“Glad to hear that,” I said, squeezing her hand. I was not used to Victoria being sad. She wasn’t one to mope or wallow. I didn’t even think I had seen her cry before. I gave her a long, tight hug, before glancing up at the clock.

Oh, my God. Where had the time gone? I’d totally lost track of it. We’d spent over three hours chatting.

Our conversation had drawn to a natural close, anyway, so I said, “Well, I’ll leave you to your work. I’ve got to get back to Josh.”

“Oh, good luck with him.”

We hugged and kissed each other’s cheeks before I hurried out of her apartment and raced back to Meadow Hospital. As a supernatural, I could run fairly swiftly. Not as swiftly as a vampire, werewolf or a full fae, of course, but still fast by most standards.

My heart was pounding as I reached the top floor of the hospital. I skidded to a stop outside Josh’s room. As voices drifted through the door, I was too anxious to even knock. I just burst inside. My eyes shot to Josh’s bed, where he was sitting upright, surrounded by Safi and Shayla.

And my heart catapulted to the bottom of my stomach.

From the jinn’s and witch’s heavy, disappointed expressions, I already knew that Safi’s solution had been unsuccessful. And Josh… he looked shattered.

“What’s happening?” I asked, hurrying to Josh’s side. I instinctively reached out to hold his hand.

“Nothing worked,” he croaked.

“Why not?” I asked, staring at Safi.

“I’m not entirely sure,” she replied, her dark, sculpted brows knotted. “We can cure mundane, human illnesses without difficulty. Human ailments, both physical and mental, are very responsive to our brand of magic… so I can only think that those hunters’ methods were not quite mundane.”

Oh, no.

Whatever life I had seen returned to Josh after our trip to Sun Beach had drained out of him, and he looked worn and faded as the day we brought him here. He looked crushed.

I had been so sure that the jinn would be able to help him. This news came as an utter shock to my system. If the jinni’s cure had failed, I couldn’t imagine that there was anything that Corrine, Ibrahim or Mona could bring to the table. Jinn’s magic was always the final resort. Their powers were overall stronger than the witches’.

“So what now?” I asked.

Shayla ran her tongue along her lower lip. Concern shone in her eyes as she glanced at Josh. “I’m not sure, Grace. I’m not sure.”

Grace

The next few hours with Josh were the hardest so far. I just… didn’t know what to say to him. I was supposed to be there, offering him emotional support. Encouragement. Being chirpy and cheerful. But I felt so down myself.

I offered to read to him again, but he didn’t even want me to do that. He just turned over on his side, his back facing me, and stared at the opposite wall.

When 8 PM came around, I took my leave, even though it killed me to leave him all alone.

I returned home and got ready for bed. But I couldn’t sleep. I kept tossing and turning, even as I felt surprised at how affected I was. I’d only spent a couple of days with him, and he was still as good as a stranger to me. But… he’d been made my responsibility. He’d been placed in my charge. If I was doing my job properly as a caregiver, I reminded myself, I should be feeling like this. I should be losing sleep right along with him.

I felt like death by the time morning arrived. I’d maybe gotten a couple of hours of sleep. Yet I was relieved that it was time to get up. I didn’t think that he should be spending too many hours alone at a time like this. I took a shower, grabbed my backpack, and returned to the hospital.

I stopped outside Josh’s door and pressed my ear against it. All was quiet. Perhaps he was still sleeping. Gently, I pulled down the handle and entered.

Every internal alarm bell went off at once as my eyes fell on his bed. It was empty.

“Josh?” I called, gazing around the room.

The door to the en suite bathroom was open.

I hurried to it. My breath hitched as I caught sight of Josh’s legs, flat on the ground. I rushed inside. He was lying stretched out on the bathroom floor. Terrifyingly motionless.

“Oh, God! Josh!”

As I moved to the upper half of him, I realized he had blood smeared on his head and a bump. A large, protruding bump. There were razors scattered around him, along with a fallen jar of shaving cream.

As I grasped his shoulders and struggled to ease him upright, the motion seemed to stir him. His eyelids flickered, then opened. His lips were parched, his eyeballs reddish. I could see clearer than ever the throbbing bump on his head.

“What happened?” I pressed.

He just shut his eyes tight again and clenched his jaw.

Then I noticed the edge of the sink. It was stained with blood. And I put two and two together. The razors, the shaving cream. He’d tried to reach for them himself to shave. That meant he had also pulled himself out of bed and into the wheelchair without assistance.

“Oh, Josh,” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you call for Tom?”

I hurried back into the bedroom to ring downstairs for Tom, as well as Shayla so she could take a look at his bump. The last thing he needed was a concussion. Then I rushed back to the bathroom and gathered the shavers and foam from the floor and placed them on the shelf. I turned to him again and motioned to help him back into his chair. “I can help you shave.”

To my shock, he jerked away from me as I attempted to raise him to the wheelchair. The glare he shot me made me stagger back. “Let me be a man, damn it!” he snapped.