Page 112 of Crossing Between
"You're safe now," I told him, tears of relief streaming down my face. "That's all that matters."
As emergency vehicles began to arrive at the perimeter of the abandoned town, I held my brother close, surrounded by the three men who had bound themselves to me. The Essencefeaster was gone, at least for now, and Ryan was saved.
Chapter 60: Zoey
One week later, I pushed open the door to Ryan's hospital room, balancing a brown paper bag in one hand and a small charm in the other. The antiseptic smell hit me immediately. I'd never get used to that hospital scent, no matter how many times I visited.
"Special delivery," I announced, watching my brother's face light up.
Ryan looked better today. The dark circles under his eyes had faded slightly, and some color had returned to his cheeks. He was propped up against a mountain of pillows, his hospital gown hanging loosely from his shoulders. The monitors beside his bed beeped steadily, reassuringly.
"Please tell me that's not hospital food," he eyed the bag with hopeful suspicion.
"Only the best for my favorite brother." I set the bag on his rolling tray table and pulled out containers of homemade chicken soup and fresh-baked bread from the bakery down the street. "And before you say it, yes, I know you're my only brother."
Ryan's laugh was soft but genuine, a sound I'd feared I might never hearagain. "Thanks, Z."
I watched him eat for a moment, marveling at how ordinary this felt after everything we'd been through. A week ago, I'd faced down a demon wearing my brother's skin. Today, I was watching him slurp soup and complain about hospital Jell-O.
"I brought you something else, too." I held out the small charm, a polished stone wrapped in intricate wirework with small blue crystals woven throughout. "Elias made it. It's supposed to help with, well, any lingering effects."
Ryan's expression sobered as he took the charm, turning it over in his hands. "So there's still some of that thing inside me?"
"No. You're clean. We made sure of that. This is just insurance. Like taking vitamins after you've already gotten over a cold."
He nodded, slipping the cord around his neck. The charm settled against his chest, the crystal catching the fluorescent light. For a few minutes, we fell into comfortable silence as he ate and I straightened up his room, arranging the flowers that had been delivered, tossing out old magazines.
"The doctors say I can go home in a few days," Ryan said finally, pushing away the half-eaten soup. "They can't find anything wrong with me, physically at least."
I sat on the edge of his bed, taking his hand in mine. His fingers were cool against my palm. "That's good news."
"Is it?" Ryan's voice had a hollow quality that made my chest tighten. "Z, I remember everything. Every person that thing hurt using my body. Every life it took. Every...Ruth...everything."
"That wasn't you," I insisted, squeezing his hand.
"But it was my hands. My face." His eyes searched mine. "When you found me in that place, when you looked at me, you didn't see a monster. You looked at me like I was still your brother. Even whenI was that thing."
The raw pain in his voice cut through me like a physical wound. I moved closer, wrapping my arms around his shoulders, feeling the slight tremble that ran through him.
"You were never the monster, Ryan. Never. You were the boy who protected me when no one else would. The kid who punched Tommy Bergman in the face when he made fun of my glasses in seventh grade even though you were so much smaller."
"I don't know if I can go back to being that person," he whispered into my shoulder. "I don't think I can go home where I did those things to Ruth."
I pulled back, holding his face between my hands, forcing him to look at me. "You don't have to go back to being anything. You just have to go forward, one day at a time. And you won't do it alone. As far as our home, Varon has offered a guest room for you, although Kenji and Elias have also offered their house to you, too."
Something in my words seemed to reach him. He nodded slightly, then more firmly. "One day at a time. I can try that."
I paused before asking, “Ryan, how did you know that I was a necromancer?” Or at least, thought I was.
Ryan shrugged. “I saw you raise mom. I didn’t understand until later, and then I knew I had to protect you.” His eyes saddened. “It took years after school ended before I found a way to help you, but it turned out that I just invited the wrong thing for help.”
I leaned forward and hugged him. It was all I could do. He’d risked everything to try to help me. Even if it ended badly, I wouldn’t forget how much he loved me.
By the time I left Ryan's room, visiting hours were almost over. I should have gone home, I'd been given several weeks of leave after the "incident" (the official story involved a domestic terrorist cell and a gas leak, with no mention ofsoul-eating demons). Instead, I found myself driving to the police station.
As I walked to the clinic in the department, I could see civilians and officers alike moving between the mattresses, some bearing visible wounds, others suffering from injuries that couldn't be seen but ran just as deep.
I found Elias at the furthest bed, sitting cross-legged on a mat. His eyes were closed, his breathing deep and rhythmic. Around him, five people sat in similar positions, their faces relaxed in meditation. The air around them shimmered slightly, imperceptible to normal human eyes, but to my now enhanced senses, I could see the golden threads of healing energy flowing from Elias to the others.
