Page 62 of The Master and the Marionette

What is that?

You may inject her now.

“What—” But the needle is already halfway in my neck. I wince at the sharp sting that lingers under my skin, even after she pulls it out.

“We’ll get those demons out of you, child,” the priest says loudly.

Shit. Dessin had to plead reason of insanity was demons. What was the injection for? Is there actually a vaccine for demonic possession?

“Dear Meridei injected you with a couple of viruses, child. When your body fights it off, I pray that it will also fight the evil. The fever will burn it out. We can only hope it doesn’t kill you in the process.”

Nice. So I’m going to die from a disease. I’m more than tempted to ask what the success rate of this is, but I’m sure it will only result in more treatments throughout the day.

“Thank you, Father,” I mumble.

They leave me alone for a few hours and I start to wonder if they injected me with a sedative, because my world grows fuzzy and unclear. I sleep as though my eyelids weigh a ton, and my dreams are wild, foggy, and all over the place.

A cold splash of water over my face and chest jolts me awake. Sort of. I’m groggy and disoriented. But I recognize the priest again, hovering over me, with a dubious look on his face.

With a flick of his bony wrist, another splash of water sprinkles over my face.

I gasp at the temperature, so cold. Like being pelted with hail.

Meridei rests a hand over my forehead. “She’s burning up, Father.”

Am I? My legs rub together to make friction under my white sheets. I would give anything for a big fluffy blanket from Aurick’s mansion. No… I’d give anything to be wrapped up in Kane’s arms. He’s always so warm. A traveling furnace at my side.

I must have a fever, because the inside of my mouth is bitter and hot, along with my throbbing eyeballs. The rest of me, however, is freezing. Trembling from the inside out. My organs are thick and achy. My limbs, muscles, and joints must have all taken a beating. A gruesome, quiet mauling.

Another sprinkle of water.

I groan. But the Father continues. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty…”

The voices around me are under a tank of water, sloshing against my ears, increasing the pounding drums of searing pain under the shell of my skull.

“My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

I slip under the current, plummet away from the priest and his cold water, away from the people watching me, away from the smell of bleach and basement walls.

It’s like floating on a leaf that has detached from a tree, whirling along the stream of wind, and I let it take me. Up, up, up… far away from this death ditch. I won’t die here. No, not in captivity. I’d rather go somewhere under the trees. Yes, that’s what I think I’ll do. Float away.

And I am. Flying, that is. Soaring over a meadow, surrounded by long, flowing wisteria trees. I’m tempted to land. To sprawl out in the grass, maybe call for DaiSzek to join me…

“Eyes open, child!” A bark of an order. Old and gruff and shaky. “Don’t let the devil lure you away.”

At this point, I could either laugh or cry. If the devil were luring me somewhere, it would be right here in this bed. Not to a pretty meadow.

“I wanna see him.” My words come out in a floppy slur. At least, I think I’m the one who spoke. It sounded like my voice.

Meridei laughs. “I’m sure he’d ask to see you too if he weren’t currently being drowned over and over again.”

A moment of lucidity. Dessin. The simulated drowning.

“You’re lucky. Another priest is trying to flood his demons out of him.”

God. What is wrong with these people? My stomach lurches at the thought of him gasping for air. On his knees. Thrashing against the tub.

My head flops to the side of the bed and I vomit. A loud splash of bile and water spilling across the floor. The priest leaps out of the way, gasping at my sudden bodily explosion.

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