by Sarah Reeves
“What’s wrong?” Hannah’s voice was immediately frightened.
“This can’t be right.” Alex shook her head. “Stupid thing must be broken or something.”
“The thermometer?” Oliver was worried too. “What does it say?”
Alex blinked hard in case the numbers changed before she answered her friend’s question. “It says my temperature is a hundred and fifty two degrees.”
Hannah and Oliver both spoke at once.
“How are you still talking to us?”
“How are you not dead?”
“Like I said.” Alex raised her voice slightly above the other two. “The thing has to be broken, there’s no way that my temperature is that high. Obviously I would be dead right now. I’ll just try again tomorrow with a new one, if I can get Mom to buy one.” She shut the light off and left the bathroom, sitting on the edge of her bed. “Back to a more sane topic,” she continued. “I found a box with a few things that belonged to my dad.” She opened the box and dumped the contents on the comforter. “There isn’t much here, though.”
“Did your mom say anything else about what’s going on?” Hannah asked. The fear wasn’t totally gone from her tone, but she’d calmed down some.
“No,” Alex answered. She reached to pick up the leather strand of the necklace in the pile of her dad’s things. As she lifted it, she saw that it was attached to a pendant made of a bright red jewel. It shone brightly. “It doesn’t make sense,” she murmured, bringing the stone to eye level. Later on, Alex would swear that she saw the light refracting through the gem pulse, like a tiny heartbeat. Oliver said something, but Alex wasn’t listening. She was staring at the stone, transfixed. “I have to go,” she said, and hung up before her friends could say anything. She dropped her phone on the bed. Time seemed to slow as she lifted her other hand to touch the jewel, and something hot next to her heart throbbed once, just before her hand made contact.
Agony, raw and blazing hot, ripped through Alex before she could draw her next breath, and her body arched backward hard. She fell off of the bed, but she was oblivious to anything other than the pain that tore at her mind. Nothing else existed. Her bones started to break, bright snaps of fire shooting through her body like spears of flame. Her eyes were rolled back into her head, blind except for a red-orange haze that made her think maybe she was burning, after all. There was no breath in her lungs. Alex’s mouth opened in a silent scream. Her ears were ringing. She didn’t hear the panicked screams of her mother, who had raced up the stairs to her daughter’s room after hearing her fall to the floor. Alex’s body jackknifed forward, then back again. Muscles tore from the strain, adding to the inferno threatening to consume Alex’s consciousness.
Then, as soon as the pain had come, it was gone. Not completely, but for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Alex could breathe. Her hearing came back first, and she registered her own ragged gasps, and her mother’s frantic words, trying to get a response from her. Each breath felt like dragging broken glass down her throat. Sight came back next, and felt a small shock when she saw wisps of smoke rising from her clothes. Her palm burned like crazy. Jennifer’s face came into focus next, tears streaking her cheeks, lips trembling and white. Alex had never seen such terror in her mother. She struggled to lift her hand, and managed to rasp out a few words.
“Mom, what happened?” Then her world went blissfully black, and Alex sank gratefully into unconsciousness.
Chapter Four
Is it done? The voice slid through the monster’s new mind as it regained consciousness. It instinctively shrank back, though it knew the Master was not physically present. They never were, but it also knew what the Master’s punishments were for what They deemed as insubordination. The scaly head turned to look at the wreckage of the mother dragon’s brood. Broken shells and thick, sticky liquid covered the stone floor of the cave, littered with the remains of the infants, long dead.
Yes, Master, it is done. The monster stepped forward, using a claw to sift through the fluid. No eggs were left unscathed, and the creature felt a tendril of pride wind its way into it’s thoughts. It had done well, hadn’t it? The mission was complete. The brood had been destroyed, and it had a new body as a reward. Even better, the Master was pleased, it could tell. Yes, it had done well in it’s mission.
