Page 5 of Blood Red Woes

The voice is incredulous as it asks me, “You don’t know? Ugh. Look down.”

I look down, not sure what I expect to see, but the one thing I don’t expect I can honestly say is the tattoo on my hand and wrist glowing. Instead of a black color, it’s a shade of white so pure it’s surreal.

Lifting my wrist before my face, I tap my skin. The glowing tattoo, specifically. “What…”

“Yes, yes, I am the rune on your wrist. Flawless perception skills, truly.” The more he speaks, the more it sounds as if hehas some kind of accent.Not quite English, but a mix of it with something else.

I try to peel it off, but the tattoo is in my skin. It’s not some layer I can scratch off. “What are you?” I whisper. “Why are you on me?”

“Good question. Finally, we’re getting somewhere. I am on you because you picked me up, don’t you remember? To be more specific, you picked me up and then dropped me carelessly—”

It all comes crashing back to me. The alley, the flash of light that drew me there, the strange crystal that seemed to glow and whisper directly into my mind. I picked it up and dropped it. It broke and then… then I woke up here.

“Get off me,” I tell it. Or… him? Because the voice sounds male.

It, or he, sighs and says, “I would love to, believe me, but that is not something in my realm of capabilities. For the time being we are stuck together… as much as I hate to admit it.” The tattoo on my wrist dims, but then it glows again as it asks, “What is your name?”

“Rey,” I reply. “Do… you have a name?”

My tattoo doesn’t speak for a while—can’t believe I even have that thought—but it still glows, so I take that to mean he’s thinking? It takes him a while to say, “My name has been lost to me over the years. I don’t know how long I was trapped in that gem.”

“Are you saying you used to be aperson?”

“I was a wizard, powerful in my own right, but the empresses of Laconia consider themselves the keepers of magic. Before me, they never met another who possessed skills to rival their own. They bound me, trapped me in that soul gem.”

My eyebrows crease as I put what he’s saying together. “So you were a man, a wizard… with magic, and these empresses gotjealous and put you into a crystal? Withmagic?” Obviously, I can’t get over the magic part.

Magic isn’t real. It’d be cool if it is, but it’s not.

Then again, I’m standing who knows where talking to my freaking arm, so.

“Yes” he says, as if it’s simple.

“And now I’m… where, exactly?” I spin around again. The tall trees around us are probably taller than any tree I’ve ever seen in my life. A kind of forest like this is unreal. Kind of creepy, too.

“If I had to guess, I’d say we are in Laconia now, and judging by the thick forest, Magnysia to be precise. Home of Empress Krotas.”

He says all that like it’s supposed to mean something to me, but it doesn’t. “So, are we still in America, or—”

“We’re in Laconia, not this America you speak of, and we best get moving. These forests are not the safest place to be after dark. You need to find shelter, and find it fast.” His snide tone does sound urgent, and even though I’m still freaked out about everything, I know he’s being serious.

“I don’t know where to go,” I whisper. “I don’t even know how I got here.”

“The magic that kept me trapped in that gem must’ve imploded when you released me. If I had to guess, I’d say that brought you here, along with binding me to you. And as for where to go… you’re in luck. I may not remember my name, but I do remember most of Laconia, Magnysia included. We should focus on getting to the main city of Laconia.”

Laconia is both a kingdomanda city? How confusing.

“I can’t believe I’m talking to myself, but lead the way,” I mutter. It isn’t like I have much choice. I’m stuck here, with this thing on my arm. Sure, it could be worse: I could be stuck here withoutthis thing on my arm, totally alone in a foreign land where apparently magic is a real thing.

The tattoo on my wrist and hand glows a yellowish white at that. “You’re not talking to yourself. You’re talking to me. Sorry to say, but until you find a way to unbind me from yourself, you will never be alone.”

The laugh I let out is one of unease and awkwardness. “Great. Never alone. Awesome.”

“And, until we are unbound, you will be stuck here in Laconia.”

“What?” I yell that, mostly because I, you know, have a life to get back to. Not a great life, but a life. A life where I need to get my shit together. Being stuck here, with this thing attached to me, is pretty much a surefire way to have everything get fucked.

The snide voice harrumphs. “Ugh, you don’t need to shout, Rey. I can hear you perfectly fine, even if you whisper. We are connected. Now, unless you want to stick around and find out why the forests of Magnysia are most unsafe at night, I suggest you start walking.”

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