Shrugging out of his jacket, I handed it back to him along with his keys. Josh looked as if he wanted to dash outside to make sure his baby was still in mint condition. Isaac’s anger hung in the air like humidity on a sweltering day. I was surprised Dad and Chase couldn’t feel it. He had no right to be angry, though. Nothing I’d done affected him.
Isaac jerked his head toward the door and marched into the hall.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” I told Chase and then squeezed Dad’s hand. He squeezed back, smiling. Seeing my family together and happy was worth whatever Caden would ask of me.
Isaac didn’t say a word until we were in my hospital room. Kaylee and Josh had followed us.
“What did you do?” Isaac demanded.
I sucked in a breath and dried my face with my sleeve. I was too tired to lie or make excuses. “I saved my brother.”
Isaac’s agitation rippled off him and collided with Josh’s and Kaylee’s. The air grew thick with their powers, making it hard to breathe. I knew they weren’t doing it on purpose; their emotions had simply gotten the better of them. I pushed a bit of my powers out to provide a protective barrier around myself.
“I couldn’t let him die,” I said.
Kaylee came closer and put an arm around me.
“None of us wanted him to die,” she whispered, giving me an
“Where’d you go?” Josh’s tone was as harsh as Isaac’s had been.
“To the crossroad,” I admitted.
Josh cursed. Kaylee sucked in a breath. Isaac threw the pitcher of water across the room. It crashed into the window and tumbled to the linoleum tile, spilling water down the wall and onto the floor.
“You sold your soul?” Isaac spat. “How is that a solution, Madison?”
I pointed in the general direction of Chase’s room. “I’m his big sister! It’s my job to look out for him!”
“To protect him! Not to die for him!” Isaac yelled.
“The accident was my fault! Chase wouldn’t have been on his deathbed if it wasn’t for me.”
“We need to take this down a notch.” Josh closed the door to my room with a glance toward the hallway and placed a hand on Isaac’s shoulder. “We’ll fix this.”
“No, we won’t. I made the deal, and there’s no breaking it.” I was so exhausted. I didn’t know if it was from the relief of seeing Chase smiling, the fatigue of being out of bed so long with my injuries, or if Caden had stolen my energy with his kiss. I leaned heavily on Kaylee to avoid stumbling sideways.
She steered me to the bed, where we both sank down onto the firm mattress. “What did it cost you?” she asked.
“Her soul,” Isaac grumbled. “A deal with the devil always costs your soul.”
“And years,” Josh added, although his words held more sympathy than they had earlier.
“It didn’t cost me either.” Three sets of eyes fell on me. “It turns out my soul wasn’t mine for the giving.”
“Whose is it?” Josh asked.
I looked at Isaac. “Apparently that little spell we did bound more than just my ‘being’ to you.”
The rage burning in Isaac’s velvet brown eyes vanished. He grabbed the back of his head with both hands. By the way the tension in the room lifted, I got the impression he was taking that time to get a grip on his emotions. What I wanted was to feel his arms around me. To hear him say it was going to be okay.
“Then how?” Isaac asked. His tone no longer slashed at my fragile exterior like razors.
“I’m sort of in his debt.” I told them the details of the deal I had made, leaving out what it would have cost if my soul hadn’t been spoken for—and the kiss I’d never be able to forget.
“Caden’s the crossroad demon,” Kaylee said, amazed. “He looks…normal.”
Isaac pressed his palms against his eyes. “I don’t like it.”
“We need to focus on the positive,” Josh said, taking a seat next to Kaylee. “The deal didn’t cost Madison her life, and Chase is healed.” When Isaac opened his mouth, Josh quickly interjected, “Dude, sometimes you have to be thankful for small miracles. This time it’s that you cast the unity spell.”
“It’s in the past,” I said. I didn’t want to talk about demons and consequences anymore, so I changed the subject. “Sorry again that I stole your car.”
“It’s in the past, right?” Josh replied with a wink. “She’s still in one piece, right?”
I smiled. Josh was the big brother I’d never had. “Yeah, your baby’s fine. Down a gallon or three in gas, but that’s all.”
A trip to the bathroom revealed a tear-stained face accentuated by puffy red eyes and pale skin peppered with scrapes and cuts. There wasn’t much I could do about my eyes or the scratches without resorting to a glamour, but cool water and a little makeup transformed me into a human being again and not the ashen-faced zombie I’d been a few minutes ago.
We returned to Chase’s room with a plate of fries from the cafeteria and apple juice for everyone. It was a good thing his doctor had given him the okay to eat while we were having our little powwow in my room.
I was released the next morning. Chase came home two days later. Unfortunately, my time in the hospital hadn’t eased my cravings for faerie food. An emptiness grew inside, and it wasn’t uncommon for my mind to wander and my hands to shake. I managed to keep it together around my friends and family, but there were times I could have sworn I knew what a junkie felt like.
I kept a close eye on Chase, expecting to see signs of withdrawal from him too, but he was fine. Better than fine, actually. When Caden stopped by to give my father a progress update on the doctor’s office, I asked him how Chase had managed to bounce back so quickly; he said he’d healed all of Chase’s illnesses, even his flu. I took Caden’s reply to mean he didn’t know about the bacca drops—so I dropped the subject, afraid he would tell me that undoing damage done by a faerie wasn’t part of the deal.
Natalie’s parents had since put up a reward for any information leading to the whereabouts of their daughter. I felt terrible that Natalie would forever be an unsolved missing person’s case. I wished I could let her family know that she wasn’t dead, but anything I said would bring about questions I couldn’t answer without either incriminating myself as an accomplice to a crime I hadn’t committed or getting diagnosed as crazy.
And I hadn’t seen Brea, but the fresh bouquet of flowers that mysteriously showed up on my dresser told me she’d stopped by. They smelled incredible at first. Now a delicate layer of ice covered them, announcing Reed had been in the house again.
Frozen daisies weren’t the only evidence of Reed’s unseen visit. He’d also left a note and a small wooden box filled with tantalizing chocolates just inside my doorway. It was obvious by the line in the carpet that he’d used his toe to push them over the threshold.
“You are one deranged SOB,” I commented out loud as I read the message for a second time.
Every molecule in my body wanted me to help myself to a chocolate-and-berries treat. My stomach even rumbled as if wanting to know what was taking me so long to unwrap my first piece.
Instead of listening to my urges, though, I marched to the trash can near my dresser. My hand hovered over it, ready to dispose of the unwanted gift, but my fingers wouldn’t let go.
I licked my lips and read Reed’s note again.
