Meaning they should be close. The council is going to be pissed.
The damn council needs to be bitch slapped. If they hadn’t been so damn recalcitrant about getting another witch when Gabe disappeared, none of this would be happening.
Something they’d at least admitted and rectified. It had just happened a little too late to prevent word of an unchecked wellspring spreading through the darker places of this world.
“Lizzie? Are you out there?”
The question rose out of the silence, making me jump even as relief shot through me.
Aiden. I briefly closed my eyes against the sting of tears. “Yes. I’m down a mine shaft.”
Dirt fell from the rim of the hole, and then he appeared above me. Never in my life had I been so glad to see anyone. “Are you hurt?”
“Cracked a rib or two, I think.”
“And that beam? How secure is it?”
“It hasn’t moved.”
“Paramedics and rescue are two minutes behind me. Once we get some painkillers into you, we’ll get you out of there. In the meantime, if I lower a harness down to you, do you think you can put it on?”
“Yes.”
He immediately did so. Putting it on was harder than it looked, but I eventually had everything strapped in. Securing it across my chest hurt like blazes, but falling would be ten times worse.
I swiped at the sweat dribbling down my face and then looked up. Aiden’s face was shadowed, but his eyes were as blue as sapphires. “Okay, secure this end.”
“As we are here. You won’t fall any farther, Liz.”
Which didn’t make me feel any safer. Nothing would until I got out of this goddamn shaft. I rested my head back against the wall and tried to curb my impatience. “Is Ashworth with you? Because the Empusae might still be—”
“She’s long gone.” Ashworth appeared on the other side of the mine’s shaft. “You two had one hell of a battle, if the magic lingering on the air is anything to go by.”
“There were three of us—the White Lady was also here.”
“I take it she missed her quarry yet again.”
“Sort of.” I gave them a quick rundown and then added, “My tracker will probably last twenty-four hours, but the sooner you get me out of here, the sooner we can hunt this bitch.”
“You’re not chasing after the goddamn demon until you’re fully checked out and cleared by the hospital,” Aiden growled. “If I have to physically restrain you, I will.”
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“How about we get her out of the goddamn mine before we start any arguments,” Ashworth said. “The rescue team has just arrived, lass. We should have you out of there in no time.”
His idea of no time and mine turned out to be vastly different, but I was eventually dragged up and carefully extracted. Once at the hospital, they ran me through a series of checks and scans, but aside from two cracked ribs and a blooming array of bruises across my stomach, there was no major damage.
Aiden did make good with his promise, however, sitting by my side all night to ensure I didn’t check myself out early. Which was only a little bit frustrating; truth was, between the ribs and the bruises, I could barely move without it hurting like hell. Painkillers helped, but it was pretty obvious I’d be next to useless in the café for the next week or so.
The following morning, after the doctors had given me the all-clear to go home and supplied me with painkillers and prescriptions, Aiden help me dress—replacing the hospital gown they’d stuck me in after they’d cut off my clothes with a spare pair of track pants and a sweater he kept in his truck—then grabbed my pack and took me home.
Belle was waiting by the front door. “Do you want a shower or breakfast first?”
“Shower,” Aiden said. “Definitely a shower.”
I gave him a deadpan look. “Are you suggesting I stink?”
“Of sweat, antiseptic, and dank mine. Yes.”