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circle’s border and closed my eyes.
    Sending my will into the circle, I muttered, “
Close
.” I completely forgot to make it sound magic-y.
    Nothing changed to the way the circle and its inhabitants looked, but I could feel the pressure of the force field surrounding them. I wondered briefly if I should remove the binding from the Faerie and ask her about the bite before sending her back, or at least try to get her name out of her so I could summon her again if I needed to. The twisted grimace on Johnathan’s face was too much for me to handle, though, and the sight of it wiped away my previous thoughts.
    I gestured for Seth, Alec, and Halli to gather around the circle. We held hands and concentrated on the sending spell we’d all learned by heart. I spoke the words, “
Lacio expello locus exigo!”
    A hole opened up inside the circle, and we caught a small, terrifying glimpse of the Netherworld as the Faerie and her changeling seeped into the void between our world and theirs.
    As soon as the opening sealed shut, I broke the circle—which felt a lot like my ears popping—so it became just a drawing on the floor. I fell to my knees beside Johnathan once again and reached for his injured hand. I gasped at the sight. It was already swollen beyond recognition, red and mean-looking. The puncture wounds dripped with green pus and his whole hand was hot to the touch. The redness moved up his arm at an alarming rate.
    “Johnathan, this looks horrible. What was that thing?” I asked. “Halli, get me some warm water and soap.”
    “I’m not sure what it was, but I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well for me.” He closed his eyes. “I can feel the pain traveling through all my blood vessels, all my organs, my skin, my hair …” He swallowed back a groan.
    Halli rushed over with the soap and a bucket of water she’d warmed with a spell. I dumped about half the water over Johnathan’s hand to wash away some of the green goop pouring from the wound. I slathered it with soap and poured more water over it. Johnathan had broken out into a sweat and his skin was a sickly color of gray. I sent Halli to refill the bucket with clean water, and I stroked Johnathan’s forehead. Using the sleeve of my shirt, I mopped some of the perspiration from his face. His eyes were closed tight, his jaw clenched in pain.
    When Halli brought the bucket back over, I decided the best way to clean out the wounds was to plop his whole hand in the water and just soak it for a while. While his hand soaked, I scooted over, laid his head on my lap and continued to stroke his forehead and run my fingers through his sweat-soaked hair.
    I murmured softly to him, trying to soothe him and calm my own fears. “I’m so sorry. You’re going to be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you. It’s gonna be okay, you have to be okay.” I didn’t realize I was crying until several tears slid from my cheeks onto Johnathan’s face. He must have felt them land there as he forced his eyes open and tried a weak smile that was more of a grimace.
    “Nothin’ to be sorry about, Paige-girl. Not your fault … You’re so beautiful, Paige … so beautiful. I think I might be in love with you … so-o beautiful …” His eyes closed again and his breathing returned to normal. The painful contortion of his face finally relaxed, and he fell asleep.
    I, of course, was speechless. My mouth fell open, and I sat frozen in place.
Did he just say he loves me? The pain must be causing him to lose his mind—he usually acts like I’m just another one of the guys.
My frozen state was broken by Alec’s laughter.
    “Bahahahaha! You should see your face! I can’t believe you didn’t know he’s got it for you—he stares at you all the time when he thinks no one’s looking!” Alec sure got a big laugh out of my apparent naiveté.
    I closed my mouth, cleared my throat and cast my eyes down to look upon Johnathan’s glorious face.
    “He’s delirious,” I