in close contact with the foreign blood type that we found.”
Nick and I exchange a look. This is exactly what I’d feared would happen, and I suspect that Nick must have drawn the same conclusion at some point. Him becoming human was somehow my fault.
“Don’t worry, Miss Santos,” Navarro says with a nervous glance at the window. “Nobody else knows what I deduced, and your secret is safe with me. I do have to ask; do you know what it is about you that makes your blood so different from any other?”
“I do,” I say in a tiny voice. “But I’m afraid that information won’t be of any help to you at this point. I’m still in the dark as to why drinking my blood effected Nick the way it did.”
“Fair enough.” Navarro places the iPad down on his desk, and looks around at his disorderly office. “It seems I am going to have to downsize,” he says, mostly to himself. “Miss Santos, I am doing you a favor by keeping your secret between us. But I’m afraid I need something from you in return.”
“What are you talking about?”
Navarro doesn’t answer. Instead, more quickly than my eyes can follow, he crosses over to me, squeezes my shoulders tightly, and moves my body in front of his. I cry out a millisecond later when a blinding hot pain erupts from my right shoulder. “Until we meet again,” Navarro whispers in my ear. Then he vanishes, and I slide to my knees without him supporting my weight, clutching my shoulder as my blood seeps out and flows freely down my back.
Suddenly, my senses are going haywire. I can smell my own blood, the metallic scent so strong I can taste it in the back of my mouth. I’m aware of Nick’s heart hammering at a furious pace as loudly as I hear him asking what’s going on. And just under that, I can hear the door downstairs being forced open, boots crunching over broken glass, the crackle of two-way radios as men and women shout orders to ground units.
Apparently, some of Navarro’s enemies must have found his home base.
I could stay where I am on the ground, clutching my bleeding wound and waiting for whoever’s coming. But I’m not about to get caught in the middle of Navarro’s townhouse, surrounded by sensitive information concerning my boyfriend and I.
The first spell I use sets Navarro’s desk on fire, the files scattered on top along with it.
The second one transports Nick and I to the first place I can think of: home.
10
The last few things I’m conscious enough to remember happen in rapid succession. The second Nick realizes where we wound up, he lifts me as gently as he can onto my bed, wincing at my cries of pain. Then, my mother bursts into my room, gasping at the sight of her daughter covered in blood, with Nick standing over me. I shut my eyes and try to block out the pain, but I can’t. My shoulder’s burning, and it feels like the fire is slowly spreading down to the tips of my fingers.
Krystal materializes in the doorway to my room, asking Nick and my mother to stand aside. She kneels down by my bed, and tells me to close my eyes. I do so, and a soothing coolness radiates from my wound to the rest of my body, relaxing me to the point where I can hardly feel anything. Within seconds, the sounds all around me fade to background noise, and cease altogether.
When I open my eyes next, I’m still in bed, but there’s no one around. I’m in my room, the place I know best, but something feels wrong. I can’t immediately place what; everything is in place, I feel perfectly healthy, and I’m pretty sure I can hear my mom’s soft snores coming from her room right across the hall. I reach behind my head for the necklace my father gave me, like I always used to in younger days. I always feel safer when my fingers stroke the cool metal, since my mind normally skims over tiny details like the pattern of the
Nick and I exchange a look. This is exactly what I’d feared would happen, and I suspect that Nick must have drawn the same conclusion at some point. Him becoming human was somehow my fault.
“Don’t worry, Miss Santos,” Navarro says with a nervous glance at the window. “Nobody else knows what I deduced, and your secret is safe with me. I do have to ask; do you know what it is about you that makes your blood so different from any other?”
“I do,” I say in a tiny voice. “But I’m afraid that information won’t be of any help to you at this point. I’m still in the dark as to why drinking my blood effected Nick the way it did.”
“Fair enough.” Navarro places the iPad down on his desk, and looks around at his disorderly office. “It seems I am going to have to downsize,” he says, mostly to himself. “Miss Santos, I am doing you a favor by keeping your secret between us. But I’m afraid I need something from you in return.”
“What are you talking about?”
Navarro doesn’t answer. Instead, more quickly than my eyes can follow, he crosses over to me, squeezes my shoulders tightly, and moves my body in front of his. I cry out a millisecond later when a blinding hot pain erupts from my right shoulder. “Until we meet again,” Navarro whispers in my ear. Then he vanishes, and I slide to my knees without him supporting my weight, clutching my shoulder as my blood seeps out and flows freely down my back.
Suddenly, my senses are going haywire. I can smell my own blood, the metallic scent so strong I can taste it in the back of my mouth. I’m aware of Nick’s heart hammering at a furious pace as loudly as I hear him asking what’s going on. And just under that, I can hear the door downstairs being forced open, boots crunching over broken glass, the crackle of two-way radios as men and women shout orders to ground units.
Apparently, some of Navarro’s enemies must have found his home base.
I could stay where I am on the ground, clutching my bleeding wound and waiting for whoever’s coming. But I’m not about to get caught in the middle of Navarro’s townhouse, surrounded by sensitive information concerning my boyfriend and I.
The first spell I use sets Navarro’s desk on fire, the files scattered on top along with it.
The second one transports Nick and I to the first place I can think of: home.
10
The last few things I’m conscious enough to remember happen in rapid succession. The second Nick realizes where we wound up, he lifts me as gently as he can onto my bed, wincing at my cries of pain. Then, my mother bursts into my room, gasping at the sight of her daughter covered in blood, with Nick standing over me. I shut my eyes and try to block out the pain, but I can’t. My shoulder’s burning, and it feels like the fire is slowly spreading down to the tips of my fingers.
Krystal materializes in the doorway to my room, asking Nick and my mother to stand aside. She kneels down by my bed, and tells me to close my eyes. I do so, and a soothing coolness radiates from my wound to the rest of my body, relaxing me to the point where I can hardly feel anything. Within seconds, the sounds all around me fade to background noise, and cease altogether.
When I open my eyes next, I’m still in bed, but there’s no one around. I’m in my room, the place I know best, but something feels wrong. I can’t immediately place what; everything is in place, I feel perfectly healthy, and I’m pretty sure I can hear my mom’s soft snores coming from her room right across the hall. I reach behind my head for the necklace my father gave me, like I always used to in younger days. I always feel safer when my fingers stroke the cool metal, since my mind normally skims over tiny details like the pattern of the
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