Part 30 (2/2)
I sobbed over him.
”Don't cry, darlin'.” His voice was so weak.
”What have you all been up to?”
I looked up through blurry eyes and found Edie bending to examine Mercutio.
”Zach's been bitten by a werewolf. He needs help!”
”Oh,” she said grimly. She drifted toward us and curled down to have a closer look. ”I'm so sorry,” she said.
”He's dying. Do you know anything? Any spell?”
She shook her head sadly. ”My poor darling,” she said, brus.h.i.+ng a phantom finger along my cheek. ”Don't worry. He's very capable. He'll find his way to the other side straight away. And maybe I'll walk with him partway. I've wanted to have a chat with him for such a long time.”
Zach was staring directly at the spot near my shoulder where Edie's face was.
”What?” I asked.
”Nothing,” he said, closing his eyes.
”You had her locket all this time?” Bryn asked, his voice a combination of surprise and anger. I looked over my shoulder and found that he'd carried Lennox down from the platform and set him on the nearby bench.
”She can dance on my grave when I'm dead, and you can watch if you wish,” Lennox said, putting the focus right back on his own trouble, which I couldn't blame him for.
Bryn sighed, frowning, then spoke a few words in their foreign language. Lennox answered, and Bryn looked over to me.
”My father says there's a legend of healing water, Leon's Spring. He thought your family ghost might know the location. Another ghost told him she did.”
I looked expectantly at Edie.
”It's not p.r.o.nounced lee-on. It's p.r.o.nounced lay-own. And I do know where it is. It's along the second northeast ley line. About seven miles outside the town.”
I told Bryn what Edie had said.
”I'll get the car,” Bryn said, hurrying out.
A few minutes later, Steve from security was helping Bryn load Lennox and Zach onto the bench seats in the back of the limo. I sat on the floor between them, applying pressure to their wounds. Edie sat on the floor, too, with Mercutio curled up near her.
Bryn jerked the car out of the driveway and sped out of town. I gave him directions via Edie through the open part.i.tion.
”Hurry,” I whispered as Zach's breathing got more uneven, and I could hardly feel a pulsation from Lennox's wound anymore.
After about ten minutes, Edie announced, ”We're here.”
”Stop the car!” I said.
She floated out through the roof. Bryn and Steve yanked the doors open. Steve pulled Zach out and hauled him over his shoulder in the same fireman's carry Bryn used.
”Which way?” Bryn asked. The light from the headlights petered out a few feet into the blackness, and I couldn't see anything farther ahead.
”Follow me,” Edie said.
”This way,” I said to the men. ”Follow my voice.” I stumbled forward over the rough ground and then after a few feet, tripped and pitched forward. I put my arms out, but didn't hit the ground. I plunged underwater, thras.h.i.+ng from the shock. When I surfaced, I could hear the others. They'd all fallen in. We were up to our necks in water.
”Steve, dunk him all the way under a few times and pull him back out,” Bryn said.
We all took a bath in the cool, fresh water. I swam a few feet, then crawled out on a bank that Edie led me to.
”I'll meet you at the car,” Edie said.
”I can't see where I'm going.”
”Follow your ears,” she said, but the only sound I could hear was the noise the men were making, dragging Lennox and Zach out.
A few seconds later, I heard the car stereo. Some a.m. station was playing old jazz. I was amazed we could pick up the signal.
When I got to the car, I found Edie lying on the roof, looking at the night sky. Merc was sitting next to her, licking his paws.
”How did you turn on the radio?”
”Mercutio turned it on for me.”
”Mercutio?”
”Our cat.”
”I know he's our cat. How did you know his name?”
”It's on his collar.”
”Oh,” I said.
”Don't sound so disappointed. Just because he can't talk doesn't mean we don't understand each other.”
I heard the men over my shoulder. I turned. ”How are they?”
”Let's see,” Bryn said, lowering Lennox to the hood of the car and yanking his s.h.i.+rt open. He laughed that gorgeous laugh. I turned from them and hurried over to where Steve was lowering Zach into the back of the limo. I pulled his s.h.i.+rt up and stared down at the skin, perfectly sealed with small white scars.
”Ha!” I shouted, bending to squeeze his cool chest in a make-s.h.i.+ft hug.
”Am I dead?” he mumbled.
”No,” I said.
”Sure feels like Heaven.”
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