The Delacours: Part Deux

twenty-four.

I walked upstairs to our room where Celia and Val were finishing up the potion.

"Hey..." I said, closing the door behind me. "How's it going?"

"Almost ready!" Celia said. "Odie's body should be fine after he takes this." I nodded.

"How are you doing?" I asked Val.

"I'm exhausted... I don't know how Zane has any energy left right now. He's been watching Ava and Noah all day."

"Well, you can sleep well tonight. All of this bullshit will be over." She nodded, putting her arms around my waist and resting her head on my chest. Celia poured one last ingredient into the potion and it turned bright gold. She poured some into a glass and handed it to Val.

"You and Zane should have some too," she said.

"Why?"

"You guys were momentary hosts to that thing, right? It's just gonna expel any leftover dark energy. Odie lived it with for so long that he's feeling a lot of effects from it." Val held the glass to her lips.

"Eugh. What the hell? This tastes like shit!"

"I'm sorry. The look is deceiving, but it helps..." Val managed to finish it with a disgusted look on her face and then went to brush her teeth. Celia started to pour two more glasses while I went to get Odie. I knocked on his door waiting for an answer. He didn't answer, so I gently opened the door. He was asleep, bundled in his covers. I could barely see him under them except for a little sliver of his forehead that was glowing. I sat down on the edge of his bed and put my hand on him. He jumped and threw the covers off him.

"Hey, it's just me," I said softly.

"Hey, Momma," he said. "Everyone's okay, right?"

"Yeah, baby. Why? You have a bad dream?"

"That's an understatement, I think. I dreamed I couldn't defeat it... and not everyone made it."

"We're okay. You did defeat it. Mom and Celia finished the potion." He nodded, and sat up. He reached for his shirt from the floor and threw it over his head. We walked back to my room where Zane had grabbed the glass from Celia.

"Fucking hell... Please don't tell me this is what I think it is," he said.

"That depends on what you think it is," Celia said.

"I watched Adriel and Zipporah drink something that looked a lot like this before they started stupid dumb shit with dark magic..."

"It can protect a fae from the effects of too much dark magic, yeah."

"This stuff tastes like shit."

"You've had it before?" Val asked.

"Not because I wanted to. They forced me to drink it whenever I helped them with magic... I always felt sick for weeks after..."

"Well, I feel a little better after taking it, so I guess it helped." Zane grimaced, held his nose, and placed the glass to his lips. He swallowed it in three big gulps and handed the glass back to Val. He closed his eyes, trying to breathe, and I would assume, not vomit.

"Oh, Gaia... that's nasty," he said, finally opening his eyes. Odie looked at us, concerned as Celia handed him a glass.

"You guys are sure this is gonna work?" he asked. The three of them nodded. He placed the glass slowly to his lips, slowly taking a sip.