I kept her on the futon, covering everything except the burn with a blanket. We’d have to take her to the ER now, but the burn was no longer recognizable.

I was so thankful she had passed out again right away. The spell was broken, but I could feel how weak she was.

Seb stepped into the room with Kanesha behind him. “What…”

“I dealt with the spell, but now we take her to the ER. Does anyone have a car?”

“No. Maybe we should just call an ambulance,” Kanesha suggested. She didn’t look at Clara, kept her eyes fixed on me.

Sebastian did. “I suppose…”

“It was the only way. She should be okay.” If it didn’t get infected, she’d live. But that scar was going to be a surgeon’s nightmare to deal with. What else could I have done, though?

“Yeah…”

“We couldn’t wait for it to heal and then find somebody to take a laser to it. She would have been dead. Kanesha, wait for the ambulance. Sebastian, take me where you found her.”

He looked at her. He wanted to stay with her. Heck, I wanted him to stay with her. If it was Kanesha… But.

“I need to try and find the trail of whoever did this before it gets cold.”

“Do you know what kind of whoever we’re looking for?”

“Most likely a fire giant.” Why would a fire giant try this with Clara, though? And we still hadn’t got the artifact from Anansi.

I didn’t need another major threat like this. I didn’t need a fire giant who got her jollies from branding people…and her power.

“Unless it was somebody who liked runes and doesn’t like witches,” Kanesha suggested as I grabbed my sword from behind the door.

“Good point. Thing is, if you’re using runes like this I’ve got some news for you.”

She laughed. “Yeah. You go find her. I’ll call the ambulance.”

A pale Sebastian followed me. “She will live, right?”

“Unless the burn gets really badly infected, yes. And believe me, if necessary, I’ll go corner Eir for a healing potion.”

Sebastian laughed weakly. “Would she?”
“If a fire giant did this yes, I think she would, because then it’s not interfering with the natural things that happen to mortals.”

“Okay. Let’s go, I guess. I don’t…”

“I wouldn’t either, but we need to move.”

Which we did.