His left hand pressed tightly against his stomach. Holding back the bleeding there. He was also supporting a second spell. I had seen him cast it, but I didn’t know what it was.
“You’re shot. Jesus, Terric, you’ve been shot.”
He nodded. “I can keep my insides stable with magic. Think I have about half an hour left before I pass out, and that might be a problem. But hey—the hospital’s right up the hill. If it’s still standing.”
He took a breath, a little too much rattle in it. Licked his lips. “Listen to me, Shame. Don’t drift off. We need to get back to the car. All of us. I need your help with her, because I can’t keep this up forever.”
He turned his head. I looked that way.
The “her” was Brandy Scott, surrounded by an Illusion spell. She stood just a few feet away from us, rocking softly back and forth. She still had her IV bag but didn’t seem to notice it in her hand.
“What. The. Hell?” Too much had happened. I couldn’t put all the events in the right order in my head. “Jesus Christ, Terric. Did you save Brandy? Did you fucking do what Eli told you to do? You could have saved Davy. You could have killed Eli.”
“I . . . wasn’t in my right mind.” The hurt from admitting that crossed his eyes. “All that mattered was calculating the correct outcome. Taking her was the correct outcome. I wanted to save Davy, but the magic . . . it took everything to hold it, manage it through the pain.”
I knew what he was saying. The monster in him had taken over. Life magic had chosen who to save, no matter what he wanted. Heartless. Cruel. Inhuman. He had saved Brandy and not Davy. Not our friend.
“How?” I asked.
“I cast an Illusion to hide her. To replicate her where they expected her to be. They’ll know she’s missing in the next half hour too, if I pass out. Or when the spell fades. She’s our bargaining chip, Shame. She’s how we’re going to find Eli. She’s how we’re going to kill him.”
I stood there. Couldn’t get my brain clear enough to know whether I should yell at him or hug him. That was a staggering amount of magical finesse and strength under any circumstance. But with Void stone bullets digging through his gut, and the rest of the magical bombardment, it had taken incomprehensible skill. I didn’t know anyone in the world other than Terric who could have pulled it off.
“I can’t touch her,” I said flatly. “I’ll kill her between one heartbeat and the next.”
“All right,” he said. “I’ll lead her, but if I pass out . . .”
“No guarantees I’ll catch her, and not hurt her. I . . . can’t.”
I waited as Terric said calm things to Brandy. He put his hand softly on her arm and took a step.
She followed along without question.
Chapter 30
The room looked like a goddamn war zone. I crossed it. Out the blown hatch, and down the hall. I knew the way, but Eleanor was in front of me, making it very clear which way I should go, which was probably for the best.
The warehouse was how we had left it. Except for the eight dead gunmen. They were gone. Krogher, or whoever was behind this operation, had done the work to erase their tracks.
The car was also where we left it.
There didn’t appear to be any traps set on it. Which meant either they didn’t care that we had escaped or they didn’t think that we would.
Terric got Brandy into the backseat and eased in next to her. I stood there for a little too long, trying to decide if I could do this. If I could face living.
“Shame. Please,” Terric said.
I got into the driver’s seat, glanced in the rearview mirror. Terric’s eyes were closed. He was pale, bloody, burned, and sickly green around the edges. His head rested on the back of the seat, but he was in a lot of pain.
“You still with me, Ter?” I asked.
“Always,” he said. “Doctor might be nice, though.”
I heard sirens. Fire trucks, I thought. Coming our way.
So I drove up to the main complex that I had not destroyed. Parked in the garage. Got out of the car. I didn’t know how I was going to take him in there. Should I bring Brandy? She looked like she’d just escaped from the place. But I couldn’t leave her out here alone either.
I opened Terric’s door. “Do you still have your phone?”
“Inside coat pocket.”
His voice was less than a whisper and he didn’t even open his eyes. I reached in his pocket and pulled out the phone.
It still had a charge. I thumbed it on, called Dash.
“Spade,” he said.
“It’s Shame. I need someone here. Discreetly. And now.”
“Where are you?”
“Main parking garage at OHSU. Now,” I said again. “Terric’s hurt.”
I hung up.
“Hey,” Terric said quietly.
I crouched down so I was on eye level with him. “What?”
“We don’t have to go in.”
“You have bullets in your gut. Void stone bullets. We go in.”
“Void . . . ? No wonder if hurts like a fucker. Don’t think I’m gonna . . .” He moved his lips, but no words came out. “...dizzy.”
No. He was not going to pass out.
I reached for him. Put my hand over his hand, my fingers between his fingers, his blood welling slick and hot as he relaxed his hand, letting me keep the pressure on the wound.
“Damn, I’m tired,” he sighed.
I didn’t know what would happen if he passed out. I didn’t know if something was already permanently damaged in him. And I couldn’t heal him, couldn’t sustain him like he could sustain himself.
I was death. The very thing we were trying to avoid here.
But we were tied, he and I. Maybe by more than magic.
“You’re going to be fine,” I said, giving him my words as he had given me his—a lifeline. “I called Dash. He sounded worried. Probably about you. You know he has a massive crush on you, right?”
Terric opened his eyes. Bloodshot, glassy. Not tracking all that well. He’d probably be shocked if he had the energy for it. “The hell.”
“It’s true,” I said, glad something had made him stir. “You move between boyfriends so fast he hasn’t even had a chance to ask you out.”
“I.” He blinked. “Huh.”
And that was all he had time to say. Because a car pulled into a parking spot near us.
I twisted on the toe of my boot, keeping the pressure on his gut, and looked over my shoulder to see who Dash had sent.
Zayvion and Allie got out of the car, both looking unscathed, ready to kick ass, and worried as hell.
They shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t be outside the protections we’d left on their house.
But I had never in my whole damn life been so glad to see them.
“Shame,” Zay said, taking in the scene with one glance. “You need to go in with Terric. I’ll stay out here with her.”
“Brandy,” I said. “Scott.”
Zay nodded. “I know.”
Of course he knew. He had been a Closer, Victor’s star pupil. He had probably been there when Victor Closed Eli.
I wondered if he knew Victor was dead. Gone.
“Is Terric conscious?” Allie asked.
“He is,” Terric whispered.
So I helped Terric out of the car, got his arm over my shoulder. Allie made a move to put her arm around him too to help him walk.
“You shouldn’t,” I warned. “I’m not safe.”
“You’re a mess,” she agreed. “But I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t have it in me to argue with her, so I just did my best to keep from touching her. I focused on getting Terric into the building and down the hall. We found an empty wheelchair and navigated him into that, and then I wheeled him to admittance, Eleanor somewhere at the edge of my vision.