the drop in temperature. I stepped over and slid it partially shut to shelter her from the breeze.
When I turned back to see what was going on, the security officer was gesturing toward me. Ben was saying something to him, but I couldn’t make it out at this distance. The officer started waving me over, and Ben began to jog in my direction.
I took some tentative steps, meeting my friend a few feet away from the van.
“He says he’s gotta see your ID,” Ben grumbled, shaking his head. “Jeezus, I hate wannabe cops.”
“He’s just doing his job, Ben,” I replied, but I wasn’t any more excited about the situation than he.
He jerked his head toward Mandalay and the officer. “Go ahead. I’ll stay with Firehair.”
“Okay,” I returned, starting toward them while reaching for my wallet.
I only made it three steps before Felicity began to scream.
CHAPTER 32:
It no longer mattered whether Felicity’s sudden disconnection from the other side of the veil had been the result of magick, luck, or pure coincidence. Whichever it was, it had obviously worn off.
Ben was already yanking back the side door of the van as I was turning in place. For a brief moment, I froze dead in my tracks, as the image that greeted me brought back a flood of fear-tainted memories.
Felicity’s back was impossibly arched as she bucked and strained against the shoulder harness. Her hands were clawed around the armrests and her forearms planted firm, pressed along the lengths as if permanently cemented there. She convulsed and fell back into the partially reclined seat, tossing her head to the side while twisting against the unseen bonds. Her normally beautiful face was flushed deep red, and her features were twisted and carved deeply with lines. The fissures joined in a maddening tangle to form a horrid mask of pain. The muscles and tendons of her neck were visibly bulging, tensed to their limits, if not beyond.
For the second time in my life, I felt my blood turn instantly to ice as her tear-filled eyes met mine, and she wailed uncontrollably. The scream was one of pure agony- an unearthly sound I begged the Lord and Lady to never make me hear again. But, they weren’t listening. When Felicity regained her breath, the grating banshee cry came again, this time coupled with the barely intelligible words, “Please! No!”
I was somewhere around a half-dozen or so steps away from the van when I turned, but I made it back to the open door in three.
“Whadda we do?” Ben yelled at me, fighting to be heard over my wife’s pained cry.
“I have to ground her,” I yelled back, reaching in and clamping my hand around her thin wrist. It had worked for her; I could only hope that it would do so for me. Unfortunately, I was all too aware that she was the one who had the bond of familiarity with Kimberly Forest, not I; and, such a connection was something that would be not be easily overcome.
An arc of pain immediately shot up my arm, causing me to tense as it joined with my other near forgotten aches, bringing them each back to the forefront. I shuddered but held tight to my wife’s arm.
Her flesh was cool and clammy to the touch. I feared the intensity of the torture was taking a heavy toll. Ethereal or not, as far as her body was concerned, it was the real thing, and it was sending her into shock.
Her scream had faded to a nasal whine, punctuated by small cries at irregular intervals. With each cry came a violent jerk of her body as she fought to retreat from whatever unseen torture was being inflicted.
I looked over at my friend and saw that he was trying to maintain a stolid expression, but his eyes betrayed the fear and concern I knew he was feeling.
“Promise me something,” I said to him.
“What?”
“If this works…” I stopped mid-sentence and swallowed hard as a sudden lance of pain ran like fire along the nerves in my arm. I gathered myself and rushed to continue, giving my head a quick jerk toward my wife. “If we end up swapping places, don’t let her touch me.”
“But…”
“No buts,” I said, cutting him off with a hard shake of my head. “Promise me you won’t let her die, Ben.”
He stood looking at me, the fear now far more obvious in his eyes as my words began to sink in. When he didn’t respond, I knew he had a full grasp of what I had just said.
“Promise me!” I demanded again.
He swallowed hard and gave me a quick nod. It was all I needed.
I turned my attention back to Felicity, struggling to form a solid ground as I shunted everything from her I could. I gritted my teeth and blinked back the tears that were welling in my own eyes, not sure if they were solely from the pain, my concern for her, empathic response, or all of the above.
Harsh shadows shifted in and out of my vision as ethereal darkness tried to fall, and I did my best to let it. Bright blooms of light fell in behind the contrasts, blinding me for sharp instants like the burst of a camera flash. I pressed myself forward, ignoring the growing intensity of the pain even as I heard myself begin to groan in the face of it. But, for each step I took toward the veil, I was shoved back the same, returning in part to cold reality.
My senses were expanding, as I stood on the edge of two worlds, unable to take a firm foothold in either. My frustration was growing, but more than that, my gut fears were beginning to overwhelm me.
By now, Agent Mandalay and the security officer were almost immediately at my back. I could feel them close, and I heard their voices as they argued.
“What’s he doing to her?” the officer was saying.
“Stay back,” Constance told him. “He knows what he’s doing.”
“That doesn’t look like an epileptic seizure to me,” he pressed.
“It’s going to be fine,” she replied, but I could hear the trepidation in her voice, and I’m sure he could too. “Just stay back.”
“I’m calling the paramedics,” he returned. “There’s something wrong here.”
Felicity continued to whimper as she writhed in the seat. Again, her jade green eyes locked with mine while she shook through a shallow tremor. Her mouth opened as if she was trying to say something, but no words
