Page 69 of Sweet Nightmare

“But I can’t shift! The power surge is over and—”

“We know,” Luis soothes, and now he’s squeezing my hand. “Just let me think about it for a minute.”

As if on cue, lightning flashes right above our heads. Less than a second later, thunder rolls across the sky, so loud I can barely stand it. Agony slams through me, and I clap my hands over my ears until it’s done.

But when I pull them away again, my fingers are coated with blood.

“Are you all right?” Jude growls furiously as he turns on the shifters.

“I’m fine,” I tell him, but I don’t actually know if that’s true. My head is killing me, and I’m pretty sure I just popped both my eardrums.

“What the fuck is happening to her?” He glares at Simon, Luis, and Mozart. “And don’t hand me that unmeshing shit.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s what it is,” Mozart tells him grimly. “It’s actually a really big problem if you can’t fix it quickly, because our human bodies aren’t built to handle things the same way our animals can. My bones as a dragon are way too heavy for my human body—they would tear straight through my skin every time I tried to move if I was unmeshed.”

Well, fuck. Suddenly I’m a lot more concerned about the skin-melting heat I’m experiencing.

“We need to get you to the healer,” Eva tells me.

“I’m not sure we can find her. Aunt Claudia is probably somewhere in the middle of all the hurricane prep.” Which means she could be anywhere on the island.

“Text her,” Jude says grimly.

I do, but I don’t get any response.

“Text your mom,” he urges.

That’s the second to last thing I want to do right now, next to melt into a puddle right here. So I do as he suggests.

But she doesn’t answer, either.

The heat is getting worse, and I start yanking at my collar, trying to get some air on my skin.

“What’s that about?” Izzy asks, pointing at my shirt, and for once she doesn’t sound bored. She sounds concerned, which makes me even more concerned.

“I’m burning up,” I tell her, waving both hands in front of my face like a fan.

“It’s got to be the venom,” Remy says quietly.

“The what?” Eva demands, looking even more freaked out than I feel.

“Manticores have venom,” he explains. “Calder used to tell me it felt like fire running through her veins.”

“That’s exactly what it feels like,” I tell him.

“That’s not good.” Eva sounds full-on panicked now.

“That’s it. I’m finding the damn healer.” Luis takes off running toward the dorms. Seconds later, Mozart does the same, except she’s sprinting full-speed toward the cafeteria.

“We should split up, cover more ground,” Remy says. “Surely we’ll find her.”

“Don’t just look for the healer,” Simon suggests. “Anyone who finds one of the manticores, bring them back here. Maybe one of her aunts or uncles can help. They have to know something.”

And just like that, everyone scatters in different directions.

Everyone, that is, except for Jude.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

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