Page 82 of Bad Witch

She’d decided to say it out loud anyway. I felt sick to my stomach. How could I explain? Nothing I said would be enough. “No, I…” I shook my head, guilt slamming into me with force. “It’s forbidden. I’m not supposed to...” I slammed my mouth shut before I said too much, but having Magnolia’s anger aimed at me when she’d been so kind, when she’d been my only friend when I first started here, hurt like hell. “I didn’t think to use it because I was forbidden. I’m not allowed to⁠—”

“Give me the bottle. I need to use it on the other patients before we lose anyone else,” she said, fury shining in her eyes. “Like you said, this is their only option.”

“I’ve used it on as many as I could. That is the last of it. I have no more. Anyone with a red line under their names has had a dose,” I quickly said as she took it from me. I gave it to her willingly. I wanted to help, I didn’t want anyone else to suffer. “You don’t understand. Mags, please⁠—”

“I know what you are, Tempest. Who you are, but that doesn’t excuse this.”

My blood turned cold. “What?”

“You’re the Matilda, right?”

I swallowed thickly, my throat so tight I wasn’t sure how I was still breathing. I didn’t say yes, but I didn’t say no, either, I couldn’t bring myself to lie to her.

“I don’t care who you are, what you are. You still should have helped sooner,” she said.

She knew. There was no point denying it. “We don’t interfere with the natural way of things, with fate, that is not our place. Even if that means life or death.”

“Bullshit. That’s exactly what you do,” she fired at me.

My spine stiffened. She was hurt, afraid for her family, but I’d just destroyed mine. “What I do, what I remove from this plane of existence is far from natural. It is evil incarnate, corrupted by the foulest of magic. If you think I have taken pleasure in any of this, in seeing people suffer, then you never knew me at all.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Then why intervene now? Why not just let everyone die?” There wasn’t just anger in her voice, there was also curiosity.

“Because what is happening here is not natural either,” I said, my voice shaking.

Her eyes flared. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

I’d just lost my friend. I could see it in her eyes. Magnolia wasn’t going to forgive me for this, despite what I’d told her. In her mind, I’d allowed her loved ones to suffer, I’d allowed so many people in the clinic to suffer, to die, and she was right. I had done that. I hadn’t meant to, but I had, despite my reasons and my vow not to interfere in the lives of those I was not called to assist.

My refusal to help had hurt so many people, a lot of them, and if the Agattealia Pontella didn’t work the same on immortals, her sister would lose her mate and her children anyway. I deserved her disdain, but that wouldn’t stop me from trying to make things right now. “I know you don’t want me near you right now, but if you will let me, I’ll explain what Fender and I have discovered.”

Chapter

Twenty-Three

Tempest

* * *

I stared up at the ceiling of the storage cupboard. Jack had put a bed in the small space, since every other room was taken, and had forced us to take shifts resting. That was half an hour ago. Despite my exhaustion, my mind wouldn’t let me sleep.

I’d been here seventy-two hours straight. We’d treated everyone in the hospital with my potion and there was only a little left, but we didn’t know what would happen if they were exposed again. Meanwhile the virus was tearing through the humans in record numbers.

Draven and the twins were still unconscious, and apart from their temperatures returning to normal, there’d been no change. Iris hadn’t left their sides. Her mom and sisters called constantly. They wanted to come in, but with the virus spreading beyond shifters and humans, Magnolia and Iris told them not to come.

With a witch afflicted, the witches council was also telling everyone to stay home. The vampires had gone to ground, isolating completely, and so far we knew of only one case among them, but there had to be more.

Somehow, we had to stop Disease before the virus grew stronger and spread even further.

The Matildas were still being silent, and in the state I was in, my magic depleted and my body weary to the bone, I wasn’t capable of helping anyone. I’d managed a nap here and there over the last few days, when I’d been dead on my feet, but I hadn’t been home. June had agreed to feed Glinda and Manny for me since I couldn’t get there. It wasn’t something I did often, but both Glinda and Manny knew her and wouldn’t think she was an intruder…or lunch.

Magnolia had agreed not to tell anyone what the potion was, at least not yet, and instead said the cure was something we’d found in an old medicinal spell book that belonged to her late great-aunt, who had apparently also been an exceptional healer. It hadn’t been easy, but I’d managed to convince her that if people knew Agattealia Pontella still existed, well, a small quantity of seeds, anyway, we’d have even more hell to deal with than we already did. Deep down, I was still hoping to salvage my life, but I wasn’t sure I could make the Matildas understand why I’d done what I had.

I checked my phone. It was the early hours of the morning. There were missed calls and texts from Fender. I really wanted to call him back, to hear his voice, but I didn’t want to wake him. He’d come to the clinic every day, bringing me food and checking on me. I missed him. Goddess, I missed him in a way that felt vital. It was dangerous to allow myself to feel that way, and terrifying.

It was as if he took a small piece of me with him every time we had to say goodbye. Still, more than anything, I wished I was with him, because I needed him to hold me. Hold me down before I fell apart and floated away.

My phone rang.