Chapter Twenty-Seven – Carter

 

“All right, Tabitha, talk to me. You found anything out yet?”

I was driving south for the highway, while Amber and Lucy rode side by side in the backseat, their hands tightly clasped together. We’d given the girl a rundown of what was happening inside of her, as much as our understanding would allow, and confirmed everything she’d seen on that night nearly three years before.

The worst part about all this, though? Even as a layperson, with only battlefield combat experience, I knew Amber wasn’t going to last long, even if we could safely remove the egg. Her body was so far gone from the cancer, I could smell the disease inside of her. Could smell her body falling apart under the harsh cures she’d been administered by the doctors.

Which only made her bright outlook on the world and her childlike wonder at the supernatural being real all the more heart-wrenching. She was a good kid, I could tell, and she would’ve done something great in the future.

“Have a couple ideas,” Tabitha replied, her voice tinny and blaringly low-quality from the speakerphone on my burner. Lucy was slumped forward, holding it up between the seats so all three of us could hear the witch clearly. “A few options, maybe. There’s a spell, a really, really old spell, that I think I can modify.”

“Why modify it?”

“Well, this one is for harvesting the egg directly. Apparently, it was considered a delicacy amongst certain groups.”

I’d heard stranger. In a world as big and wide as this one, there was no telling what different kinds of…things could get up to when they were powerful and bored. Just like the ultra rich, their tastes could become somewhat “eccentric.” But, this would line up with why the river dragon that was holding Phillip Winters’s debt would want it.

“Phoenix farmers?” Lucy asked under her breath. I wasn’t sure exactly whom the question was meant for, though. The universe, maybe?

“But the spell,” Tabitha continued, “isn’t exactly safe for the host. In fact, there’s no consideration for their safety at all. Not any more than a turnip farmer gives to the soil, really.”

I growled, shifted in my seat. “Tabitha! That won’t work at all! We’re trying to save the girl, not use her as an incubator.”

“I told you I was modifying it, didn’t I?” she snapped right back. “Now, may I finish?”

Already reaching my exasperation point, I let out a loud sigh. “Shoot. What’s your idea?”

“Well, first off, I can mix in a sealing spell of sorts to the base. The kind of thing we’d use to lock away a malevolent spirit.”

“Okay,” I said nodding along. “Been involved in a few of those.”

“That should work for a few years, I think,” she said, her voice uncertain.

“A few years?” Lucy asked, more loudly than before. This time, she was clearly addressing Tabitha. “That’s all?”

“Who’s that?”

“Lucy Skinner,” I said. “The fire investigator who helped me figure this out. The girl’s her friend.”

“Hey,” Amber said, “I’m not just some girl. I’ve got a name, too, you know.”

“Sorry,” I replied with a wince. “Amber Vargas. Amber is her friend, the girl who has the phoenix egg.”

Tabitha sighed. “Okay. Does Kris know she’s in on this?”

“Kris isn’t even in the office,” I snapped. “Now what’s the second plan?”

Full Moon Security’s resident witch delicately cleared her throat before answering. “Second plan is to remove the egg before it hatches. That way, though, is definitely more dangerous than the first one, and certainly more delicate.”

“What’s so dangerous about it?” I asked.

“We risk killing the host.” Tabitha sighed. “Sorry. Amber. We risk killing Amber. One wrong bit, or if her body’s not strong enough, that’s it. We might crack the egg, and the phoenix comes spilling out all on its own.”

“So the first option, then,” Lucy said, her voice matter-of-fact. “How long can we keep it sealed up for?”

“A magical seal would keep four, maybe five years,” Tabitha said. “But there’s only one problem with that plan.”

“What’s that?” Amber, having leaned forward in the seat next to Lucy, asked.

“Well…this is Amber speaking, right?”

“Yeah, this is me.”

“Okay, Amber. It’s dangerous for the phoenix. It may die if we keep it locked within the egg inside your body. It’s connected to your essence, and is drawing off of you, and the only way to keep it sealed is to cut off its connection to you, yourself. We need to sequester it, kind of like a quarantine. Does that make sense?”

“Kind of,” Amber said from the backseat. “So, it’s like a baby? Like I’m pregnant? Why didn’t they ever see this thing on my MRI? On all my tests?”

“Well, magic and technology don’t always work together. The egg’s not in you, necessarily, it’s attached to you. To your soul. And you’re not pregnant with it—you’re more of a host.”

“For an extinct supernatural bird?” Amber asked, sighing. She slumped back into her seat. “So, if we seal it like this, we run the risk of endangering it?”

“It’s a risk, yes. But, if we try to remove it from you, there’s a risk as well, this time to you. This isn’t a good situation any way you look at it, guys.”

“No, it doesn’t seem that way,” I admitted, my eyes glancing up into the rearview mirror.

