Chapter 329

Olivia

I felt like I was going insane.

After throwing up that... stuff, that black ink-like substance, my entire body felt like a live wire. Every cell screamed that something was wrong, but I had no clue what. It wasn’t just me, though. Even my wolf, usually a reassuring presence, felt sick and disoriented.

“Nathan, I don’t know what's going on. What did she do to me?”

Nathan ran a hand through his hair, clearly frazzled. “Olivia, we need to get you to the hospital. This isn’t normal.”

I shook my head, already knowing what that route would entail.

“And tell them what? That I threw up black gunk after a witch visited my house? They won’t be able to find anything wrong with me. It’s got to be some hex or something. Medical tests aren’t going to show that. She’ll definitely make sure of it.”

He sighed, visibly frustrated but knowing I had a point. “So, what, we just sit around and wait for something to happen?”

“I don’t know, Nathan. I don't know, okay? But right now, I’m not getting any vibes from the amulet, and maybe that means the worst has passed.” I clutched the amulet, willing it to give me some kind of sign. It remained cool and dormant against my skin.

“You can’t be sure of that, Liv.”

I snapped. “Well, what do you suggest we do? I can’t go to the hospital, I can’t very well go and ask the witch what she did, so what’s left?”

Nathan’s eyes met mine, filled with worry and a helplessness that tore at my heart. “I don’t want to lose you, Olivia. I can’t. We have to do something.”

I sighed, my anger dissolving. “I don’t want to be lost either. But for now, the amulet’s not tingling. That’s a good sign. Maybe it did protect me from something worse.”

“Or maybe this is just the calm before the storm,” he countered.

“Don’t say that,” I said, a shiver crawling down my spine.

After a while, the nauseous feeling began to ebb, and even my wolf started to settle down. I started to think that maybe, just maybe, the amulet had indeed protected me from whatever malevolent magic the witch had cast.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur, the air electric from the witch’s visit but also strikingly… normal, which just made it all the more unsettling. We put the twins to bed, their innocent faces a sharp contrast to the tangle of emotions running rampant within me.

“I’m going to take a shower,” I mumbled, hoping the hot water would wash away the tension knotted in my muscles.

“Okay, I’ll be here, just keeping an eye on everything in case she decides to come back,” Nathan said, his tone hard.

I nodded, retreating to the bathroom. Under the hot water, I let out a long, shuddering breath. My hand instinctively went to the amulet hanging around my neck.

It was still quiet, no longer tingling. Was that good? Did that mean the worst was over, or was it a silent countdown to something else, something far more terrible?

When I finally emerged, feeling somewhat more human, Nathan was waiting for me in the bedroom, worry etched into every line of his face.

“Feeling any better?” he asked.

“A little, yeah.”

But even as I said it, I knew we were far from out of the woods. There was something lingering, although I couldn’t quite place my finger on what it was, and it left me with an unsettling feeling that was impossible to shake off.

…

The morning sun streamed through the curtains, bathing the room in a warm glow.

For a moment, I felt normal. I even smiled as I turned to see Nathan, his face peaceful in sleep. I couldn’t help but wonder if last night was some sort of twisted nightmare, a figment of my overactive imagination. I reached up to my neck and felt the smooth surface of the amulet. It was cold and lifeless, but it gave me a weird sense of comfort.

I got out of bed and went about my morning routine. As soon as I opened the door to the twins’ room, they greeted me with baby giggles and flailing arms. I couldn’t help but smile; their innocence was like a balm to my unsettled nerves.

“Time to get you cleaned up and fed,” I cooed, picking up Elliot first for a diaper change.

As I was securing the tabs on Aurora’s diaper, that was when it hit me. A wave of nausea so strong I had to grip the edge of the changing table. My vision blurred for a moment, and my wolf growled in discomfort.

“No, no, no, not again,” I muttered, staggering toward the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet before I threw up.

When I was done, I took a shaky breath and looked down, half-expecting to see that terrifying black substance again. But it was just... regular vomit. I flushed the toilet and sank to the floor, my back against the cool tile wall.

“Was I seeing things last night?” I mumbled to myself, my hands trembling as I wiped my mouth with a tissue.

“You weren’t,” my wolf replied, her tone laced with a combination of caution and confusion. “Something was off last night.”

“Then what was it? A hex? Some dark magic crap?” I asked, as if she could provide the answers.

“I don’t know. But something protected us. I think it was the amulet.”

I sighed and pulled the amulet away from my neck on its chain, studying it in the morning light. It was just a simple piece of jewelry, yet Layla had seemed so sure it would protect me. Maybe she was right. I felt its cold surface, still devoid of the tingling sensation I had felt before.

“Maybe you really did protect us,” I whispered to it. Then I tucked it back into my shirt. I decided right then that I would keep it on me at all times, just in case.

I got up, washed my face, and returned to the twins, who seemed blissfully unaware of the drama unfolding around them. I went through the motions of feeding them, their baby faces lighting up with each spoonful of pureed fruit, and tried not to think about the strange events that had overtaken my life.

Nathan found me in the kitchen, unloading the dishwasher with more force than necessary. He took one look at my face and knew.

“You threw up again,” he said, not as a question but as a statement of fact.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t like last night. It was just...normal. I think the amulet really did protect us from something worse,” I said, not entirely convinced of my own words.

He looked at me for a moment, his eyes searching mine. “Liv, even if that’s true, we can’t let our guard down. I’m going to double down on the security around the house. Just in case.”

“I know, I know,” I said, loading the last of the plates into the cupboard. “But I still can’t shake this feeling that whatever it was has passed. The amulet isn’t tingling anymore. My wolf feels uneasy but not like last night. Maybe we dodged a bullet, Nathan.”

“Maybe,” he said, closing the distance between us. “But let’s not forget that the witch made it abundantly clear that she will punish us if we try anything again.”

I sighed, passing a hand over my weary face. “What are we gonna do?”

He pulled me into a hug, his arms wrapping around me as if he could shield me from all the bad things in the world. “I wish I had the answer for that, Liv. I really do.”