Within the thing’s mind, in her cage, the mother wailed in grief. Her children. Her poor children. She could barely think through the pain, the complete and consuming anger and sadness washing over her in a wave that left her curled defensively on the floor of that mental cage. There was no stopping the images that assaulted her. The events of the last hour played in slow motion, and reliving it was far more terrible. Because she saw, now, how she could have prevented this. How she could have defeated the monster. How her children could have lived. And how there was no way to change it, to go back with the knowledge she had now. Her babies were dead, murdered by her own paws as she watched, unable to protect them.
Through the agony, though, a small glimmer of hope, quickly hidden. A small detail, missed by the monster. As the creature left the bodies of her children behind, the mother buried the knowledge deep, and let the agony wash over her once more.
The light was too bright. Alex groaned and shut her eyes again, throwing a hand up for good measure. Every muscle screamed in protest, and she groaned again.
“Alex? Sweetie?” Jennifer’s anxious voice made Alex open her eyes again, squinting.
“Mom?” She focused on her mother’s face. It was pale, and strained. “Hey.”
“Hey, baby,” replied Jennifer. A tear rolled down her cheek, and Alex noticed for the first time how red her eyes were. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore,” said Alex. “What the hell happened to me? And how am I able to move? Also, was I on fire at any point?”
Jennifer shook her head. “I couldn’t tell you. I saw your bones break, but when you passed out, they… healed. I checked once I got you into your bed.”
“Where’s Teagan?” Alex began to sit up, then dropped back with a cry. “Is she okay?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“She’s fine, I promise. She’s playing downstairs, with some of your grandma’s old toys. She thinks they’re cute.” She gave a small shudder. “They’re creepy. But she’s fine.” Alex nodded, sinking down into the mattress.
“So, you don’t know what happened to me?” Alex looked over at her mother, watching her face. “It didn’t happen until… until I touched Dad’s old necklace. The one with the ruby, or whatever it was. But it was weird.” Painfully, she struggled until she was sitting upright, facing her mom. “I was on the phone with Hannah and Oliver, but when I picked up the necklace, it was like… like I was in a trance. I don’t remember what we were talking about, either. I couldn’t stop staring at the stone, it was almost like it was… I don’t know what it was. I reached up and touched it, and then the pain started.” She took a shuddering breath. “But it didn’t start until I touched the stone. And something happened, before…”
“What happened?” Jennifer’s voice was hushed, eyes intent.
“Something in my chest, something hot. Next to my heart. I don’t know what it was, but it… flashed, I guess. Right before I touched the stone. Then, when the pain began, it was almost like it spread.” Alex shrugged. “Like a fire.”
Jennifer’s face, impossibly, got paler. “Fire?”
“Yeah, like fire.” Alex looked around. “Where’s the necklace? I dropped it when… when it all started.”
“Right here,” answered her mom, holding up the leather string. The ruby pendant drew Alex’s gaze inexorably. She didn’t realize she was leaning forward until Jennifer put the necklace carefully in her pocket. Alex noticed she avoided touching the stone as she did so. “And you’re not touching it again,” she added, watching her daughter closely. “We don’t need you going through that again. Okay?”
“Yeah, okay. You’re right. We still need to figure out what happen
ed, though.” Alex tried to stand, failed, then stood fully upright with help from her mother. “I also need to call Oliver, and Hannah. I’ve been having them watch our house to see if anyone’s come to find us. If the Unseen makes an appearance, I want to know. ‘Course, they could be tracking us right now.”
Jennifer shifted, uncomfortable. “I don’t know if investigating your… episode is a good idea. The last time you were able to get a hold of information, they came for us.”
“This is different, Mom. I could have been seriously hurt by whatever happened to me. I was seriously hurt. I just… healed myself? I still have no clue how that even happened. Let alone how touching a rock made my body try to rip itself apart. I need to figure this out, and soon. We don’t know if it will happen again. Besides - ” she broke off, looking down in surprise. Her chest was hot again. Alex gasped and stumbled back against the bed as the heat flashed, and her mother reached out to steady her.