Amber’s face looked even paler than before, her eyes distant like she’d turned her concentration inward to try and search for the best way forward. Lucy’s, on the other hand, was a mask of determination. She was going to save her friend’s life, no matter what the cost.

As I looked at Lucy’s face, reality dropped on me like a ton of a bricks. I could wake up to that face every day, for the rest of my life. Easily.

In fact, I wanted to. I wanted to have that determination in my life. That dedication. But also, that smile, those twinkling eyes, and that willingness to put me in my place when I needed it. To tell me I was wrong.

“Carter?” Tabitha asked. “Hey, are you there?”

I shook my head a little, bringing my focus back to reality. “Yeah, Tabitha. I’m here. What were you asking?”

“How long do you think it’ll be before you get to the cabin?”

I leaned forward over the steering wheel, looked up at the sky. Grey clouds were swooping in on us like hyenas after a wounded animal.

“Five hours, I think, if the weather holds. No guarantees on that.”

“Okay,” she said, her voice crackling through the speaker. “Okay. I think, maybe, we can have some preliminary work done by then. We’ll see you up there.”

“Got it,” I said, reaching down to turn off the phone, my nose sniffling a little as I caught an odd smell. Sulfur?

“Carter!” Lucy called from the backseat, her hands clenched on Amber’s arm. “Carter, something’s wrong!”

I glanced up into the rearview mirror again. “What’s happening?” I asked, nearly shouting as I tried to no avail to keep my voice calm.

“Amber’s burning up!” she shouted as she put the back of her free hand against Amber’s red, sweating face. Smoke began to drift from the young girl’s mouth, carrying with it the noxious scent of eggs long gone rotten in the middle of the summer. “Amber? Amber, can you hear me? Are you okay, Amber?”

“Salt!” Tabitha yelled from the phone still clutched in Lucy’s hand. “Carter! Do you hear me? Pour salt in her mouth! That might hold it back! That might keep it contained!”

“Lucy!” I shouted, twisting around in my seat so I could look in back. “Grab the salt from my duffel on the floor. Get it, now!”

Lucy tossed my phone in front, aiming exactly for my hand. “Amber!” Lucy called again as she bent over in her seat, began to tear through my bag on the floor. “Stay with me, girl! I’m not losing you, too.”

Amber coughed dryly, puffs of smoke blowing from her mouth. “Lucy? What’s happening? Mr. Carter?”

Lucy straightened up, canister of salt in hand. “Just right in her mouth?” she asked, her voice frantic and cracking.

“Yes!” Tabitha shouted. “She won’t swallow much of it, I promise.”

Lucy got Amber to tilt her head, first by coaxing, then by a bit of pressure. “I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice cracking some more, tears coming through. She tipped the container of salt forward, began to pour it into her mouth. “Just, it’ll be okay. I promise, all right? I promise it’ll be okay.”

The young girl gagged, coughed, wretched as the white crystalline powder came flowing out in a rush, filling her mouth. Puffs of salt flew into the air, joining the yellowish smoke, flying all over Amber’s lap, the backseat, and the floorboards.

“Is it working?” Tabitha and I asked at the same time.

Lucy sighed in relief, visibly relaxing as she pressed her hand against the girl’s forehead. “Yeah, I think so, thank God. She’s cooling down again.”

“Okay,” Tabitha said. “Okay. We’re okay. If she has another outbreak, or episode, or whatever, just do the same thing. Got it?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Stock up on salt. Got it.”

In the backseat, Amber continued to gag, spitting clouds of salt into the air as she coughed. “Oh, gross,” she said. “That’s so disgusting! I need some water or something.”

“We’ll pull over in just a minute,” Lucy said.

“Yeah,” I replied as I turned my attention back to the road, my eyes glancing over to a sign that guided us back to the highway I’d come up. “Just a few minutes. I need to get gas, anyways.”

Amber gagged again.

“Well,” Tabitha said. “I guess that, this time, I really will be going. See you soon?”

“Yeah,” I said, my eyes glancing up to the green light of the intersection ahead, and the smooth sailing all the way to the outskirts of town, “see you soon, Tabitha. Oh, and Tabitha?”

“Yes, Carter?”

“Thanks.”

“That’s what I’m here for. But, still, you’re welcome.”

I hung up the phone and tossed it in the passenger seat, just as I went sailing through the green light ahead, oblivious to the danger around us.

The big dually pickup truck didn’t honk its horn. It didn’t slow down, even. It just revved its big diesel engine and came charging at us like a mad bull, right into my driver’s side door. The world crashed and crunched, and my Jeep crumpled as it went into a spin, both girls screaming abruptly in the backseat.

Pain erupted in my head. Suddenly, my world was gone.