“Yes, I would not hesitate to risk my life for you,” Carmen proclaimed seriously.
“Ditto,” Phoebe said as she put her hands on her hips. A wave of relief washed over me and I threw my arms around Carmen. Phoebe hopped up from the loveseat and joined the embrace. Tears were streaming down my face as I sat back and struggled to understand why everyone in my life was willing to risk everything for me. It was just ludicrous. But the relief was so great, I had no more argument left in me. To have two of my best friends with me on my journey was more than I could ever ask for. The hard truth of the matter remained at the forefront of my mind, however. The stakes had just gotten much, much higher.
Chapter 33
“I feel like we’re starring in some Syfy movie about a handsome devil of a man who genetically alters peoples’ bodies for kicks.”
“You watch way too much late night television, Phoebs,” Willow laughed at her dark imagination.
“I can promise you there will be no body altering on my watch,” Liam humored her, as Natasha continued to make sure we were comfortable. All three of us were lying on three tables that we had gathered from around the house. We had pillows and blankets, but I wouldn’t say
‘comfortable’ is how I would ever describe laying on a table. Natasha and Liam needed to be able to get to each of us in order to check our bodies’ serum levels while our souls were in the Underworld.
Willow was sitting patiently in an arm chair watching Liam’s every move. The crease between her forehead and the worry in her eyes made me uneasy. Although I was still more than ready to do this, I was having doubts about my own ability to pull it off.
Natasha produced three surgical needles and a large vial of cloudy, cream-colored liquid and handed them to Liam, who began to measure out the initial doses. Phoebe, who had been entertained by her own imagination moments before, was watching him with a look of pure terror. I could tell her hands were shaking as she proceeded to bite off every nail she had. Liam inserted the needle of each syringe into the vial of liquid and pulled out a specific amount; lying it down on a tray before moving to the next one.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Phoebe forced, promptly hopping off the table and running to the bathroom. Willow followed after her as I shared a nervous glance with Carmen. I was on the verge of having an anxiety attack myself. It wasn’t long before Phoebe was back, looking only slightly pale.
She forced a smile and climbed back up onto the table.
“So, tell us more about how the serum works,” I urged Liam; hoping to calm our nerves if we had more information about what would be happening in our bodies. As Natasha gathered gauze and alcohol, Liam sauntered over to us.
“Your parasympathetic nervous system, housed in the medulla of your brain, slows your heart rate naturally by releasing a chemical called acetylcholine,” he started to explain.
“Let’s try that again, but in English this time,” Carmen insisted, and Willow giggled from her chair. Liam chuckled and glanced shyly back at Willow.
“The serum will begin by slowing your heart rate down to five beats per minute. A normal heart rate is between sixty and one hundred beats per minute.”
“Wow,” Phoebe breathed.
“Consequently, your breathing will slow to a rate almost unrecognizable by even an RPM machine.” We stared at him blankly and he grinned, “Respiratory Profile Monitor. The serum basically tricks your brain into believing your body is dead. However, it doesn’t allow it to send the signal to your organs for them to shut down. So your body will be doing a balancing act while you are gone; teetering on the brink of actual death. We will monitor the serum levels to maintain the correct percentage.” Phoebe’s face immediately drained of all color.
Liam handed the syringes to Natasha as she added, “Once your body reaches the minimum level of heart and breath rate, your soul will easily detach; also believing the body is dead. When you return, the force of your soul reconnecting will literally awaken your body.”
“If we return,” Phoebe corrected her shakily.
“When you return.” Natasha raised a dark eyebrow at her and proceeded to give us our instructions, “Now I need you all to lie back and try to relax while we inject the serum.”
“Oh yeah, cause that sounds about as relaxing as a bathtub full of acid,” Carmen muttered. I heard Natasha snicker as she wrapped an elastic band around my bicep; restricting the blood supply so that she could find a good vein. I’d seen nurses use the same technique while taking blood. She inserted the long slender needle into the crook of my arm with expert precision and a tiny prick, and then slowly emptied the creamy liquid into my bloodstream. It was colder than my body temperature and I could feel it as it spread through my arm, up shoulder, and into my heart. While Natasha was tending to me, Liam had already administered the serum to both Phoebe and Carmen.
“So how long does this stuff take?” Carmen asked impatiently.
“Anywhere from ten to twenty minutes,” Liam answered. Carmen narrowed her eyes at me and Phoebe.
“If you get there before me, you better wait. I’m not going gallivanting around the Underworld all by myself.”
“I’ll be the one hiding under a rock,” Phoebe whispered and let out a nervous giggle.
“Let’s go over a couple of things before you begin to lose consciousness,” Natasha instructed while cleaning up the supplies. “You have the map?”
“Safe and sound,” Phoebe answered, patting her pants pocket. Willow had made an index card sized replica of Finn’s Underworld map for me to take on my journey. Phoebe was now tasked with keeping it out of harm’s way.
“And Stasia, you have the dagger, the black onyx balefire, and piece of rope,” Natasha confirmed. Something told me that I was still missing something important.
“Hey Willow, will you grab the white stone out of my valise? I think I want to take that with me too,” I requested.
“White stone?” Natasha’s interest piqued.
“It’s just a stone I found at a shipwreck site on the Outer Banks,” I shrugged.
“Have you figured out what the piece of rope is used for?” she inquired.
“Not yet, but it can’t hurt to bring it along.”
“Very true,” Natasha agreed. Willow came back in the room and handed me the white stone.
Natasha materialized beside my table.
“May I see?” She brought the stone up to her face to get a good look at it. “Moonstone.”
“Moonstone?” I’d never heard of a moonstone before.
“It may indeed come in handy,” Natasha grinned knowingly and handed it back to me, “It helps in the foretelling of the future as well as enhancing intuition.”
“That’s either a crazy coincidence or you were meant to find that,” Phoebe commented. I rolled the stone back and forth in my palm. It was definitely curious that I would find a random moonstone in the middle of the ocean.
“Now girls, I need you to listen to me very carefully.” Natasha sat on the edge of Phoebe’s table and made eye contact with each of us separately. “You must avoid any fruit you may find in the Underworld,” her intense gaze paused on me. “And you must not drink from the River of Forgetfulness no matter how thirsty you may be.”
“I think we can handle that,” Phoebe nodded dutifully. Natasha’s features turned solemn as she continued.