She was brewing something on the stove when Aden and Corey sat at the center counter, silent to not interrupt. Tatti rose the heat to boil the water, then turned to them. From across the counter she waved for Aden’s hand, and when he reached out, she placed a stone in his palm. No, it wasn’t a stone. It was a glassy white crystal, about an inch and a half long, cut to a point on either end.

“In your mouth,” she directed, turning back to the stove.

Aden twisted the stone around in his fingers then glanced at Corey, who had collapsed her head onto the counter and whined. “Not your crystal shit, mama.”

“Have I ever had to take you to a doctor for a fever, Deelee?”

Corey rolled her eyes and groaned in reply, but didn’t offer an objection. Aden took that as meaning her mother had made a point. He looked back at the crystal, clearing his throat and asking Corey softy, “Do I… eat it?”

Tatti scoffed from the stove. “Of course not. Hold it under your tongue.” She added something that sounded recognizably like an insult in their other tongue, and Corey snorted under her breath.

Aden gave as much of a glare as he could muster, then put the stone in his mouth against his better judgement.

Tatti had added something to the pot. “What symptoms? Fever, chills, nausea?”

“Those. And dizziness,” Aden said past the stone now under his tongue, following up by laying his head down on his arms in front of him to combat the mentioned symptom. “Sore too.”

With his answers, Corey’s mother rummaged through cabinets and drawers, pulling out powders and spices and setting them on the counter for consideration. Aden closed his eyes, her quickness making his spinning head worse. He tried to focus on the rolling water and the lingering heavy patter of the rain outside, and it helped a little, but not much.

The last time he had been sick like this, it was after drinking too much on his nineteenth birthday earlier that year. Aden couldn’t let his parents know he was hungover so he had just hid in his room trying not to move to fend off the nausea, until Cassie came in.

She had brought with a green drink that she forced him to finished and claiming it was her remedy for an out-of-hand night. Even though she was almost three years younger and going through her rebellious, self destructive, attention seeking phase, she still somehow found it in her to be mature and responsible when it came to the people around her.

Her weird concoction had eventually worked, after being terrible to get down. She made Aden promise that she’d never have to make it for him again though. “I need you looking out for me.”

Aden hated that he had been too tired and dizzy to force her to make the same promise. Perhaps none of it would have happened, if she had just been home for once that night.

From next to him he heard Corey get up and cross the room to her mother. Tatti paused from adding ingredients to her simmering pot to glance at her daughter, who opened up a cabinet and retrieved a jar. They exchanged a look, before Corey took her seat again, brushing off Aden’s curious expression with a comforting touch of her palm over his shoulder blade.

After a while of Tatti’s brew simmering, she strained the steaming water into a mug, which was now an unappetizing brown, and brought it over to him. “Drink.”

Aden really wanted to object, because the smell had wafted over to him and it was overpoweringly strong. He held his tongue though, sitting up and pulling the mug closer to try and muster the will to actually drink it. He tried to reassure himself that Cassie’s weird concoction had worked when he got past the color and texture, but that was Cassie and this was a strange women he had only barely just met.

He took the stone out from under his tongue and palmed it before picking up the drink and taking a few liberal swallows. On first taste it wasn’t so terrible. Whatever spice she had put in it were not entirely offensive, but they didn’t exactly complement each other either, so the flavor was particularly indescribable. There was a smooth sweetness somewhere in it also, but not nearly enough to mask the other conflicting tastes happening. Upon swallowing, he coughed immediately, blindsided by the scorch of cayenne pepper, which hadn’t presented itself until well on his way to his stomach.

Aden resisted a groan, trying to pass off the mug with three quarters of the liquid still left, but Tatti was watching him carefully and something about her seriousness was intimidating. He forced himself to get rid of the rest of the drink just to get the woman to stop glaring at him so intensely.

After enduring the mild torture, he was allowed to move to the den off from their kitchen to rest. Corey guided him to a small futon couch, and she took a spot cross legged next to him on the floor so he could lay down. She flicked on the old TV in the corner and turned to cartoons, leaning back against the couch to watch.

He felt miserable, but at the same time, Aden also felt comforted. It had been a long time since he had someone take care of him like this, and it was nice. As nice as being violently ill could be. It made him nostalgic for times Cassie or he had fevers as kids, because they would get ice cream for dinner from their mother and go out with their father and lay in the cold sand of the nearby beach to beat their overheated bodies.

Aden laid and stared at the TV, but couldn’t really focus on anything besides the urge to throw up the concoction he had just drank. His throat was still hot from the cheyenne. If it was in there to combat the chills it had worked, but only because they had swung to hot flashes now. Aden fought through the urge to whine, but after waiting a while to try and give the liquid a chance, he groaned under his breath to call for Corey’s attention.

She had smirked when she glanced at him, but the look was sympathetic. “How was the witch’s brew?” she asked, a whisper.

He gave a pathetic smile back. “I think I’d like to stick to her regular cooking.”

Corey stifled a laugh. “Did it help at all?”

Aden grimaced, but attempted to be positive. “The chills are gone.”

Another smirk. “Yeah, I can tell. You’re like a space heater.”

Closing his eyes, Aden tried for a bit of humor. “Maybe I didn’t have the rock in my mouth for long enough.”

“It’s a crystal, smart ass,” Corey commented, rolling her eyes to show she was on the same page as him with its ridiculousness. “I can get my mom to make another batch.”

Aden groaned, and Corey laughed.

After letting a moment pass, she sighed, adding another comment. “To be honest, I haven’t seen my mother go out of her way to help someone like this in a long time. She must like you.”

“Lucky me.” His sarcasm was tired.

“Be nice…” Corey scolded playfully, then added, “I have my own idea of breaking the fever, if you’re up for it?”

“Not sure it could make it any worse at this point.”

She grinned, standing to help him up.