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“
She's in a
severe state of shock.” As she spoke, Tabitha assessed Cora’s
shaking body. “Her injuries are bad.” Tabitha started mumbling to
herself and then stood. “Are you okay to bring her to the shop? How
badly is your arm broken?”

Tabitha knelt
beside him and touched his arm. That act alone made him
hiss.

“
It’s bad, but
I can still take her.”

Tabitha
nodded, knowing not to argue with him over something like this. “Be
careful not to get caught,” she warned.

Tabitha
quickly left the room. Jack tried to wrap Cora in a blanket, but
his arm and her constant shaking made it difficult. Heaving Cora
into his arms and hissing through his teeth, he held her close and
hobbled outside.

He landed
awkwardly outside the shop and the pain that shot through his
singed leg made him grind his teeth rather than curse out loud. It
was the middle of the night, and he was sure someone would hear his
curse. He pushed back the vomit that flew up his throat as Tabitha
came to the door and ushered him inside.

“
Take her up
to my flat. I need to get some things from downstairs.”

He carried her
up with help from his element, and placed her on Tabitha's soft
grey sofa. Cora stirred, opening her eyes.

“
Cora, it's
me. You're safe,” Jack consoled.

She continued
to stare at him. Her eyes didn't look right. The last time he'd
seen such a look was in Evander's dead eyes as his body slid to the
floor. He held back a shiver.

Her mouth
moved, the words she uttered lost in the space between them. He
moved closer.

“
Gone,” she
whispered.

His heart
shattered for her as she dropped back into the darkness.

*

Tabitha had
worked her magic. He’d managed to swallow every little bit of the
disgusting potion she’d mixed. His arm burned, the dull throb less
painful than the actual bones grinding together. That was a result.
His leg was also feeling numb and less painful. The only thing that
hurt now was his head, and he refused to take anything for that. He
needed to be alert and awake when Cora surfaced.

Cora stirred
next to him, whimpering in her sleep. His heart clenched until she
stopped. He moved Cora's hair to the side and stroked her clammy
face. She was burning up, but Tabitha had told him that was normal.
She was so deep in her emotional mess that he doubted she could
feel him with her.

He laid his
head back and closed his eyes. He would just rest his eyes waiting
for his second wind to come. His hand remained placed protectively
on her head as darkness engulfed him.

3

HOPELESSNESS

Cora lay on
the floor as Evander stalked towards her. Jack couldn’t move to
help her. His body remained frozen against the tree. Evander’s eyes
focused on Jack as he applied more pressure on Cora’s already
fragile body. Jack heard the first bone crack, a quick succession
of pops followed. He cursed, screamed and kicked as he pushed
against the tight hold on him. Jack’s screams were drowned out by
Cora’s screams, and then gurgles followed as blood erupted out of
her mouth.

Jack dragged
himself out of the darkness, holding back the scream that was
clawing at his throat. The surroundings were unfamiliar to him,
making him jolt before his senses snapped to attention. He
remembered that he was in Tabitha's flat. He turned his head to the
side and saw that the space next to him was empty. Jumping to his
feet, and ignoring the yelp of pain from various parts of his body,
he stumbled towards Tabitha's small kitchen. “Cora!” He attempted
to shout, instead it was a croak. His throat felt like razorblades
had hacked at it.

“
She is in the
bathroom,” Tabitha commented as she walked into the kitchen. Her
face remained calm, like nothing horrific had happened over the
last twenty four hours..

Tabitha’s hair
was pulled back into a long ponytail; her robes were a midnight
blue in colour. The only thing that gave away any signs of strain
was the paleness of her skin. Tabitha’s usually creamy complexion
was death white. The leaf green of her eyes that were swirling with
emotions were also pale.

“
When did she
wake up?” he asked, rubbing at his neck.

“
About fifteen
minutes ago. I didn't wake you because I know you need the time to
re-fuel. Yesterday was tough on everyone...”

“
Regardless of
this, you should have woken me up.” Jack rubbed his hands over his
face, trying to scrub away the sleep. The nightmare still clung
tightly to his shoulders. In the light of the day, he couldn’t
revisit it. He couldn’t think about losing Cora that way. “Did she
say anything? Was she in pain?”

Before Tabitha
could answer, Cora opened the door and looked at him.

Cora’s face
was deathly white. The tracks from fresh tears had left dark veins
upon her almost transparent skin. Her brown eyes were empty whilst
large, deep blue bruises hung heavily underneath them. Her arm was
bandaged, held tight against her chest in a sling.

“
Cora, lovely,
I'm here.” He held out his arms to her.

Without a
word, she limped into his waiting arms and wept. He stroked her
hair, trying to soothe her with murmurs of love and comfort. He was
the only person who knew what losing a parent felt like, and he
could do nothing to help her. She’d lost two parents. It was worse
than losing Eli for him, and she had. Christ, his heart was
breaking all over again.

He picked her
up against him, careful not to touch her burnt leg or disturb her
broken arm, and carried her to the sofa, resting her in his lap.
Tabitha walked down into the shop, leaving him to deal with her. He
didn’t care about his injuries that pinged with pain whenever he
jolted them. He couldn’t bring himself to let her go, to let her
suffer this alone. Pain was the one thing that kept things real. It
made you feel alive in some dumb way. Jack had to feel alive, he
had to remember that they had survived for a reason. That his life,
Cora’s life, was worth living and the events had pushed this to the
forefront of everything.

He soothed her
until the sobs turned to whimpers and she became silent with her
head resting against his chest.

“
Cora, you
need to eat.” He couldn't remember the last time they'd eaten. He
wasn’t hungry, but he knew she needed to eat to gain the strength
to face what was the inevitable. The final goodbye.

