Page 44 of Icy Heart, Empty Chest
Well. I said it out loud.
I knelt at his side, looking at his barely rising chest. “If he dies on this table, you might as well kill me too because I can’t face the remainder of life without him.”
She started to move around the room, grabbing a sheet and putting it around his waist.
She ripped up his shirt, exposing his chest, now a sickly green shade, far from his norm.
“The only reason I’m entertaining this farce is out of respect for your mother and the fact that you’re going to help me, and whatever price I ask, you’ll do.”
I nodded numbly.
“I’ll get the heart, pull out the black spell book on the bottom shelf.”
She dashed from the room.
I pressed a kiss to his forehead and looked to her shelves. There was a small black book with a spine encrusted with topaz. I pulled it out and set it next to him.
His breath was so shallow now.
She walked quickly back into the room and pointed at a cabinet. “The bottom two drawers are crystals. Grab a handful of the biggest you can find.”
I complied and brought back four that would put my largest water bottle to shame. I refused to feel anything else besides obedient.
Filla was the best and she was going to undo it. She had to. She was going to put the heart back in, and we’d be back to the way we used to be.
A nagging part of my brain decided to punch me in the heart.
What if I don’t want to go back to the way we were?
What if I want more than that?
“No daydreaming. Time is precious enough as is,” she ordered. “Put these two crystals down near his feet. They’re going to be a reserve since I have no idea how much power putting a heart this sick back in will cost.”
I rushed to comply.
“Listen to me very closely, Cora,” she said sternly. “There are two parts to this. The first part you’re not going to like. I have to get the heart back in. By that I mean, I need to take a knife, divide the skin and muscle layers and cut his sternum. There is no way to magic the heart in. I have to do it the old-fashioned way. The second will be a power suck. I’m going to use all my available energy, plus the crystals and yours too, to try to coax the heart to rejoin. It will not be easy. Think trying to light a fire with wet matches.”
I swallowed hard. If I had thought healing him that one time was draining, this was going to be like walking on a tightrope of knives.
“I’ll do whatever you ask.” I hated how defeated my voice sounded but it couldn’t be helped.
“Grab onto the crystals near his feet. We’re going to make a conduit. It’ll stop him from dying when I make the first incision. Do not say anything, don’t do anything until I tell you to,” she ordered. I nod helplessly and grab onto the large blue crystals.
I immediately get shocked by the surge in power and my knees almost buckle.
“Careful now, those have a bit of kick to them.” My inside thoughts included the phrase WARN ME EARLIER.
I bit down on my tongue and put my hands back on the crystals. All I can describe it as was like my own magic but on steroids. The tingling I normally feel was increased exponentially, zipping across my hands and arms, rolling up and over my shoulders. Blue lightning bolts appeared over my chest. This is what Damien meant when he said he felt juiced.
The sheer power in these crystals with me combined could have jumpstarted a dealership’s worth of cars, powered a small city, you name it.
Filla flicked her hand in the air and the book opened to her page.
I saw her drag a long and wickedly sharp-looking knife to the table and disappear one room over, returning with another large tool.
“Bolt cutters?” I sputtered. “What are you doing with those?”
Oh right, I was supposed to be quiet.
