Page 43 of Surviving in Everton

My eyes widen in shock. “That’s good news right?” I ask hopefully.

“Not exactly.” He grimaces. Oh great, a grimace is never good. “The reason the tumorappearsto be smaller is because the magic is spreading. It’s no longer a condensed ball sitting on your brain.” He holds up his closed fist over his palm and slowly opens it as he continues his explanation. “It’s started to encroach on the rest of your brain. Which is why your symptoms have suddenly gotten so severe. They’ll continue to get worse and more frequent. If left unchecked, the magic will eventually cover your whole brain. As this happens, you’ll experience extensive memory loss, lose control over your body and magic, ultimately, you’ll lose all brain function, leading to...” He takes a deep breath before he delivers the final blow. “Death.”

I gape at him. All that time spent forcing myself tonotthink about the worst case scenario just made it hit me harder when I was finally told what exactlycouldhappen. “I could…” I swallow and try to force the words to come. “I coulddie?” I blanch.

“That’s obviously the worst case scenario. The sooner we get the potion working, the better the odds will be that there won’t be any lasting complications,” he reassures me earnestly. “Don’t lose hope yet, Rowen. I have faith that Hudson and the boys will find the person responsible and make the potion in time. Take it easy, keep someone near you to help in case the magic takes over again. If anything happens or things get worse, don’t hesitate to call.”

“Thanks, Doc. I’ll be sure someone calls if we need you,” Hudson agrees. “Come on, baby, let’s go home.” He kisses my head then guides me out to the car.

Chapter 19

Hudson

Iget Rowen home and settled on the couch with her favorite blanket while I fix us something to eat. I know it hasn’t been long since she ate breakfast, but I cook when I’m stressed and I know something that will make her feel a tiny bit better. Besides, she needs to keep her strength up so her body can fight against the magic. I call Ayden as soon as I’m alone in the kitchen and tell him to call West and have the rest of the guys meet up here so we can get started on this plan, then make Rowe’s mac and cheese. That’s always been her favorite. Hopefully it can help pull her out of the spiral of depression I see her slowly sinking into.

I hear the front door open as I’m pouring Rowe a Shirley Temple to go with her bowl of mac and cheese. I walk into the living room to find Nate kneeling in front of her.

“Don’t worry, Kitten, we’re gonna get you that potion if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Here, Sugar, you need to eat something. I made your favorite cheesy goodness,” I entice her, waving the bowl under her nose. Her eyes snap up to me when I say that.

“Cheesy goodness, you say?” She makes a gimme motion with both hands and I chuckle as I hand over the bowl before she turns on me.

“Did anyone text Declan?” I ask Nate as we sit down across from Rowe and watch her dig into her food.

“Yeah, Ayden sent a group text after he got off the phone with you. That’s why I’m here.” He glances at me before going back to watching Rowe eat, like a creeper. “Kayden should be here soon. Declan is really starting to hate his job,” he tells me with a dark laugh.

“I can imagine. It must be hard to not be here right now. I know I couldn’t do it. Perks of owning your own business though. Even if Mikey couldn’t cover for me, I’d just close the place.” I shrug.

Rowen silently watches us as she eats, no doubt filing away everything we say. I know she knows we’re hiding something from her, but it wasn’t for any nefarious reason. I hope she realizes that. We wanted to wait and see what the doctor said before we filled her in. After how her appointment went today, the time to wait is officially over. Now it’s a matter of finding the right moment to drop the bomb on her. I’m gonna say after she’s done eating.

As she finishes stuffing her face with mac and cheese, Ayden and Kayden walk in the house, and they’re not alone. Walking into the living room, they flank Rowe on the couch. Both of them kissing her on the cheek before taking a seat on either side of her.

“Hey, Rowe,” West greets a shocked Rowen.

“West?! Wow, you grew up!” she exclaims with wide eyes and a huge grin.

Why the fuck is she looking at him like that?

“Yeah, well it’s been ten years, ya know. That was bound to happen eventually.” He smirks at her, and I don’t like it. Not one bit. Judging by the evil eye the twins are giving the completely oblivious West, I’d say I’m not the only one.

“How ya feelin’? I hear someone’s got it out for ya.” He leans against the wall watching Rowe with a scrutinizing eye.

“Yeah.” She sighs. “The tumor is getting worse. The doc says it’s spreading and I’ll keep having worsening memory loss, and lose control of my magic if we don’t figure out who did this and how to reverse it. I actually shocked Hudson with my magic pretty bad at the doctor’s.” She bites her lip and looks down at the memory of what she accidentally did to me.

“What do you mean if you don’t figure out who did this? Don’t you know who’s behind this?” he asks her with his brows furrowed and head tilted to the side and now I could fucking kill him for saying something about it before we could. Damn it, now she’s gonna be pissed at us.

She looks at him bewildered for a moment before it finally clicks that we know and didn’t tell her. That’s of course when she loses it. “You fuckingknow?!? How fucking long have youknownwho fucking did this to me?!” she screams at us.

“Easy Rowe, remember what the doctor said. If you get too mad or upset, the magic in the tumor will take over and you’ll say and do things you may regret,” I attempt to calm her before that happens.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what that quack said! You fuckingknewand you kept it from me! Why?! You think I can’t fucking handle it? Is that it?!”

I start to see blue sparks covering her hands.

“No one thinks that, Kitten,” Nate attempts to pacify her, unfortunately it has the opposite effect.

“Don’t you fuckingKittenme, Nathanial Hutchins!” she erupts and her hands crackle with raw power.

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