Daimon High 5: Kat

Kat would do anything to help her friends, and for the last few months she’s given it her all. As a witch: she’s healed them, conjured potions, memory spells, and whatever else was needed, but now she’s paying the price. She never realized that each time she activated the magic, she was pulling some of her life force to do it.

Now, close to dead, the only option she has to regain her life force is to try to pull power from the earth through the cracks in Yellowstone, but when the five supernatural friends meet their old enemy, they discover Quinn has plans for them again.

Can the five of them stop Quinn from absorbing all their energy and life forces, or will the mistake they made of freeing her from the demon lord months ago end up destroying the world they love?

The oxygen hose my mom insisted I keep beneath my nose was horrid, but without it, I could barely stay awake. My father’s study — the make-shift convalescent room while he was stationed overseas — had become a prison. I was too weak to do anything about it. Even turning my head to see my mother as she brought my breakfast forced me to take deep breaths of the oxygen.
“Has anyone come by?” I asked, barely managing to get the full sentence out in one breath.
She didn’t answer, but I could tell she was avoiding making eye contact.
“Mom,” I said. “Have they … come by yet?”
“Don’t worry about them right now. Just focus on getting better,” my mom said as she set up the tray with a bowl of soup and a few small crackers. Eyeing them, I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat more than a few spoonfuls.
“I just need … to talk to them. Please,” I begged before she could put the soup-laden spoon to my lips.
“Maybe later.”
“Can you … call them?” I asked. “After dinner?”
She didn’t answer, just took another spoonful and brought it to my lips. I tried to act more eager to eat, but forming my mouth around the spoon was difficult.
I hadn’t seen them in days and I was running out of time. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with me. Kegan had only had a few minutes to look me over with his second sight. He knew my cells were damaged but didn’t know why.
I’d spent most of my waking moments reflecting on what had happened over the last few months. I had a pretty good idea what was wrong. I was dying. I didn’t know how much longer I had. Days, maybe. Weeks at the most.
Healing others had gotten easier lately, but it came with a steep price. Instead of taking the time to build up the power from the earth around me, I activated it from myself. At first, I hadn’t realized it came from my own life force. Once I figured out what was going on, I studied my books, searching for some way to replenish my energy.
The only answer I could find was something I could never bring myself to do, though I knew exactly how.
“Only three more bites, Katrina.” My mom tucked a hair behind my ear. “Think you can manage them?”
I wanted to tell her no, that I was too tired, but my only hope of getting to see my friends was if she thought I was better. “Sure,” I said, my voice giving proof to my weakness.
Mom smiled softly. I could see the tears in her eyes that she blinked back before widening her smile even more.
I managed two more bites before closing my eyes and leaning back against the pillows. I felt my mother adjusting me so I could rest easier. I couldn’t even form the words I wanted to say. I would have to ask again when I woke up. If my heart didn’t give out while I slept.
A few hours later, my eyelids fluttered for a moment before finally opening. I felt a lot more rested than before. Maybe the soup and the nap helped more than I expected them to.
I turned my head toward the bookshelf where an old leather-bound book tilted against another book. The forbidden spell came to mind. It was just words and the will to pull. The key element was need. I needed a life force to keep me going, and I worried that just by knowing how the spell worked — if my body found the opportunity to pull a life force — I would take it. My mother was in danger every time she came near. Human instinct was to live. My body wanted it desperately, no matter what my mind said.
I had to speak with the others, to find out if one of them would help me get the ingredients for a memory-wiping spell. I would have to be careful how I asked for help.
A knock at the door frame made my head turn. Emily peeked her head into my dad’s study. “How are you doing?” she asked, her voice soft and low. She glanced back down the hallway and I wondered if she were looking for my mom.
“How did you get in here?” My voice sounded a little stronger to my own ears.
She took a few steps into the room, paused, and turned back to close the door a little, not letting it shut completely, but enough that she could be hidden from view of the hallway if anyone passed. “I snuck in while your mom was out shoveling snow.”
“It snowed?” I asked. I turned my head to the window, surprised I hadn’t noticed. The blinds were mostly closed and only a little bit of daylight peeked through.
“Earlier today.”
“Why aren’t you at school?” I asked.
“I knew your mom wouldn’t be on her guard as much if I came now. We’ve been trying to see you for days. She kept telling us you needed to rest. I wanted to make sure you were okay. I’m guessing she took away your phone?”
“Yeah. She didn’t want me to strain myself.” I rolled my eyes as best I could. I didn’t feel like I had enough energy to even do that.
“You look really bad. Do you know what’s wrong?”
I met her eyes, not sure how much I dared tell her. If I didn’t give her some information, she might do something drastic. “I think I used up too much of my own energy … trying to use my magic. I didn’t realize it was taking my own strength.”
