Chapter 22 – Locked
Ariel
“Hi,” Mark says, his voice somehow managing to be adorably low and creaky all at once. He holds out a hand that trembles just slightly. “Hi…I’m Mark.”
Laila’s face blooms into the most gorgeous smile as she lifts her hand and slips it into his. “Hi,” she whispers, staring into his face unblinking, obviously completely thrilled and overwhelmed and a bit without words. “Um, my name is…” she goes silent for a moment, her face dropping before she bursts out laughing, utterly embarrassed, blushing and managing to look completely adorable as she presses a hand to her cheek. “I’m sorry. I’m Laila. I’m a mess!”
“It’s fine,” Mark says, laughing gently, making my heart swell with happiness and pride. God, I’m just so grateful I got to witness this moment. “And no,” Mark says, shaking his head. “You are…completely perfect.”
Laila just bites her lip, looking up at her Prince, I think head over heels already for the man our grandmother has marked as her perfect match.
“This is very sweet,” Cora says, her voice walking a fine line between tense and adoring as she moves over to the pair. “But I need these IV’s like…right now.”
“Oh!” Laila gasps, dropping to her knees and starting to gather them all up. “Cora, I am so sorry –“
“No, let me,” Mark murmurs, bending low and helping.
Cora laughs and puts a hand on each of their shoulders. “It’s fine, guys. But, um, why don’t you two step aside for a minute? Say hello? Maybe you can show Laila something of our fine city?” She grins between the pair and I squeak a little, realizing that Cora has seen what I’ve seen.
“Are you sure? We could…help…” Mark murmurs, standing and helping Cora pile the IVs in her arms.
“No, go ahead you two, we’ve got plenty here,” Cora says, turning away.
I sigh happily and sneak a glance at June, pleased when I see her face as joyous as my own. Only Tony looks strained, standing at the foot of the hospital bed with his hands deep in his pockets.
But I suppose he has many reasons to feel distracted from someone else’s happiness today.
“So, um,” Mark says, glancing anxiously at the door to the main suite and turning to look at the one that leads directly to the hall. “Do you want to…go get a slice of pizza?”
“Pizza!?” Laila asks, eyes bright as she looks up at him like he just offered her the world’s finest meal. “I love pizza! June made it in the Underworld!”
Mark grimaces, glancing over at June and me. “Well, if June made it…”
“Hey!” June cries, crossing her arms over her chest, eyes narrowed.
“No,” Laila says, laughing a tinkly, wonderful little laugh and impulsively reaching out to place her fingers on his forearm. Mark jumps a little, turning back to her with a wide smile. “No, she just…magicked it up. She didn’t cook it. I would…not have eaten it, had that been the case.”
Juniper just scoffs, continuing to be offended.
“Oh…um, okay,” Mark murmurs. “To whatever that means. But yeah, maybe…we’ll go get you some real, non-magical pizza?”
“I would love that,” Laila whispers, nodding. “Can we get anchovies on top? Or haddock?”
Mark’s eyebrows raise at this second suggestion but he just nods, making my heart swell again at my sweetheart baby brother who just wants everyone to be happy. “Sure,” he says, nodding eagerly. “I mean, I don’t know if they have haddock. But we can ask.”
Laila beams up at Mark as he quite gallantly offers an arm. He turns to June for a second, hesitating, wanting to support her. But she just grins and waves the two of them off. And then they’re moving, sweeping from the room, heading for the hall door. I bite my lip, understanding why he didn’t go through the main room and wondering what on earth Mark is supposed to do next.
“Hey, Ariel? June?” Cora calls, standing by Anton’s hospital bed, adjusting the level so that the corpse rises a little higher. “There’s a big box outside with some more supplies – will you go get it?”
“Ariel can do it,” June snaps, arms still conveniently crossed so she doesn’t have to perform the gesture again. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“It’s a big box,” Roger calls, still fiddling with the machines. “Help your sister, Juniper.”
She sighs and rolls her eyes but nods. “Fine.” She glances once at Tony, who smiles softly at her, looking quite tense. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be right here,” he murmurs, shrugging. Because, obviously, he can’t quite go anywhere else.
“Come on,” June says, starting for the door into the main room where everyone else is waiting.
“I don’t remember a big box,” I say, glancing back at Cora with a frown. “Where –“
“Oh, you’ll see it!” she calls, waving a hand at me. “Far side of the room.”
