She tried to remember that she was in control, tried to remember that her magic didn’t hold sway over her, but the mantra wasn’t working. Her veins were already full of her magic, but there was still more. Gods, there was so much.
An endless amount of power slipped through the crack in her dam, until it felt like water was filling her lungs. Every breath hurt; she was drowning on dry land.
River’s fingertips grew damp where she held on to the counter, wrestling with her curse. She couldn’t lose control. Not again, and certainly not here, surrounded by the injured and dying.
Time had no meaning as she grappled with her magic, trying to force it into submission. At some point, the intercom above the door crackled.
“Code blue.” Ice filled River’s veins, and her head jerked up. “Intensive Care Unit.” Her heart was a mallet, slamming against her ribs. She released the counter and raced out the door. “Room four.”
River skidded to a stop in the doorway of Anya Valois’s room, assessing the situation in a split second.
The earth fae hadn’t moved, but her face was entirely drained of color. She was as pale as the sheets on which she lay. Every single machine was beeping, a discordant orchestra cluttering the air and competing for attention. For a human, they’d be loud. For River, they were screaming.
Doctor Hudson wasn’t here. Why wasn’t she here?
There was no time for questions, no time to wait for her to arrive.
Urgency pulsed through River’s veins. Pushing her. Urging her to act swiftly.
“Get me a crash cart,” she ordered, moving to the side of the bed. “Now.”
She didn’t need to look behind her to know the others were obeying. This was how hospitals worked. Doctors and nurses were a team, united by their goal to keep death at bay.
Everything seemed to move in a blur.
“The Stillness is advancing!” a man shouted. River wasn’t sure who had spoken. “It’s encasing the patient’s heart in ice.”
Someone else yelled that Doctor Hudson was on her way.
It didn’t matter, though. It was too late. River stared, her own heart skipping a beat as the rise and fall of Mrs. Valois’s chest stuttered, then stopped entirely.
No, no, no.
Somewhere inside of River, she recognized that the panic she was feeling was disproportionate to the situation, considering that she’d just met the earth fae, but she couldn’t give up.
She reached for syringes, injecting Mrs. Valois with various medicines in an effort to bring her back from the brink of the Fade.
“Nothing’s working,” said a woman.
The machines’ screams crescendoed. River’s magic angrily frothed, rising inside her. Death hovered over the room.
Time slipped on.
River was aware that people were trying to talk to her, but she couldn’t hear them over the deafening drum that was her heartbeat.
“Don’t die,” she whispered over and over again. “Please, don’t die.”
Was she pleading for Mrs. Valois, her father, or both? She didn’t know.
River and her team fought valiantly to save their patient. They tried every drug, every machine, and every action that could possibly restart their patient’s heart. At some point, Doctor Hudson joined them.
They fought and fought and fought, until it became clear they’d lost the battle. A hand landed on River’s. The touch was firm, and she hitched a breath.
Arnan stood next to her, his grieving eyes heavy with unshed tears. “She’s gone, Doctor Waterborn.”
River’s mouth pinched together, and her fingers trembled. “No.”
This couldn’t be the end. The Stillness couldn’t have won. Not now. Not when death had already claimed Lila tonight. Hadn’t it done enough? How many souls did it require?