Page 21 of Resting Witch Face
My head whipped to the empty doorway of the living room when something small darted inside, but the only thing I saw was Sissily dashing right for the swaying man, who was watching everything with too-wide eyes and a blanched-off-color face. It was enough to propel me into action too, and I dove for the two boys curled up in the corner. The man started screaming at my friend when she attempted to get him out of the room, but I had no time to assure him that his children would follow.
The older boy scratched at my arms when I tugged his younger brother out of his grasp, only to proceed climbing me like a monkey when he realized I was trying to get them out of there. “Hold tight,” I croaked, unable to speak from the death grip the child had on my windpipe. Both children had their faces buried, one in the crook of my neck and the other my chest as I made a mad dash for the hallway, almost tripping over a broken table. Sissily was on my heels with the father, who was now dragging my friend behind him.
I knew he would follow when he saw his boys.
“Stay here, Hazel. I’ll go help River.” My friend panted and disappeared inside the apartment the moment we had the humans out of immediate danger.
While trying to get the boys out, I’d forgotten all about my blistered skin until mind-numbing pain reminded me of it. Everywhere the children clung to me felt like fresh hell opening its embrace to pull me under. My whimper was pathetic when the father took hold of his young, hugging them to his chest as if I might steal them from him. Crashing and screams echoed from the apartment, River and Sissily’s voices barely audible through the shrieks.
“My wife,” the man rasped, and my heart broke all over again when fat tears ran down the mess of his face.
His left cheek was slashed open, the swelling enough to close his one eye. Blood dripped from his temple, and he was shaking hard enough to rattle his children. Both boys were crying softly, each sound stabbing me deeper and deeper in my soul. With my back pressed against the wall in the hallway, I slid next to where the human was kneeling, not daring to lose eye contact. I hated everything I was, everything we were as “other” when I saw the desperation in his gaze begging me to tell him she was alive, that my covenmates would save her too.
“I’m sorry.” My choked-out whisper wasn’t something he should’ve heard, yet he did. “I’m so, so sorry.” His image blurred.
I honored him by not looking away when heart-wrenching sobs rocked his body and he curled over his children. I kept whispering apologies while my own dam opened, unchecked tears rushing down my face in a torrent. My shaking hand reached for the older boy when I noticed him watching me with an expression in his eyes I couldn’t name, though it sent a shiver down my spine. His tiny fingers snatched my trembling ones, and all sound stopped like someone had pressed pause.
River filled the doorway of the apartment, his hair tousled and his eyes wild.
“Sissily, take care of the humans,” he barked over his shoulder before he advanced on me with the determination of a desperate man.
The last thing I remembered was the boy screaming at River not to take me away.
Then everything went dark.
11
When I’d rushed to get my ass kicked by Rakshasa demons, I didn’t expect to find myself in the coven’s infirmary with Danika glaring down her nose at me. Or with River holding my hand like a drowning man would hold a straw, but that was neither here nor there. I had bigger problems to deal with judging by the anger on my grandmother’s face and my body being wrapped up mummy style from neck to hip. To buy myself some time, I jutted my chin and pointed at the glass of cold water sitting next to my bed that was dripping condensation on the side table. My mouth chose that moment to remind me that it felt like the Sahara, and I nearly choked when I tried to swallow.
My best friend, who I didn’t notice at first, hip-bumped River to get him out of the way so she could stick the straw between my lips. Hoping Sissily could see the gratitude in my unfocused eyes, I sucked on the water so hard some of it dribbled from the corners of my lips. It caused one hell of a coughing fit, but at least my tongue wasn’t stuck to the roof of my mouth.
“Easy, girl,” Sissily chided, the worry in her gaze sending tendrils of trepidation through me.
Danika, on the other hand, had no qualms about speaking her mind now that I was apparently awake. “What I would like to know is this: what were the three of you doing there in the first place?” She glowered at me for most of that but turned those piercing eyes on River at the last second.
Good, let Blondie deal with her to see how it felt.
“When the message came, we were having coffee at Moon Howl, and we were the closest witches in the vicinity.” If he wasn’t crushing my fingers, I never would’ve guessed how pissed River was by the calm tone of his voice.
“Hazel shouldn’t be anywhere near a rogue or a feral, Mr. Blackman. You should know better than that.” My grandmother could cut metal with her sharp words. “And you, Sissily, what were you thinking?” She rounded on my best friend.
“Okay, you know what?” I piped in when Sissily opened her mouth, no doubt to defend herself and me. “How about everyone stop talking about me like I’m not just sitting here like a lump, mm-kay? It’s pretty bad when I need to repeat myself with that ten times a day. You see where I’m going with this?”
Danika seethed.
“No? Let me clear it up so you can move forward.” River tried to keep hold of my hand, but I yanked it out, groaning and huffing until I was half-sitting and half-leaning on the narrow bed. It pissed me off when I felt my bare ass gliding over the thin sheet where the hospital gown parted with my movement.
“Hazel” —Gaze locked on Danika, I had to force the words through my teeth— “is capable of making her own decisions, thank you very much. You can thank yourself for my stubborn ass since I’m a product of your parental guidance. As for the clusterfuck we walked into, how about instead of reading me my rights like some pompous ass, you tell me what in the actual fuck is going on?” Everything came out in a rush.
“Don’t be crude, Hazel Byrne.” Danika huffed at me in annoyance, but her lips did twitch when I mentioned the tough-love methods she’d used to raise me.
And she was deflecting.
Go figure.
“This is twice in two weeks there was a demon doing dumb shit, so let’s focus on that, mm-kay.” While River had his plump lips pressed tight enough to form a white line on his face, Sissily was trying to blend in with her surroundings just to stay out of it. “Instead of worrying about me, I think you need to talk to whoever is in charge of them right now and ask why they are running around killing humans and selling illegal body parts.”
“Don’t tell me how to do my job,” my grandmother snapped, done with my mouthing off. Tough luck for her. I already knew what her next words would be, so I was ready for them. “One of these days, you’ll get it through your thick head that you have no magic. Either that will come first, or I’ll be left to bury you instead of the other way around, you stupid girl.”