“
I'm not
hungry.” Cora’s voice broke, making her sound more
vulnerable.

“
You'll make
yourself ill,” Jack chided.

She didn't
reply. Her breath hitched, which signalled another tidal wave of
tears. He stroked her hair and let it be. He couldn't force her to
eat. Not yet.

Her body
slumped heavily against him, her need for sleep won against her
stubborn side to remain awake. He lay and listened to her laboured
breathing before he shifted her aside and laid her gently down on
the sofa. Moving her hair away from her face and placing a kiss on
her forehead, he left her and made his way down the stairs to the
shop.

As he stepped
into the shop, the soft murmuring of the group stopped. He could
see that Ember, Eli and Tabitha had been talking around the small
table. Upon seeing him, Eli instantly jumped out of his seat and
bounded over to him. Eli’s arms flew around Jack, encasing him in a
strong hug. Jack felt the tears burn his eyes as a lump held fast
in his throat. “Eli, God, I'm so glad you're okay.”

“
I'm glad
you’re safe too, brother. How are you holding up?” Eli snaked
Jack’s arm around his shoulders, moving him to the
table.

“
I'm alive,
that's something to be thankful for. I can’t believe that we
survived that mess. It only happened yesterday.”

“
I know. It is
something no one has had to deal with before. Witches have always
believed they were indestructible, especially the four that have
now been killed. We don’t know what will happen now the Corenthio
Coven has been dealt with...” Eli’s thoughts trailed off before he
came back to the present. “How’s Cora?”

“
She’s asleep,
but I don't want to leave her too long. I don’t feel right...”
Jack’s words drifted off as he shrugged.

Too much had
happened. His mind was constantly reliving the moment where he
watched Evander stalk towards Cora. He felt like he couldn’t
breathe without her being close to him. His head told him that Cora
was safe now. His heart clenched telling him otherwise. Jack was
sure this would be the way of things for some time to
come.

“
Where's
Ayden?” he asked no one in particular.

All three of
them looked at the other, as if they were searching for answers.
Jack knew Ayden was going to be an emotional wreck. Who wouldn’t be
when put in his position?

“
He's dealing
with the funeral arrangements for Laura,” Tabitha answered him
finally.

“
This soon?”
he asked, shocked by the suddenness.

“
Yes.” Ember
said, her annoyance flashed in the yellow flecks of her light grey
eyes. “He can’t seem to digest exactly what has happened. We will
all struggle with this, we need to grieve, we need to talk about
it. But when we try and help him, he just locks himself away in the
house,” Ember whispered whilst her eyes shimmered with unshed
tears.

“
How can you arrange the funeral, won't it be suspicious?” he
asked.
How do they begin to explain
her injuries to the authorities?
He
thought
.

“
We have ways
of dealing with these types of situations-” Tabitha
began.

“
These types
of situations? You’ve had situations like this before?” Jack
interrupted.

“
Yes,” Tabitha
whispered.

He shook his
head. Why was he surprised? “Well, I would hope we don’t have a
situation like this again.”

“
I agree with
you Jack, but we have to make arrangements. There are rules for the
commoners to abide by. We cannot skirt over the death of one.”
Tabitha shrugged her shoulders.

It was hard
thinking of Laura as a commoner because she’d had such magic
surrounding her. She didn’t need the element, the ability, to make
her shine. He tuned back into what Tabitha was saying.

“
We do not
want the local authority asking questions. The doctor has already
visited and signed the death certificate. In this case, Laura was
cleaning the windows, fell and broke her neck.”

Jesus. It was
that easy.

He felt the
weight of their situation sit on his chest. The bile sloshed
around, waiting giddily for its release. He closed his eyes and
scrubbed his face with his hands. “Cora should be involved in the
arrangements.”

“
I have left
her in your capable hands. She did not speak to me when she woke
this morning as I placed the bandage on her arm and put it in a
sling. She never looked at me once. I tried, but she appeared lost
somewhere else.” Tabitha shook her head.

Jack could see
the hurt etched in the newly developed lines on Tabitha’s
face.

“
I was able to
fuse the bone back together with a concoction of various things,
similar to your arm. How does that feel?”

“
I couldn’t
possibly say without swearing.”

The comment
brought a ghost of a smile to Tabitha and Ember’s lips.

“
Yes, well, it
will hurt both of you for a while yet. She needs you, Jack. Have
you managed to get a word out of her?”

“
I asked if
she was hungry, she said no. It’s hardly the best conversation I’ve
had with her. She mentioned something yesterday...” He could hardly
bring himself to say the words but he needed to tell them. They
needed to prepare themselves for her mental state of mind. “She
whispered it, just one word...'gone'.”

The room
stilled. Jack watched as the shock and hurt travelled across their
faces. He was sure Tabitha stopped breathing. Eli was shaking his
head sadly, others looked like they were swallowing
rocks.

“
I'm going back up.” Jack felt the itch to return to her.
“Don't allow Ayden to do everything for Laura; Cora must have
choices too. I will try and ask her but...” He held Eli's arm for a
second before heading back up the stairs.
How am I meant to deal with this?

Cora was still
asleep on the sofa when he walked into the flat. Deciding it was
time to feed her, he headed to the kitchen and started preparing
food.

*

Cora woke with
a start and screamed. The scream made Jack’s blood run cold as he
raced over to her. She lifted her head and looked at him with eyes
that were wide and dazed. Cora whimpered as reality came flooding
back to her. She could never escape that moment when she woke, and
she realised it wasn’t a dream.

Without saying
a word to her, Jack lifted her up from the sofa and walked her over
to the breakfast bar. She limply sat on the stool as Jack turned up
the heat on the soup and then turned to cut several slices of
crusty bread.