Catch Me When I Fall (16 page)

awoke in one of Bartholomew’s hospital beds and closed my eyes tight as bright lights above the bed blinded me. With gauze wrapped from fingertips to elbow, my right arm felt like it weighed one hundred pounds. I tried to sit up, but my head exploded with pain, like someone had set off dynamite in my skull. Lying back down, I covered my eyes with my good arm.

How had I gotten here? Did someone get Kayla home safely? God, she had to be terrified. What I had planned as a romantic evening to help her escape from her fears turned into something out of a blooming horror movie. I needed to find out what happened to her.

T.N.T. detonated in my head when I sat up. Gripping the edges of the bed, I inhaled deeply, trying not to vomit. The door to my room opened, and Bartholomew walked in carrying a large, glass jar full of dark, green liquid.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.

“Kayla. I need to make sure she’s safe.”

Bartholomew set the jar on the end table next to the bed and held up a hand. “She’s fine. She’s here. Tabbi is with her.”

“She’s here?”

He nodded. “She refused to leave. Was quite belligerent, to tell you the truth. But once I unwrapped your arm, she fainted. I had Tabbi take her to my study and keep her there until you woke.”

I hated that she had to see me like this. But Kayla was safe. Bartholomew might as well finish his work before I went in search of her. I leaned against the wall behind me, and he removed the gauze from my arm. Though, he might as well have been ripping off my skin inch by inch. Only breathing through my nose kept me from crying out.

Bartholomew used a paintbrush to spread thick, green liquid on my burn, and the pain subsided in seconds. “You’re lucky I had enough antidote prepared. What on earth possessed you to stick your arm through a wraith, Daniel?”

“It was set on me like an attack dog. I had to dispose of it before the guy controlling the thing could pinpoint its location. I had no choice.”

“How do you know someone was controlling it? The wraith could’ve been just a rogue that felt threatened by you.”

“Someone stepped out of the shadows right before the attack. He spoke Latin.
Occidere eum
.”

The paintbrush stopped moving. Bartholomew locked eyes with me. “A warlock?”

I nodded. “He was looking right at the wraith when he spoke.”

“What did he look like?”

“I don’t know. He was in a hooded cape, so I couldn’t tell. But the wraith stared at me before it attacked. I’m certain the warlock set him on me.”

“Where did this happen?”

“Paris. I was there with Kayla.”

Bartholomew finished applying the salve in silence. He threw the paintbrush in the rubbish and closed the lid on the jar before rewrapping my forearm with fresh gauze. His quietness unnerved me.

“Is it common for a warlock to be able to command a wraith?” I knew they were capable of some pretty dark stuff, but I’d never seen this done before.

Bartholomew nodded. “A wraith has no ties to this world, no ties to the afterlife. They have no master to serve. Many warlocks would be capable of controlling them. But what I want to know is why a warlock would want you dead.”

He did have a point. I’d never made a habit of associating with the Magus. Most of the time, witches and warlocks freaked me out. So why would one be interested in me?

Bartholomew gave me another shot of his painkiller-slash-healing-serum and handed me a shirt. “Daniel, I will ask you again, and I want you to be absolutely honest with me. This Kayla girl, are you sure you haven’t noticed anything different about her?”

I frowned. Last time he’d asked, I hadn’t known for sure. But now… “Actually, yeah. Tabbi believes Kayla really did burn her mother’s boyfriend with her bare hands. And she can see through the veil.”

Bartholomew’s dark eyes grew so large, I thought they were going to pop out of his head. “Oh. Well.” He scratched his black beard. “That’s… very interesting. I will look into this.”

I was about to ask him what Kayla had to do with any of this when he left me to stew in my thoughts. Again.

Tabbi and Kayla sat on the plaid sofa in Bartholomew’s study when I entered. Both of their heads popped up at the sound of my boots clonking on the study’s hardwood floor. The tense lines in their faces softened almost instantly.

“Daniel!” Kayla jumped off the sofa and ran to me. She flung her arms around my neck and hugged me. “I wanted to come see you, but Tabbi kept popping up in front of me when I tried to escape.”

Wrapping my good arm around her, I pulled her tight, smiling softly at the mental picture of Tabbi hopping around the room, disappearing and reappearing with a grin on her face. Her personality always had matched the color of her red locks. When Tabbi reached us, I tousled her hair. “Thanks for staying with her.”

She smacked my hand away. “It was like playing peek-a-boo with a two-year-old. Nothing I couldn’t handle. I thought they taught you when we trained never to touch a wraith.”

“Thanks for reminding me.”

Tabbi grinned. “So, I guess I’m not needed anymore. I’ll leave you two love birds alone. Keep the snoggin’ to a minimum.”

When Tabbi winked and disappeared, I shook my head then returned my attention to the girl in my arms.

Kayla still wore the pink dress Tabbi stole from Samantha’s closet, but her shoes were missing. Between the bare feet, disheveled hair and smeared makeup, she looked like she’d had as rough of a night as I feared.

“I’m sorry about Paris.”

She stepped back, far enough to look into my eyes but not so far that I couldn’t keep my arms around her. She put her hands on my chest. “Forget about Paris. You almost died protecting me from, what, a wraith?”

I shook my head. “It was after me. I just didn’t want to worry about you getting caught in the line of fire. The wraith can only kill what’s already dead, but you saw what it did to my flat. When they’re angry, they knock over everything in their path, living or not.”

“Why was it after you?”

Sighing, I dropped my arms from around her and led her to the sofa. “Sit down. We need to talk.”

Her lips tightened, but she did what I asked. I sat next to her and touched her bare knee. My mind wandered to the feel of her soft skin beneath my palm, and I removed my hand from her knee before my mind got carried away.

“Remember how I said there were other things out there—things that, as kids, we’re told don’t exist?”

Kayla nodded. She folded her hands in her lap.

“Well, one of those ‘things’ controlled that wraith tonight. I don’t know why he wanted me dead, but we do know what he was. A warlock.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “You mean like a wizard?”

I nodded. “But not the wand-twirling kind. Warlocks are powerful, and the dark ones are extremely dangerous. They have a supernatural connection to the spirit world and harness its energy to perform their magic—or in this case, control the wraith.”

“So, what can we do? How can we keep him from coming after you again?”

I would’ve laughed if the threat wasn’t realistic. My stomach churned. If he had some vendetta against me, then fine. But I wasn’t going to let Kayla get involved. Ever. “Bartholomew’s looking for answers. But I don’t want you being a part of this. It’s my job to keep you safe. Which means ‘we’ are not—”

Kayla placed her hands on my chest. “I didn’t say I was going to go snooping around. Besides, I know you won’t let anything happen to me.”

I sighed. “Your—not—lack of faith is disturbing.”

“Did you really just try to apply a line from
Star Wars
to our relationship?”

“Maybe. But I like that you called this a ‘relationship’. Takes the pressure off me to make it official.” I chuckled when she play-smacked my chest.

“How about you take me home now, Darth?”

e had to make a pit stop in Tabbi’s apartment so Kayla could change into her hospital garb. I groaned when I looked at the clock—10:00 a.m.—which meant Kayla had been gone for a whole day. They definitely would’ve noticed her absence.

“This isn’t good,” I said, running my hand down my face. “I never should’ve taken you from that place.”

“It’s okay. I can say I took a bus downtown or something,” Kayla said.

I frowned. She was putting on such a brave face for me, but the lines in her forehead told me she was worried.