“Honey, you okay?” Jennifer’s voice seemed distant. The fiery feeling in her chest got more and more intense, then spread, but not in the same way as before. It shot down her arm, and Alex lifted her hand in time to watch flames shoot from her hand and onto the comforter.
“Shit!” Alex snatched up a corner of the spread and smothered the flame. Smoke rose in acrid waves, tinging the air with the scent of burnt fabric. “What the hell?” she looked up at her mother, who had backed away a few feet, her face white with shock. “What just happened?”
Jennifer met her daughter’s eyes. “I… I don’t know. You, uh, you set the bed on fire.”
“No, I didn’t. Humans can’t set things on fire. Grandma must have left a lighter here or something.” Alex tossed the blankets up, waiting for one to fall from the folds, but none did. She sat down heavily. “Now there’s this thing, next to my heart. I can feel it. It’s like a little ball of heat, right here.” She pointed. “I don’t know what it is, or what’s happening.” She leaned forward, looking pleadingly at her mother. The first tingles of fear were beginning to sneak their way in, past the bewilderment. “What’s happening to me, Mom?”
“I don’t know.” replied Jennifer. Alex scratched her arm absently, waiting for more, but none came.
“I don’t know, either. I’ll start looking into it later on. What I need first, though, is a shower.” She scratched her arm again. “All of this can wait until morning.”
Jennifer nodded, almost relieved, and left after kissing the top of her daughter’s head. Alex watched the door close behind her mom and got her things together for a shower. Again she kept the water at a freezing temperature. She did try to turn it up to at least a lukewarm feeling, but even that was so uncomfortable for her that it made her feel dizzy, like she was going to pass out.
Once finished, Alex collapsed into bed, keeping the blankets off of her to feel the night air come through the still open window. Faintly, she could hear Teagan getting ready for bed under the direction of their mother. Alex smiled. Even here, she could track the routine Teagan used every night to get ready to go to sleep. Bath, pajamas, teeth brushing. They all knew it by heart.
Teagan had been remarkably calm about everything going on, too. Of course, she thought they were on a vacation, but she had to know there was something else going on as well. Kids were good at that, feeling things that they couldn’t immediately perceive. They were also far more resilient, when it came down to it. Possibly scared more easily than adults… no. Adults and children are both scared of the same things, Alex thought. Adults were just capable of defining those fears, even hiding them. Children didn’t know anything other than transparency.
With those thoughts in her head, Alex was surprised that she was able to fall asleep. When she woke, it was just a few hours later. Her throat was so dry it was painful to swallow, and her head was pounding. With a groan, she got out of bed, tugging the shirt away from her perpetually sweaty body.
The house was dark and eerily silent. Alex recalled the feeling after watching a horror movie, where she was certain there was some faceless, grotesque thing waiting behind her to attack. It propelled her footsteps faster down the stairs, her bare feet slapping lightly against the wooden floor. She rounded the corner into the kitchen and flipped on the light, fighting the childish urge to turn around and make sure she wasn’t followed. Alex let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, and opened a cabinet to grab a glass and fill it with water. Leaning against the counter, she drained the entire cup in a few gulps and stayed there for a moment, head back, eyes closed, just enjoying the feeling of cold spreading through her system. She turned, filled up the cup again, and emptied that too.
As Alex stood there, the itch in her arm came back, stronger than before. “Grandma must have cats,” she muttered, setting the glass in the sink and making her way to the bathroom off the hallway. It got worse as she scratched it and felt weird, smooth, like she’d scratched it raw. Except there wasn’t any pain associated with doing so. Her hand found the light and she snapped it on, heading to the sink to wash the pet dander off her arm. There wasn’t any indication that there was anything out of the ordinary until Alex looked down at her arm to begin to lather it with soap.
