* * *
The next hours melded together as I tried everything, tearing pages of treasured books in search of hope. Everything possible was examined: biology, plagues, medicinal herbs, the nursing-test-study-guide. I turned my house upside down and inside out, shredding through boxes at a rate I'd never thought possible.
What little I did find was nonsense for an illness of this scale. Essential oils, pressure point massage, scents, lotions. Thank goodness I couldn't work magic and that no one had yet bestowed any worthwhile books on that nature into my care, because I'd have tried them. Eventually I went to see Wraithbane, to wait until he was awake. Instead I fell asleep in the chair beside him, not knowing this until I woke up in the pre-dawn hours of the next morning. Wraithbane was worse than he had been before.
When he began to stir, Doc Mike appeared to say, “Go home, Brandy. Rest. They need to talk with him. He'll still be here when you return.”
The 'they' in question was an inquisition party headed by Boss Lady. Jay and Willow were present as well, and they introduced me to several other people, whose names I never caught and instantly forgot entirely on my way out the door.
Efficiently shunned from the room, I decided to do as Doc Mike suggested. At home I would be free from prying eyes, at least until Kayla awoke. And I planned on being gone before that would happen.