“What do you mean she’s gone?” I practically screech at the lady who opened the door. She takes a step back and looks at me like I belong in an asylum.
“She died. She had a grandson and I have his contact information if it will help. Her lawyer left it in case I needed to contact him for any reason,” she offers, handing it to Liam instead of me.
“Thank you ma’am. Your assistance is appreciated. She’s just been looking for her birth family for so long it was a shock,” he explains and the lady gives me a sympathetic look. I put on a sad face and give her a small apology. Liam leads me away and we both fight back our laughter.
“Let’s take the rental and get lunch. I can try and Google this guy in the meantime,” Liam suggests.
“Fine, but I want Italian,” Thea says with a smile, still chipper despite our setback.
Once we gather around the table and order, Liam starts searching for the grandson. Thea and I talk quietly, giving him a moment to browse.
“Bad news,” he says with a sigh, causing us both to look up at him. “Her grandson Emmett is alive, butbarely.”
“What the hell does that mean?” I ask, dreading the news he’s about to share.
“I managed to dig him up on social media. He just turned eighteen last week. The bad news is he’s in the children’s hospital, hospice ward. It’s not looking good,” he reveals and my stomach drops.
“Then we go get some candy, skip the flowers because he’s a dude, and say we’re family friends. He may know where to find answers,” Thea says brightly. I appreciate her positivity, but honestly I’m just so tired of hitting roadblocks.
“She has a point,” I agree, digging into my alfredo. The others nod and we focus on eating so we can move on. Liam pays quickly and leaves an enormous tip the moment we finish so we can head out. Thankfully Dallas’ children’s hospital is not far from us.
The biggest task is getting through security to the children’s hospice ward. We stash our chains and any weapons in the rental SUV, in case they have metal detectors. So we only have to state our names and who we’re visiting. Then we have to wait again while they call the ward and ask if Emmett is accepting visitors.
After sitting around for thirty minutes for the nurses to speak to Emmett, the security guards finally let us go up. Apparently they were changing out his IV bags and cleaning up.
Once we finally make it to the ward we’re stuck again until they buzz us through the doors. Security is tight but I can’t fault them for keeping the kids and families safe.
An older nurse with a huge smile greets us at the door. She’s exactly the type of person you would want to be working in a role like this, more like a grandma than a nurse.
“I’m so happy you guys came. He hasn’t had any visitors since his grandmother died,” she fawns over us. “He’s feeling alright today and just ate, so he should have enough energy to talk for about thirty minutes or so. We have a waiting room too if you want to have a seat until he’s done with a nap to continue your visit.” Her voice is full of hope that has my heart breaking. I can’t imagine being stuck somewhere like this, completely alone.
“Thank you,” Liam says with a smile as she leads us all through the halls. When we reach Emmett’s room, we all gather ourselves for a moment. The nurse slips away after giving us encouraging smiles.
“Let’s do this,” I whisper and they nod. Thea walks through the door first, but as soon as she sees the boy she freezes. It’s a scary sight. This poor kid is thin, pale, has an IV in his arm, and an oxygen tube clipped in his nose. His dark black hair is grown out andshaggy. He’s handsome in his own way, but his current situation has given him gaunt cheeks and sunken eyes. He almost looks like a vampire with the dark circles and pale skin. My heart breaks but I force myself to smile and wave.
All but Thea.
I also notice that he hasn’t looked away from her since she walked in either. I can see why, my Thea is beautiful. I step forward a bit and I see she’s frozen in place with wide eyes. A tear leaks down her cheek and I tense, worrying now what the hell is going on.
“It’s you.” His voice is barely over a whisper. Thea nods at him and falls to her knees for a moment. He cries out and tries to stand but Liam keeps him in his bed while I rush to Thea.
“Thea?! What’s going on?” I ask, smoothing her hair down while I talk to her. She’s half hysterical.
“I know him. We’ve seen each other in the void for a long time. I haven’t been back since I died,” she whispers, so low that I doubt Emmett can hear her.
“She’s alright,” I hear Liam reassure Emmett. He finally sits back in the bed before deep coughs have him doubled over and breathing shakily.
The coughing fit seems to snap Thea out of her shock. She stands and hurries over to him and crawls right in bed next to him, pulling the boy into her arms. Liam shoots me a look and I shrug.
“Where did you go?” he asks as he wraps his hand around hers.
“I died,” she whispers back in a shaky voice, tears flowing freely down her cheeks now. Liam makes a sound of protest and she looks up at him, as if she just remembered that we were in the room together. “He’s like me,” she reassures us.
“We came here looking for your grandmother,” I begin after sliding his door shut. “We needed her help with an important spell. Do you know of anyone who can help us instead?”
“I have a small storage unit with her important things in it, I can give you the key. Go there and find her black journals, they may help you. I’m weak, but I have enough magic in my blood to be able to solidify the spell if you do the dirty work,” he explains around his horrible coughs. I nod and bring over the small box he points at. He lifts his hand away from Thea’s and opens it. After fishing around, he pulls out a small key with a keychain card-holder attached with the details on it.
“I’m staying with him,” Thea says firmly and I nod. I wouldn’t want him to be alone either.