Broken

Price

I GOT NICK AS FAR AS THE SEMICONSCIOUS “WHERE AM I? What am I doing here?” stage, then left him to Jaime while I took the next step-one at least as terrifying as any that had come before it.

“A-Antonio,” I said into the phone. “It’s me.”

“Elena?” His voice boomed loud enough to make my head rock. “Where the hell-?”

“We’re okay. Nick’s fine. I’m fine. Jaime’s fine. Hull’s dead. The zombies are dead. The portal should be closed. Is-” I swallowed, knowing if I could feel red-hot fury from Antonio, it was nothing compared to the icy blast that was coming. “Is Jeremy there?”

“He’s with Clay. I’m outside, searching for you two. Or three, I suppose, if Jaime went with you. I thought she was in her room.” A growl of a sigh. “Whatever you did, Elena, whether it killed Hull or not, it was stupid-”

“I know.”

“And risky as hell-”

“I know.”

Another sigh, softer. “And probably the right thing to do, but that doesn’t mean I’m ever going to admit that to Jeremy. Understood?”

I gave a small smile. “Understood.”

“Now get your asses back here pronto.”

“We still have one more thing to do,” I said. “Hull didn’t disintegrate like the zombies. Zoe said she’d clean up but-”

“I’ll be right there. But you’re coming back. Get yourself and Jaime into a cab.”

Somewhere on my headlong run up the hotel stairs, Jaime disappeared. She must have decided this was one family scene she didn’t care to join.

I took a deep breath and knocked. Seconds ticked past. Then Jeremy opened the door. For a long moment, he just stood there and looked at me, face impassive.

A few years ago, getting a “welcome” like this would have crushed me. But now even if he stood there as calmly as if I’d returned from a coffee run, I could see the warring emotions in his eyes-as if he wasn’t sure whether to hug me, congratulate me or scream at me. In the end, he just nodded and waved me in as he held the door. When I passed, his free hand went around my shoulder, an awkward half-embrace that slid into a gentle prod as he directed me where he knew I really wanted to go, to Clay.

I saw Clay and faltered. The room was dark, quiet and empty. Tolliver was nowhere to be seen, but the room was still littered with medical supplies, as if he’d just left. Clay lay on the bed, asleep.

I don’t know what I expected. Not for him to be at the door, back to normal, furious and ready to wring my neck for taking such a risk. Nothing would have pleased me more, but that wish had been only a fleeting fancy. Still, I had hoped to find him…awake.

“The drugs, I guess, huh?” I said. “You probably had to dose him pretty good-” I stopped as my hand touched his forehead, then quickly looked at Jeremy. “He’s still warm.”

“The fever broke, but he’s still fighting the infection.”

“Infection? But-” I looked at the bandages on his arm. “Have you checked-?”

“Yes, it’s still there.”

Jeremy walked over to me, close enough to touch, but just standing beside me.

“Okay,” I said. “But that’s because the portal isn’t completely closed, I bet. It probably takes some time. We should send Nick and Antonio over, see whether anyone’s come back through. Then we’ll know it’s closed.”

Jeremy nodded, gaze down, and motioned for me to sit beside Clay while he took the chair. I made the call. Then all we could do was wait.

An hour later, Nick phoned. They’d returned to the portal site to find a growing crowd of media, police and onlookers. The three missing people had appeared shortly after Rose’s death, unharmed and dazed, remembering nothing.

So the portal was closed.

And still Clay slept, still feverish, still infected.

The others returned. They checked on Clay, but there had been no change. Jeremy told them to make ready to head back to Stonehaven. When they left, I stood clutching Clay’s warm hand.

“It didn’t work, did it?” I said.

He shook his head.

“You knew it wouldn’t. You knew Hull was lying, that closing the portal wouldn’t cure Clay. There’s no magic here, is there?”

He walked up behind me, very gently kissed the back of my head and whispered, “No.”

My knees wobbled, and I grabbed the side of the bed, but Jeremy caught my arm to steady me.

“He’ll be fine, Elena. Randall is coming back to do the debridement-cut away the infected area-”

“But that means-Tolliver said-It’ll be permanent, won’t it? Muscle damage?”

“Possibly.” He hesitated. “Probably. His arm won’t be perfect, but he’ll still have it. Right now, those are my priorities. First, that he keeps the arm. Failing that, that he keeps his life.”

I lowered myself onto the bed.

Jeremy put his hand on my shoulder. “Matthew Hull is dead. The portal is closed. Your babies are safe. You’re safe. Yes, Clay might lose muscle. Possibly even his arm. But you know what he’ll think about that?”

I looked up at Jeremy.

“That it was a small price to pay, considering what he could have lost.”

When you live in a world of magic, you come to expect magic. You can fight that, try to concentrate on what’s real, but deep down, you still hope that the flick of a wand can make everything better and everyone will live happily ever after.

Clay’s cure did come-at the hands of a doctor. Tolliver cut out the infected tissue, and found clean flesh below it. So it was over. A price paid but, as Jeremy said, a relatively small one. I only hoped Clay agreed.

He woke up later the next day, when the drugs wore off. Groggy at first, he just lay there, listening as I told him that Hull was dead. He was too weak to manage more than muttering, “You took a stupid risk, Elena.”

Then Jeremy explained what they’d done to his arm, that some of the muscle had been damaged. While he’d have plenty of physiotherapy to undergo, he’d never get his full strength back in that arm.

He took it all in, unblinking. I tensed, waiting for the dismay, the rage that this had happened, all because of a letter I’d insisted we steal. As he turned to look at me, I steeled myself for what I’d see.

He met my gaze. “Ready to go home, darling?”