Her body shuddered. “Daemon…”

“I’m here.”

She shuddered again, turning her head away. Her face pinched, and she called out for me again, and the sound of my name was like being hit by an Arum. These tiny, pitiful sounds escaped her parted lips.

“We need to get her into something dry. Maybe that will help?” my sister offered.

She didn’t sound convinced, but I nodded. Moving as fast as lightning, Dee grabbed a dry nightgown out of one of the dressers. It was some kind of sleep jersey, with the number eleven on the back.

Even though I didn’t want to leave her side, I pushed away from the bed and turned my back, giving Kat privacy as Dee changed her out of the soaked shirt.

It didn’t help.

Nothing did, and when she started shivering uncontrollably, I was about to lose my freaking mind. I wrapped her in a blanket, but her body was shaking so hard the bed trembled.

I couldn’t take it anymore. “We need to take her to the hospital.”

Dee agreed, not that it mattered. One way or another, I was taking her there. Gathering her in my arms, I started down the stairs. I was outside, letting my human skin shed away when my sister stopped me.

“Daemon, we have to drive there.”

“Too slow.”

She grabbed my arm, her eyes meeting mine. “I know you’re worried, but we can’t show up there with no car. There’s no way we can explain that. We need to take the car. I’ll drive.”

I exhaled harshly.

“I’ll drive really fast and break every speed limit there is, but we need to do this like normal people would.”

Dammit, she was right, and I hated that.

Climbing into the back of Dee’s Jetta, I held Kat close. I didn’t know what to do. So I spoke to her in my native language, then realized she probably couldn’t hear it since it wasn’t something we spoke out loud.

But the strangest thing happened.

Kat stilled, and her breathing deepened.

Gathering her against my chest, I bent over, pressing my forehead to her flushed one, and kept talking to her, telling her about this stupid TV show I’d seen the other day, knowing she couldn’t hear me, but it was something and that’s all I had. And after I recapped the show, I closed my eyes and told her in my own language the truth.

I don’t know how to make you better. I wish I did, but please stay with me. I need you, and I can’t lose you. Not now. Not ever.

Chapter 4

Running my hands through my hair, I paced around the uncomfortable plastic chairs in the hospital waiting room. Dee was sitting in one, her knees tucked against her chest and her cheek resting against her knees. An older couple sat on the other side, and I was confident that I was probably going to see someone die before anyone came out and checked on the man.

A nurse had immediately taken Kat when we arrived, forcing me to place her down on one of those rolling beds with a thin mattress. I hadn’t wanted to let her go, let some human guy who looked a few years older than me wheel her off behind doors I wasn’t allowed to pass.

Her mother had been there. She’d stepped out into the waiting room long enough to thank us and to tell us she would let us know what was happening once she knew.

That was three hours ago.

“She’s going to be okay,” Dee said when I passed her on my ten-hundredth lap. “She has to be.”

No. That wasn’t correct. There was no “has to be” anything in life, especially when it came to humans. Their fragility was the only thing constant. Humans were here one second, caught a fever, and could be gone in the next hour.

Closing my eyes, I stopped pacing and reached up, rubbing the back of my neck. There was no warm tingling. She was either too far away in the hospital or…

God, if something had happened to her, I didn’t know what I would do. I couldn’t even wrap my head around it, couldn’t fathom it.

“Daemon,” Dee said quietly, urgently.

Opening my eyes, I turned around to see Kat’s mom coming out of the double doors. Dee was already standing, but I beat her to it. “Is Kat okay?”

Eyes shadowed, she motioned us back toward the hall as she held the door open. My heart pounded erratically as we wasted no time crossing the distance. Once inside, I saw a man waiting for us. I was struck by the odd sense of familiarity as I stared at the dark-haired doctor. It took me a second to realize he was the same doctor who’d treated Kat the night she was attacked at the library.

Ms. Swartz smiled tiredly as she nodded and ran a hand over her polka-dot scrubs. “Katy is…she’s okay.”

My knees felt weak as I stepped back, leaning against the wall.

“Oh, thank God.” Dee placed her hand over her mouth.

I forced my lungs to take a deep breath. “What…what is wrong with her?”

“It appears that she’s caught some kind of virus. There are some really nasty ones going around right now,” the doctor said, and when I simply stared at him, he smiled reassuringly. “I’m Dr. Michaels, by the way. I’m not sure if we’ve officially met.” He extended his hand.

My gaze dipped to his palm, and then I reached out, shaking it. Might’ve been my imagination but his smile faltered a bit, but then all I was focused on was the fact that I hadn’t killed Kat. “What kind of virus?”

“That’s what Dr. Michaels is going to find out,” Ms. Swartz said, placing a hand on the doc’s arm. “It’s a really, really good thing you guys brought her in when you did. Her fever was—” She broke off with a sharp inhale and looked away, swallowing hard as she dropped her hand. “It’s just a good thing you brought her in.”

Dr. Michaels reached over, gently squeezing Ms. Swartz’s arm. “It is. You two did great.”

“We knew we needed to bring her in.” Dee glanced at me. “She was so…out of it.”

“Well, we have her now,” Dr. Michaels assured us. “We’re going to keep her for observation, maybe for a couple of days, just to make sure everything is okay.”

Ice knotted in my gut. “For a couple of days? That doesn’t sound like everything is okay with her.”

Her mom stepped closer, patting my arm, surprising me. “She had a really high fever—still does, but it’s going down. It will be a wait-and-see sort of thing. Hopefully we won’t have to keep her in here long.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “Can I— Can we see her?”

“That wouldn’t be wise,” Dr. Michaels answered. “Not until we’re sure what type of virus she has and if she’s contagious.” His pale blue eyes met mine. “We wouldn’t want you or this young lady catching something and getting sick.”

That wouldn’t be a problem.

“Understandable,” Dee replied and then faced Kat’s mom. “Will you let us know how she’s doing?”

Kat’s mom promised that she would and then mentioned that it was late and that we should be getting home before our parents worried. I was reluctant to leave, wanting to see Kat with my own eyes, but that wasn’t going to happen. Not without causing a small riot, and that was the last thing anyone needed. Dee looped her arm through mine, tugging me toward the doors. Dr. Michaels’s voice stopped us.

“I’m going to take good care of her,” Dr. Michaels said, watching us with a patient smile. “Don’t you worry.”

I was behind the wheel on the way back home, my jaw aching from how tight I was clenching it. It took everything in me not to turn back around and find a way to see Kat. Went against my very grain.

“She’s going to be okay,” Dee said for what had to be the twentieth time. “It’s just some kind of virus. She’ll be fine.”

I didn’t lose my cool with her, no matter how many times she said it, because I knew it was making her feel better about everything. So she could keep on saying it.