“Call me if you need me. Can I bring you anything?” I ask and he perks up.
“I would love a pepperoni pizza from my favorite restaurant,” he says in an adorable, hopeful voice. He writes down the details and hands it to me as well.
“You got it,” I promise with a smile, grabbing Liam’s hand as we walk out.
“Are you leaving already?” the nice nurse asks in a sad tone as we pass the nurse’s station.
“We are, but we’ll be coming back. We’re giving him and Thea some time together,” I say with a smile and she looks so happy at the news.
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” she says. “It’s just not fair being alone at such a hard time.”
“Is it okay if we bring back his favorite pizza?” I ask. She nods, eyes welling with tears.
“Of course! Emmett is such a great kid, bless you for looking out for him.” I nod, holding back my own tears threatening to break free.
Once we reach the elevator I take a deep breath to rebalance my emotions. I pull out my phone to search for the restaurant he mentioned.
“I just looked it up, and it says it’s only eleven minutes away so we can hit it on the way back,” I say in a shaky voice.
“It’s going to be alright,” Liam whispers as he pulls me into his arms. I take a deep breath of his cologne and let it calm me down. I nod into his chest and relax for a moment before we make our way out to the SUV we rented.
Liam puts the storage unit address into his GPS before we set out. The drive is quicker than expected but it’s also the middle of the day on a Wednesday, so we don’t encounter as much traffic as we anticipated.
Looking through the storage unit is like looking through an apothecary. Someone took great care to keep everything intact. Large shelves line the walls with carefully placed jars, tomes, bags of herbs, stones, and candles. I giggle as I spot a stereotypical witch’s cauldron.
“Here are the journals,” Liam points out a skinny bookshelf that’s lined with black books. I grab a stack and pop open the trunk of the rental SUV so I can sit. Liam joins me with a stack of his own.
“When he… dies... we’ll need to take this stuff back to our realm,” I whisper, hating even saying the words out loud. Liam squeezes my hand in agreement and we focus on our books, knowing damn well time isn’t on our side.
Each page is filled with handwritten notes or ingredient lists for spells. A lot of the ingredients and words aren’t familiar to me, but I don’t care. There’s enough jars I’m sure we can find it all.
It takes over two hours before we find anything worthwhile. My eyes are starting to bother me and my back is stiff from sitting at an odd angle.
“Here’s a spell for permanent ink. I wonder if we can find a way to use it to put the rune on Drekavac.” I hand over the journal so Liam can look it over. He reads it in silence while I rest my eyes.
“You aren’t going back to the demon realm alone,” he says firmly, handing it back. “But I think it could work.” I stare back at him, refusing to acknowledge his demands. He pulls out his phone and copies down the instructions for the spell.
“Let’s find the ingredients,” I say, grabbing all of the extra books and replacing them on the shelf. We manage to find everything we need here. The magical blood is the last thing on the list. Apparently that’s how real witches are able to wield their magic.
“Come on, we need to get some food in Thea. I’m worried about her,” I say quietly.
“She’s going to be fine. Emmett should come to the City of Souls the same way she did, right?” Liam says softly, trying to reassure me and himself. Thea means a lot to him too and it shows.
“I fucking hope so. She’ll be crushed if he doesn’t,” I say softly, my heart already heavy with worry.
We pick up the pizza and soda for Emmett and head back into the hospital room. Thea is cuddled up next to Emmett still, her eyes locked on his sleeping face.
When I set the pizza down on the bedside table, Thea sits up. Emmett stirs a bit but doesn’t fully wake up. I hand over her soda and let her take a few drinks.
“Holding up okay?” I ask quietly and she nods. There’s sadness etched on her face and I can see the internal struggle she’s fighting through. “We should go back to the hotel after pizza. You need to rest.” Her eyes slide up to my face and I can see the fight in them.
“I’ll go back to shower, but then you have tobring me back. For the rest of his time I’ll be staying here regardless. I refuse to leave him alone again and I can’t risk them getting his soul,” she says firmly, and I won’t fight her on it. I would do the same. When I nod in assent, she finally relaxes.
“Emmett. Ready to eat a bit?” She gently shakes his hand and his eyes open slowly. When he locks his eyes on her face, I see the twist of emotions and my heart shatters.
“Pizza,” Liam announces and Emmett turns his attention to the table. He grabs a piece of pizza out of the box and bites into it, moaning as he chews.
“Well damn, if it’s that good, pass me a slice,” Thea says, reaching over his legs for a piece of her own, before settling back onto the pillows with him. I notice a few more pillows than before and smile. Thea was likely whipping the other nurses into shape while we were gone.