“The tinctures will begin to work soon. Leave the poultices where they are and let them do their job at healing you. I will check on you shortly.”
When Brenna drifted off to sleep, her dreams were restless. Her head ached, even in her sleep, and she felt as if her mind was plummeting toward several different destinations at once. Fragmented images of Brandt and Kemma appeared on opposite side of her head and played tug of war with her thoughts. She saw Norna in her dream, too, but her eyes looked like that of a snake instead of a cat, and the long strands of hair that she had cut slithered around her ankles on the ground as if they were alive themselves. She must have been feverish, for there was no other explanation for the things she saw, and her dreams felt like they went on for endless hours.
She tried to wake herself from them, but only seemed to fall deeper and deeper into her sleep. When she finally struggled to open her eyelids, she feared she was yet again still asleep because the child she saw standing in front of her had the body of a human but the head of a bear. She craned her neck around to see it more clearly, and when she did, it looked like the creature was removing its own head.
“Are you sick?” Tara asked her as she moved Button from in front of her face and placed him back inside the crook of her arm. She didn’t like seeing people who were sick or injured; it scared her. Fortunately, Button was always the one to take the first look, which was why he was in front of her face to block her view until it was safe for her. She had done the same thing when Gretel had been killed. Except for that time, Button stayed in front of her face so that Tara would never have to have the bloody image of her dead sister in her mind.
“Oh,” Brenna said weakly. “It’s you. And it’s your bear. What was his name again?”
“Button.”
“That’s right, Button. I remember that.”
“Do you need me to go get someone to help you? I think you look kinda sick.”
“Yes,” Brenna said before she faded back into sleep. “That would be lovely.”
The next time Brenna woke up, she was on the ground inside the tree, wrapped in her comfy blanket that Brandt had brought back from the apartment. Even in his effort to rescue and carry Brenna, he had the blanket tucked into the top of his jeans and dragged behind him like a tail until they had reached the forest. Brynlee had washed it for him since Erik had asked her nicely to do so, and now it was dry and clean and wrapped snuggly around Brenna. When she woke this time, she felt much better and much stronger. Her second bout of sleep had been dreamless, and she was thankful for it. She sat up and smiled at Tara, who was sitting by her feet and watching over her with her stuffed bear.
“You look better now,” Tara said as Brenna sat up straight and noticed that the pain in her ribs was much less than it had been before. “We were kinda worried about you.”
“Awe, thank you for getting me help,” Brenna said as she smiled at the girl. “I do feel much better now. Good as new.”
Brandt sat down beside her. “It was the tincture that made you feverish. Norna said it was meant to do that in order to push out any infections your injuries might have caused. It’s gone now, though, and you should continue to feel better.”
“Thank you,” she said as she leaned forward to kiss Brandt. The kiss felt wonderful, and she was happy to feel stronger in her own skin again.
“You scared me,” Kemma said as she sat down on the other side of her mother. “Stop trying to be the hero all the time. I wouldn’t know what to do if something ever happened to you.”
Brenna laughed. “I’m definitely not trying to be the hero unless the definition of a hero has changed to being stupid and reckless.”
“I think that is actually part of the definition,” Jerrik joked. “Glad you’re feeling better now.”
“I owe that mostly to you. If you had not slowed my fall, I would surely be dead.”
“Eh, we’ll consider ourselves even. You’ve saved me from myself a time or two.” They shared a knowing smile, the kind of smile that flawed friends who know each other’s secrets share.
“Did you tell them?” Brenna said to Norna, who was grinding some tea leaves with a mortar and pestle.
“No, you asked me not to.”
“Tell us what?” Brandt asked.
“Norna knows the way to restore the mortal world. We’re going to do it, but it has to be all of us.” She looked at Brandt, Erik, Colby, and Jerrik in turn.
“Is that true?” Erik asked.
“Yes.” Norna didn’t look up from her mortar.
“Awesome!” Colby said. “I’m in! I hated seeing New York City in ruins. It really bummed me out.”
“You seriously need a stronger vocabulary,” Erik said to him as he rolled his eyes.
“I’ll help you, too,” Brynlee said to Erik with an eagerness in her eyes.
“No,” Norna said. “This will be a very specific task with only a specific few.”
Brynlee looked down at her lap in disappointment.
“I’m sure there will be a next time,” Erik said to her as he tried to make her feel less awkward.
“Thanks,” she smiled.
“We will also need Cai,” Norna added. She finished grinding the herbs and tossed them into a cup full of hot water, then mixed them around with her finger.
“Doesn’t that burn?” Leif asked.
“Will you get him?” Norna asked him as she ignored his question.
“Who?”
“Cai. He is still on Alfheim, and we will need him.”
“Yeah, I guess. Shouldn’t we just wait until he comes back? I’m sure he won’t be long since he left all these kids here.”
“I’m not a kid,” Brynlee emphasized.
“My apologies,” Leif said sincerely as he bowed slightly to her. “You are right. I was merely generalizing.
“I do not think it wise to wait for him to return. I think it would be best to fetch him sooner rather than later.”
“Okay, I’ll go at first light then.” Leif watched Norna as he handed the cup of herbal tea mixture to Brenna. He was in awe of her countless skills and compassion. Even without being a fate, she had such a depth of knowledge. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, nearly knocking the cup from her hand before Brenna took it from her. He playfully tackled her to the ground and kissed her face all over in small, smothering kisses as she laughed.
Colby looked over at Kemma and was surprised to see that she didn’t seem bothered by Leif’s outward show of affection toward Norna. He was glad things weren’t as awkward as they had once been not that long ago.
There was, however, a new awkwardness radiating from Brynlee and Erik. Brynlee watched Leif as he pushed Norna’s body to the ground with his own, and she felt suddenly like her clothes were too tightly wrapped around her. Colby would have played it off as female angst being that she was brand new to adulthood and still a virgin, but it was Erik’s reaction he couldn’t dismiss. It was too subtle to even notice, but somehow it caught Colby’s eye. Erik had glanced over at Brynlee as she ran her fingers along her neckline to make herself feel less claustrophobic in the small space, with so many people, and in such close proximity to Erik. It wasn’t that which caught Colby’s eye; it was the slowly hardening bulge in Erik’s pants that grew as he looked at her.