Page 33 of Pocus

Ifeel hot. And cold.

I clutched hard at the sheets and squeezed my eyes tightly shut. My eyes are burning, and there’s a loud ringing in my head. I can feel beads of sweat breaking out on my temple, even as shivers rack my body. My heart is beating so fast that it almost feels like it’d pop out of my chest.

What’s happening to me?

He put a hex on you….

Could it be that?

I grapple around the bed for my phone. My hands become frantic in their search. Something falls onto the ground making a loud crashing noise. I think it’s the bedside lamp…I’m not sure. The noise in my head has only gotten louder, and breathing now feels like a chore. My hand closes around the portable phone, and I quickly press the keypads and place it against my ear.

He picks up on the first ring.

“Hello?”

His deep, confident voice feels like a balm on my flaming soul.

“You…need to come, Pocus.” My throat burns with the effort it took to get those words out. “I…I can’t breathe.”

“Abigail?” I hear a loud scraping sound in the background. Then a continuous stomping sound.

I let the phone fall out of my weak grip and fall against the bed with a labored breath. I close my eyes and submit to the overwhelming pain that’s mercilessly tearing through my body and soul.

I suddenly don’t feel scared anymore. Pocus is coming….

No, he’s running to me.

* * *

Pocus

Iplace a palm on her forehead, relieved to feel the cool skin against my palm. Earlier, it felt like her whole body was on fire. She looks much better now, and her breathing seems to have regulated. Mama says she’ll sleep for a while.

It’s been three hours already….

Her call had surprised the hell out of me. I ran like my life depended on it, but it felt like I wasn’t running fast enough. It was only a couple of minutes at most from the main room to the upstairs room she stays in, but the distance felt like an eternity.

What if I didn’t get there in time to save her?

This question kept echoing in my head as I raced up the short flight of stairs and down the long corridor that housed her room.

When I found her lying pale and motionless on the bed, my heart stopped for an entire second. I’d thought…I was fucking scared.

I frantically called Mama’s number, and when she picked up, I barked out incomprehensible orders raving like a madman. Mama rarely left her shack, but thankfully she understood the urgency of the situation. She was at the clubhouse in under an hour, and she worked swiftly to recall Abigail’s slipping soul. I was barely able to breathe the whole time it took Mama to perform spells and chant incantations.

When did she begin to matter so much?

I’m pulled out of my thoughts by a curt knock on the door. Graveyard walks into the room and stops by the doorway. He has on his white coat, which means he rushed down here from the hospital in town and is probably going back shortly.

“You look like a worried househusband,” Seer says with an amused smirk. “It looks surprisingly good on you, Prez.”

I show him the middle finger, and Graveyard barks out a hearty laugh.

“Seer called you down here?” I ask after his laughter subsides, and Graveyard nods in affirmation.

“I came out of a surgery and found tons of missed calls from Seer, Hex, Snake, Bones, and some others,” Graveyard replies. “Imagine my surprise.”

“Even Bones?” I ask with a surprised frown.