Bayou Moon - Andrews, Ilona [171]
“It’s me, it’s me,” Gaston’s voice said. A hand restrained him.
William snarled.
“Come on now, friend,” Zeke’s voice said. “You’re safe, it’s all good. All good. Gaston, slide him back into bed, before he chokes himself. There we go.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe,” Gaston said. “She’s safe.”
Alive. Cerise was alive.
A cup bumped against his lips.
“Drink,” Zeke said. “You’ll feel all better after you drink.”
The liquid spilled into his mouth. It tasted vile, bitter, and metallic. William tried to spit it out but somehow it worked its way down his throat into his stomach. Warmth spread through him, dulling the pain.
Slowly his vision returned to normal, and he stared at Gaston kneeling by the bed, his face two inches away.
There was something on his neck. William reached over. His fingers grazed leather.
“Hang on.” Zeke reached over and unhooked something, lifting a large dog collar free. “Sorry about that. You went wolf on us a couple of times. Had to keep you put.”
William shook his head. His voice came out hoarse. “Where is Cerise?”
“She had to go home,” Gaston said.
“Where am I?” He tried to rise, but they clamped him down.
“Settle down,” Zeke told him. “I will explain everything to you, but you’ve got to lie still or we’ll tie your ass to the bed. You got me?”
Fine. William lay back down.
“They brought you to me four days ago. They had you in some sort of casket, and you were barely breathing. Apparently you were hurt bad, and whatever the casket did kept you alive, but you weren’t getting any better. Cerise said that we had to get you to the Weird because the Mire didn’t have enough magic, and if we left you where you were, you’d die.”
They put him in the Box. He’d died. He remembered dying and the mist and then nothing.
“We didn’t have a lot of time,” Zeke said. “You were hanging by a thread. The Hand’s freaks were still after the Mars, and we had to move fast. There is only one way out of the Mire into the Weird and that’s through Louisiana. We had to grease the Border Guard’s hand. It took everything I had and all the money the Mars had. Wiped us out clean, but we got you and the kid out, because she didn’t trust me alone. I better get reimbursed for this. We’re in Louisiana now, in the country, in one of the Mirror’s safe houses.”
Zeke reached to the table and lifted a square of lined paper. “Here. She wrote you a note.”
William clenched the paper in his hand, focusing on it with all of his will. The tiny scribbles solidified into words.
I love you so much. I’m so sorry, I can’t go with you. There are only fifteen adults left, and most of them are hurt. The Hand’s freaks ran after you killed Spider, but they keep coming back. We’ve been attacked twice, and we don’t have enough money to get everyone over the border. I have to stay behind to protect the kids and Lark.
Live, William. Get better, get strong again, and find me if you can. Even if I never see you again, I regret nothing. I only wish we had more time.
He read it again. And again. It didn’t say anything different.
He would find her again. But before he did that, he had to make her safe from everyone. Her and her whole damn family. Until he saved the lot of them, they would never let her go.
The kid raised a cup and held it up to his mouth. “You need more of this tea.”
“No.” Every word was an effort. “The Box?”
“He broke it,” Zeke said in disgust. “Shattered the thing to pieces. When I woke up, it was burning.”
“Cerise told me to.” Gaston bumped the cup against William’s lips. “She said for you to drink this. It’s good for you. It will make you better.”
“No.”
Gaston’s face radiated grim determination. “You don’t have to like it. You have to drink it. Don’t make me hold your nose closed.”
William cursed and drank. There was only one man who could help him now. He had to get stronger so he could travel, and if it meant he had to chug the vomit-inducing tea, he would do it.
By evening, he managed to keep down some broth. The next day he sat up, two days later he walked, and two days after that, he and Gaston crossed