After that, things wrapped up surprisingly quickly. Everyone in the room was obviously desperate for information, but when Ree almost immediately passed out it became clear that she’d have to recover first before any answers could be given.
The mages who’d retrieved her reported an empty warehouse, with nothing inside it but Ree, lying on the floor nearly unconscious. Alejandra ordered a full search of the area, hovering protectively over her daughter with Cato at her side. Thirty seconds later, she promptly evicted everyone from the shop in the name of peace and quiet for Ree.
Lola caught Cato’s eye over the rest of the crowd, and he nodded. Thank you, he mouthed, and then, talk more tomorrow. Lola nodded back. “Come on,” she said to Danae, who was standing next to her. “Let’s go home, shall we?”
-
About twenty minutes later, Lola was halfway to her apartment when, all of a sudden, she realized Danae wasn’t by her side anymore. It was dark out, a storm gathering in the sky above her, and the wind swallowed her words as she spun around and shouted, “Danae!” Her gaze zeroed in on a curled-up lump on the pavement being anxiously pecked at by two crows, and she immediately rushed over.
Rova and Dulun circled around Lola, cawing at her as she approached. “Danae! Is everything alright?” Danae didn’t reply, or if she did, it was lost to the fierce wind that whipped through the trees lining the road.
Lola reached out to touch Danae’s shoulder- and her hand clipped straight through, swirls of white mist parting around her. She jerked her hand back immediately like she’d been burned, a fresh wave of panic coursing through her. “Danae! Oh my god, it’s happening again...”
Danae lethargically tipped her head towards Lola, eyes half-lidded, a small, pained groan escaping her. Half of her face was dissolving this time, spiraling out into translucent white mist. Lola rushed forward to hold her, but hesitated at the last second, unsure if touching Danae would make it worse.
In a flash of inspiration, she reached for her phone, hands fumbling as she scrolled through her contacts. Please pick up, please pick up, she chanted to herself as her phone steadily rang.
“Hello?” Kezi’s bemused voice echoed tinnily from her phone speaker.
“Kezi, thank god you picked up,” Lola said in a rush. “It’s Lola, I’m with Danae and it’s happening again, what do I do?”
“What’s happening again?” Kezi asked, sounding more concerned now. “Do you mean the ‘unraveling’ that she told me about earlier?”
“Yes, that’s it.” Lola could hear the desperation in her own voice as she spoke, “She seems like she’s in a lot of pain, it looks worse than last time, what should I- what should I do?”
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“Alright, first of all, stay calm,” Kezi said placatingly, although there was an undercurrent of worry in their tone. Lola took a deep breath, gaze locked on Danae’s dark form in front of her. The wind was playing havoc with Lola’s hair, and she reached up to brush some errant strands out of her face. Kezi continued, “Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to help her right now, not without magic, anyway. I’ll fix you up something later for if this happens again, but for now-”
Lola heard Kezi take a deep breath. “What’s most important is to keep her grounded, keep her from losing herself any more than she already has. It’s the same for both ghosts and spirits: their identity, their motivations, memories, attachments are all that’s keeping them in the world. The ghosts at the Silkspinners’ place, they’re already halfway faded, and that’s what’s driving them to be so volatile. ”
Lola eyed Danae, worry aching in her chest. “Will it hurt her if I touch her? Last time my hand went straight through her shoulder-“
“No,” Kezi said firmly, “being held won’t hurt her, it’ll help. In fact, that’s probably your best bet of bringing her back to herself. Just keep talking to her, okay? Let me know if it gets worse, I’ve gotta go.”
The call ended with a click as Lola was halfway through a, “Thank you.” She took another deep breath and slipped her phone into her pocket. Cautiously, she approached Danae, the two crows cawing insistently at her. “Danae,” she said, unsure of what else to say as she reached for her hand. The wind was bitingly cold, nipping through Lola’s jacket as she crouched down and repeated, “Danae.”
The spirit’s dark eyes met her own, face twisted in pain. Cautiously, Lola took Danae’s hand into her own, immensely grateful when it didn’t immediately dissolve into more of that damnable mist. Danae’s hand was cold, and a little clammy, and Lola gave it a squeeze. “Stay with me, alright? Don’t- don’t fade away, like Kezi said. I’m here, okay? I’m here right next to you and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Th- thank…” Danae whispered, voice hoarse.
“Shhh, it’s okay, you don’t have to talk right now if you don’t want to. I don’t know- I don’t know what exactly’s keeping you here, but you gotta hold onto it, alright?” Keep talking, Kezi had said. So she did.
She rambled on about her job at the cafe, all the things she’d overheard in the past month. She talked about going to brunch with Cato and eating piles of pancakes, about visiting her aunt in the countryside during the summers when she was little, about her old goldfish, King Louis XIV. Rova and Dylan helped too, in their own way: nuzzling up to Danae, squawking softly at her, hopping around on the pavement.
The whole time, Danae’s gaze never left hers, eyes slowly searching across Lola’s face. It was lasting longer than it had the previous time- Lola kept waiting for her to suddenly shudder back to normal like she had before, but it didn’t happen.
Slowly, as Lola kept talking, the white mist receded, Danae beginning to feel heavier and more real in Lola’s arms.
And then, finally, after what felt like an eternity, Danae let out a gasp as the mist completely vanished. She was breathing heavily as she looked up at Lola, an unreadable expression on her face. A faint sheen of sweat glistened on her brow. Several dark strands of hair fluttered in the breeze across her face, those dark eyes capturing Lola’s again. “Thank you,” Danae said.
It was as though she’d used up all her words earlier comforting Danae, and now there were none left in her throat. Suddenly unable to speak, Lola could only nod. They sat there for a moment, the wind making an unearthly sound as it howled through the trees. A few splashes of rain hit Lola, more a side effect of the storm than its main event.
With a sigh, Lola stood up, offering Danae a hand. “Come on,” she said, “Let’s go inside.”