Only, it didn’t look like an arm anymore. It was pale gray and shiny, like a dolphin’s skin, and there were talons where her fingers used to be. Horror washed through Alex in a sick wave, and she rubbed at the skin furiously, her heart in her throat. Surely she was hallucinating. When her arm didn’t go back to normal, Alex let out a low moan and shut her eyes, willing it to stop. Her head was pounding with fear and revulsion. She took several deep breaths, and opened her eyes. Her arm was a regular appendage again. Before she could lift her head, the headache got worse. Much worse. Alex slid to the floor and hit it on her knees, clutching her head. She felt another sickening wave of revulsion as she felt her head begin to change shape beneath her hands, sharp bits of broken bone poking her palms. Faintly she heard frantic screaming, and realized it was her. She struggled to open her eyes. When she did, her vision started changing. Colors changed, the brightness of the room dimmed, and she even thought she saw heat signatures for a split second, including her mother’s who’d heard Alex’s shrieks and ran to where Alex was curled up on the floor. Alex thought she heard Teagan’s voice, and tried to tell her to leave, but all that came out was a guttural snarl. Then her eyes rolled back, and she went through the agonizing experience of breaking bones again. The pain stole her breath, and she felt her skin crawling and changing. This is it, Alex thought in numb horror. This is how I die. Darkness rose, wrapped her in it’s sweet embrace, and she passed out for the second time that day.
Alex didn’t know how much time she spent in a constant state of torture. Bones kept breaking and reshaping, and her blood burned in her veins, as if it had been replaced by battery acid. The only relief came when the fits of agony ebbed just long enough for her to pass out, and she would soon be awake again when her leg decided to rearrange itself, or her head, or her spine. Later, Alex wouldn’t remember being able to register anything except the pain and the longing for it to end. Every second felt like ten years. She just wanted it to stop, however the universe decided that it should go down, even if it meant death. At least then it would be over.
Finally, it did stop. Alex surfaced from her waking nightmare, drenched in sweat, fully expecting another bout of pain. It didn’t come. She kept her eyes shut tight for a full minute, waiting. Nothing happened. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. It was dark, and when Alex turned her head stiffly to look at the clock, it read 2:23 a.m.. Squinting, Alex read the date. May first. Her body had been trying to break apart for two weeks? She opened her mouth to speak, to call out to her mother, but nothing came out save for a dry sort of croak. Alex swallowed hard against the feeling of sandpaper in her throat, and tried again. This time she only managed a weak whimper.
“I wouldn’t try to talk just yet.” The voice was female. That’s not … Alex turned her head to the other side, and tried to ju
mp out of bed when she saw a shadow in the corner of the room. The result was excruciating, and she ended up back on the floor, bowed backward as her body went stiff from pain and disuse. Dammit, she thought, fear and frustration coursing through her. Get up, get up!
Before she could try to move into a better position, strong hands gripped her under the arms and lifted her, laying her back on the comforter. She struggled, strained cries of pain slipping through her gritted teeth.
“You need to stop moving. You’ll just hurt yourself, and after what you’ve been through, I don’t believe that’s something you want to experience again.” The hands left her body, then lamplight flared, making Alex throw her hands up over her eyes. When she was able to lower them, she found herself focusing on the woman now sitting in the armchair next to the bed. She felt a small jolt of recognition, but she had no idea why. Alex didn’t know this woman. Her gaze roved over her, taking in her slim but muscular build, her long chocolate brown hair, and a face that reminded her vaguely of someone, but she couldn’t quite think of who. Her assessment came to a stop as she met the woman’s eyes. Green. Deep green, exactly the same shade as her own. The only difference was the woman’s eyes were shining with emotion and unshed tears. Alex got the feeling that she wasn’t soft, that emotion was not something that shone through a lot. So when the tears started to fall, Alex got very uncomfortable.
“Who the hell are you?” The words came in barely a whisper. The woman’s face seemed to crumple slightly at the question.
“I never thought that question would come from you,” she murmured, wiping at her face. “Of course, I never expected to get free, or to find you.”
Alex felt a flash of irritation. “Listen, lady, I have no clue who you are, or what you’re saying. You’re making no sense, and I just spent forever locked in my own body as it tried to rip itself apart. Still don’t know how that happened. So if you’re here to kill me, get it over with so you can go back to the Unseen and tell them your mission was successful. Okay?”