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  Chapter Eighteen

  The first thing I heard when I woke up was sobbing.

  “It's my fault, Jade. It's all my fault!"

  “Hush, Ethan. It’s okay. Shhh.”

  Being the incredibly brilliant girl I am, I immediately realized it was Ethan and Jade. I realized half a sed ter that I was in a frankly ridiculous amount of pain. Like someone had dumped me into a giant blender with a metri of bricks and made a Henry gravel smoothie.

  Or like I'd been run over by a semi-truck.

  I opened my eyes, and the familiar sight of Saint Bobo’s Hospital greeted me. Walls so white they hurt my eyes, bed sheets so scratchy you could use them as sandpaper. And, true to my razor-sharp intuitiohan and Jade were sitting at the food of my bed. her of them had noticed that I’d woken up yet. Ethan—ba human fain—was hunched over with his fa his hands, shaking as he wept. He looked so miserable, so utterly defeated, that for a few seds I fot that I felt like King Kong had used me as a stress ball.

  “First Mom and Dad,” Ethan said into his hands, “now Henry! And it’s all because I’m such a freaking idiot!”

  “Henry is going to be fine,” Jade said soothingly, rubbing her hand up and down his back. “The doctor said she’ll be ba her feet in another day or so!”

  Seeing them there, sharing such a tender moment, made my chest fre with jealousy. What gave Jade the right to be so close to Ethan? Was she the one who’d saved his life? Well, yeah, I guess she had. But I’d do more! Savihan's life was as much a daily chore for me as taking out the garbage every m!

  Ethan reached inside his shirt and pulled out Jade’s neckce.

  “Everyone I care about dies,” he said, his voice hoarse. “And it’s always my fault.”

  He sat up straight and turo look at her. She looked back, and their eyes locked with each other.

  “What’s going to happen to you, Jade?” he asked softly. “If you get hurt, or worse, and it’s because of me…”

  Jade closed her hands arouhan’s, and his closed around her core, their fingers g so tightly that only a few faint beams of its light escaped.

  “Nothing’s going to happen to me,” she promised. “As long as you’ve got my core, I’m going to be with you.”

  “How you be sure of that?”

  “I just am, Ethan.”

  Their faces began to inch closer to each other.

  “IT’S…ALIIIIIVE!” I roared, sitting up in my bed with my arms outstretched Fraein-style. Jade ahan froze, their lips mere timeters from toug, and spun to look at me.

  “Henry!” they both yelled at the same time.

  I gri them. “Sorry to disappoint you, bucko, but I’m not dying today. Also, I’m going to y back down now because that really hurt, o, oww.”

  Ethan and Jade leaped to their feet, gently helping to ease me back down onto my back. Guacamole chowder, the pain was enough to make my eyes water. But si had stopped their impromptu little makeout session, it was worth it.

  “Henry, how do you feel?” Ethan asked once I was as fortable as I was going to get.

  “I got a booboo, Ethan,” I said. “ you kiss it and make it better?”

  His face turned red, and he looked over at Jade, who was giving me a disapproving scowl.

  Etha down beside my bed and took my hand in both of his. My heart did a backflip, but the look on his face quickly chased away those feelings. He looked like he was about to tell me my dog was dead—and he had killed it.

  “Henry, I am so…sooo…sorry,” he said, fresh tears rushing from his eyes. “I was ag like an idiot, and you got hurt because of it. Because of me!”

  “Don’t give yourself so much credit,” I said, rolling my eyes. “That ghul is the one who—”

  “No, Henry, you don’t uand.” Ethan squeezed my hand tighter. Painfully tighter. “That truck…it was the ohat killed my mom and dad! The ghul read my worst fear and used it against me, but you saved me. And…And you got hurt because of it!”

  I didn’t reply. Part of me wao make a joke, py it all off like it was nothing. Surprisingly, that part of me was in the minority for once. Lookihan in the eye, I could see his pain, just as bad as mi in a different way. There wasn't a single memory more painful for him than the night he'd lost his parents. To have that same true back for his best friend…I couldn't imagine what he must have been feeling.

  “Well,” I said eventually, “at least you look like you this time. Did you finally learn your lesson about those stupid pills?”

  Ethan flushed again. Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the medie bottle.

  “Oh, e on,” I whined. “Couldn’t something good have e out of this?”

  “Sorry,” he said. He didn’t put them ba his pocket, though. Instead, he set them on my nightstand, o another bottle of pills I didn’t reize—and my inhaler!

  “Oh, thank the whoopie cushion in the sky,” I said, grabbing it and holding it to my mouth. I pushed down, and ughter surged through me. I closed my eyes, waiting for it to chase away the pain. Why hadn't they dohis while I was asleep? I could have been…

  Nothing happened.

  The ughter chased away my exhaustion, but that only made me even more aware of the pain that wracked my body. I pressed down on the inhaler again, but nothing came out. I looked at it in fusioy already? One of Grandpa Teddy's inhalers had enough ughter to st aire week if you were smart about it— which, admittedly, I wasn't. Being the maiam hunter, I usually went through one a day. Emptying o in a single puff, though? That was unheard of!

  "Guys?" I asked, turning to Ethan and Jade. "What's going on?"

  They both looked away guiltily.

  “Answer me!” I snapped.

  "While you were unscious," Ethan answered in a hushed voice, "the cil made a decision."

  "They said that if you stayed here until you healed naturally, maybe that would teach you to be more careful," Jade added.

  I narrowed my eyes. "Say what now?"

  "Every m, yrandpa brings you a new inhaler," said Ethan. "They have just enough ughter io keep you alive until he brings ahe day."

  "WHAT?" I yelled, sending a jolt of pain down my spine. "How could they do that to…"

  I paused as the rest of what Ethan had said registered in my brain.

  I turo him. "Wait, you said he es here every m."

  Ethan nodded, and a pit formed in my stomach.

  "How long have I been here?"

  Ethan and Jade shared a look.

  "Almost a week," Jade finally answered.

  I sat up, ign the pain.

  "A week?" I shrieked at the top of my voice. "I've been lying here for a whole freaking week?"

  "The doctor said it was a a." Ethan was talking fast, like hearing the whole broccoli beefing situation at once would make it less painful. "But he also said as long as we kept you supplied with ughter that you'd probably wake up in a week or two, so we didn't o worry.”

  Jade poi the pill bottle o Ethan’s. “Those are painkillers, in case you start to hurt too much.”

  “Yrandpa said the cil would have someone else fill in as the Hunter until you were better,” Ethan cluded.

  I groan-screamed and fell bato the bed. "Noooo! You guys, McGus isn't in any shape to be out fighting maiams!"

  Ethan and Jade shared another look.

  "McGus isn't the one filling in for you," Jade said slowly.

  The pit in my stomach grew even heavier.

  "Who is it, then?"

  Ethan bit his lip, a trickle of sweat running down his brow. "It's…"