“Good. How was your flight?”

“Okay, I guess. I can’t really say. According to Constance, I slept through most of it.”

“Aye, that’s a good thing then. You needed it. But you still sound tired.”

“I am.”

She paused for a moment then pressed with, “Your headache is worse…isn’t it?” Her voice put audible quotes around the word headache to let me know exactly what she meant.

“It’s not that bad,” I told her.

“Don’t lie.”

My wife always seemed to know when I was holding things back from her, although she didn’t usually point it out unless she was truly worried. She was also far more aware of what was really happening with me on a preternatural level than she tended to let on, but then, she too was a Witch. The simple fact of the matter was that I knew better than to try sheltering her from my ethereal curse with a mundane lie. However, protecting Felicity was a hard habit to break, especially after everything we had just been through, combined with the fact that it wasn’t quite over yet. If it were that easy, I wouldn’t even be making this trip.

Fortunately for me, she understood my motivation.

“Okay,” I conceded. “You’re right. It’s bad enough, yeah… But I’ve had worse.”

“Will you have a chance to rest? I mean…before you have to…” Her voice trailed off leaving even the barest details of the impending meeting unspoken.

I shook my head out of reflex and regretted the action immediately as it only served to enrage the ache inside my skull. Stifling a groan, I let out a sigh then answered, “Probably not. Someone from Carswell is supposed to pick us up, and based on what Constance was told by Doctor Jante, she thinks they might be taking us straight to the facility.”

“They aren’t even letting you check into your hotel first?”

“We aren’t really sure. Just speculating at this point. But I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”