“You were hurting yourself every time you helped me?” The remorse dripping from Emily’s voice hurt my heart. “I’m so sorry, Kat. I should never have called you to help me so much. I caused this.” Tears filled her eyes as she reached for my hand.
The moment she touched me, the difference in her life force compared to mine sparked the longing to use the spell. I could feel part of my own life force in her from when I’d healed her so often over the last few weeks. But it belonged to her now.
I pulled my hand away and adjusted the oxygen hose on my face to hide the fact that I couldn’t allow her to keep holding my hand.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Emily asked. “How can we give you your life force back? Can you take it from me again?”
As she said the words, I felt an intense longing again. If I took my energy back, she would probably regain the injuries she’d sustained. I could never do that to her. Instead I searched for something I could say to throw her off that thought.
“I think I know a potion that could help, but I’ll need the ingredients and I can’t get them.” I paused to catch my breath. “Can you go to my room in the basement and get something from my dresser drawer? Beneath the underwear to the back is a small green notebook.”
Emily nodded, peeking out the window. “She’s still outside. I’ll be right back.” Minutes later, she held up the book when she entered the room. “This one?”
I nodded. When she handed it to me, I struggled to make my fingers work.
“Do you want me to open it?” Emily asked. “I can search for the spell if you tell me what to look for.”
That would be easier, except she’d see I was getting ingredients for the memory wiping potion. It took too much power to do it without a potion, but I could never wipe my own memory with just a spell even if I had the strength to perform the chant. Most spells wouldn’t work on the one casting them.
“No, I can do it. Could you just get me some water?”
She disappeared down the hallway. I closed my eyes and took a slow, deep breath, trying to gather my strength enough to open the book and find the right page. I turned to it about the time I heard Emily’s footsteps nearing my room. She had a tall glass of water. I swallowed in anticipation.
Emily took the straw from my empty glass on the counter and put it in the cup, but instead of handing it to me, she held it to my lips.
“Thanks,” I whispered after she moved it away and set it on the night stand. She sat on the end of my bed while I looked through the spell book. I studied the ingredients, trying to think if I had any of them still in my room, or if I’d used them all. Most things were easy enough to get. A few would require some searching, and I didn’t have time to order them online. “Do you have a place to write these down?”
Emily pulled out her phone and found the notes app. “Ready.”
I read off the list. She only raised her eyebrow on two of them. “Where do I find head cheese and camels milk?”
“You could get them at a whole foods store. I found the camel’s milk in a can at the whole foods market in the back by the alternate dairy stuff.”
“Okay,” Emily said as she wrote the notes next to the camel’s milk. “What about head cheese? Is that by the cheddar?”
“Talk to the butcher about that one,” I said. I hoped the guy wouldn’t find it odd that another teen girl was looking for it. “And tell him to bag it up. Don’t look at what it is, though. You won’t like what you see.”
When I’d first made the memory spell to help Kegan with Ginger’s issues, I had been horrified it required the liquefied gelatin from a pig’s skull. Head cheese would give me the needed ingredient in a way that didn’t involve me going after the animal myself.
Instead of asking for any details, Emily nodded and looked at the list again. “And how about these other ones? The caraway seed, rosemary, and the +gotu kola?+” She struggled to pronounce the last ingredient.
“That one is a little harder to get. I know you can order it cheaper online, but I think the quickest place would be at the little Chinese boutique in Carver City. You can get all three there, but you’ll have a little bit of a drive for it. Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about that. We need to get you better.”
“Thanks,” I said softly. Guilt filled my soul. If she knew what I was doing, she’d never get me the items for the potion.
“I’ll get it to you as soon as I can. Do you think your mom will let me come over tonight, or should I sneak in again tomorrow?” She looked toward my door and frowned. “Too bad you can’t put a spell on her and get her to let us in. We miss our witch.”
I smiled. “I wish. I’ve been asking her every day, but she thinks I’m too weak for visitors.”
“We’ll get you better. You rest up so you’re able to do this potion tomorrow around this time when I bring you the stuff.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to keep my eyes open. I was too tired to even yawn and by the time I opened my eyes again, Emily was leaning over me and giving me a kiss on the forehead. It gave me a reminder of the power just flowing through her veins. I wished I could have it back, but I forced myself to not pull. If this was what Denise felt like when she had to keep from sucking all the energy of those around her in her weird vampire way, then I had a completely new respect for the poor girl.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” I said too late for her to hear. It took too much energy to fight the longing to pull from her that I didn’t form the words in time.