I sigh and follow my sister out the door. We cross the room together, not saying hello to anyone, intent on our business. I note with a little smile that Jackson is talking quietly with my dad, their heads close together, a sympathetic look on dad’s face. Happiness and hope race through me and I send both along the bond to Jacks, who glances at me just for a moment to send assurance back.
“Where the hell is this box?” Juniper snaps, hands on hips, a big frown on her face as she looks around.
I turn myself back to the task at hand, likewise looking around.
But she’s right. There’s no such thing in the room.
What the hell is Cora asking us to look for?
Tony
“Well, that was neatly done,” I say, turning to the Duchess at my side as she hangs an IV next to my corpse, which is already hooked up to an infusion pump, ready to fill my body up with blood. I swallow hard, kind of…grossed out by all of this. “Why did you send them out of the room?”
“To give you the choice, Tony,” Cora says softly, straightening at my side and looking me in the eye. “I’m not entirely sure that this is going to be pretty, my dear. If you want Juniper here that’s fine but…” she shrugs. “In the case that you didn’t…”
I sigh and look down at my body, fear pulsing through me with what should be every beat of my heart. But, of course, I don’t have a heartbeat anymore.
I glance around at the blood waiting in bags, the bodily fluids ready to fill me, the electric paddles that Roger has set up on the other side of the hospital bed, and then back down at my corpse, its face – my face? – all slack.
“Yeah,” I whisper, nodding, suddenly sure that I’ve got to do this alone.
Because if it happens –
If it snaps into place and I’m moaning and barely conscious –
Or worse fucking yet, if it doesn’t…
I want to be…whole when she sees me. I don’t want her to see me half-dead, struggling to come alive.
“Yeah, let’s…let’s keep this between us,” I murmur, flicking my eyes to this woman I’ve only known previously as my friends’ aunt and my magic professor. But somehow, I trust her utterly in this moment. “Thank you.”
“You’ve got it, kid,” she says quietly. Then she whips her head to her husband. “Roger?”
“On it!” he calls, turning and striding for the door.
“Okay okay,” Ella says, anxious and a bit sing-song, dashing to my side, clearly wanting to be there for me, to heal my body as we work as well as support my spirit.
I give her what smile I can, the expression trembling on my face.
Roger shuts the door. The click of the lock is audible.
“It’s going to be okay, sugar,” Ella whispers, nodding eagerly to me, her hands pressed to her chest like a promise.
“How do you know that?” I whisper back, all the fear I’ve been tucking away all day and night finding its way into my shaking voice.
“Because in this house,” Ella whispers, “hope wins.”
I stare at the Queen, calming down despite myself, deciding to believe her no matter what.
“Plus, I’m a half-goddess,” she whispers, giving me a cheeky wink that makes me truly smile. “And if anything goes wrong, Cora will call up our mom and give her a damn piece of our minds.”
My smile grows before dropping utterly as someone starts pounding on the door. I whip my head towards it, knowing that it’s June – I can feel her through the little tether the Goddess gave us in the Underworld, which is so tenuous here. But, still extant – just barely.
“Anton!” Juniper shouts, pissed as hell.
I go a paler shade of blue as Roger quite casually wanders back to the bed to stand with the rest of us.
“God damn it, Anton!” Juniper shouts, still pounding on the door, her palm flat on the wood. “Let me in! I’m going to kill you!”
“She doesn’t mean it,” Ella whispers, waving a dismissive hand at her daughter’s voice and turning to the corpse.
Roger looks at me steadily, fatherly support I’ve never really known before radiating from him. Cora gives me another soft smile and nods to my corpse.
“Well, kid? The body is bizarrely taking blood and liquids, which a dead body absolutely shouldn’t. But I’m taking it as a good sign! I think…we’re ready.”
I sigh, anxiety running through me from head to toe. I feel my form waiver and I clench my fists, desperate to stay together and not let it all fall apart at this last moment.
“Now or never,” I murmur.
I take a deep breath – more to steel myself than anything else, considering that I don’t actually breathe as a ghost – and, under the eyes of the Queen, the Duke, and the Duchess, I climb up onto the bed.
I exhale that breath as my girlfriend continues to wail on the door, shouting all the obscene and violent things that she’s going to do to me if we don’t let her in right now.
With that lovely sound in my ears, and the picture of my girl vivid in my mind – so beautiful, so fantastic and fierce – I close my eyes.
And lay my ghost back down into my body.