Page 113 of Gift from the Wing

“I’ll find him, Primary.”

With that, he moves through the darkness at the speed of light.

“Keeper’s got his path cleared,” Tillman says not even a second later as his eyes start glowing and before I can open my mouth, he continues, “I’ll tell Caspian, and he’ll meet us wherever we are. He’ll be fine.”

We jog over to where the others are still surrounding Oakly as Jamie pumps everything he’s got into her. During my fight, he’s lost his E.F. uniform and his shirt is absolutely drenched in sweat. Between the heat in here, Oakly’s fever, and how much power he’s having to push out, he’s going to have a damn stroke.

“Time to go. Guys, get her on this,” Tillman commands as he maneuvers his hands around to make a gurney.

As gently as they can, Ry, San, and Nikoli lift Oakly up and place her on it while Jamie never removes his from her chest. Draken and Corentin wordlessly grab the ends so they can carry it while her men continue to hold on to her and the sight nearly fucking breaks me. She may be myPerfecta Anima, but they love her like a sister as well.

We’re a family. If one of us hurts, we all do.

Tillman guides us to the hall Keeper was in charge of clearing and as soon as we hit it, he appears in front of us.

Falling in line with us easily, he’s wearing a bloodthirsty smirk and gore that tells the story of what he’s been up to. He goes to say something, I’m sure inappropriate at this moment, but he stops as he looks at Oakly’s prone form.

“What’s going on? Why isn’t she awake?” he asks frantically.

“They’ve injected her with something. We’ve got to get her to a healing wing,” Draken says seriously as our footsteps pick up pace.

“What was it?” Keeper asks.

“We don’t fucking know,” Nikoli growls and I see the guilt and shame crawling all over him. He has no reason to feel like that, but I don’t dare say anything to him right now. They’re all going to be feeling a little of that no matter what.

“With all your consent, I will identify it.” Keeper immediately volunteers, and that causes us to stop in our tracks.

“What do you mean?” Jamie asks, panting.

“If you’ll allow me to taste her blood, I can tell you what is plaguing her.”

“You can do that?” I ask, shocked.

“I can. I can already smell that it’s not lethal or harmful to me. The Summum-Master tested many of his concoctions on me to measure their potency,” he says with a small growl.

I want to scream at him to fucking do it now, but ultimately, that’s not my decision.

Luckily, Jamie’s doctor slash scientist sides kick in quickly.

“Please. If you can identify it, it’ll make treating her easier when we get out of here, but I can’t pull my magic back. Without it…”

A small whimper falls from my lips, and I try to smother it down, but I had no clue it was that bad. Of course I knew it wasn’t good, but I didn’t know she’s completely relying on him at this point.

With a firm nod, Keeper gently lifts her hand to his mouth and softly pricks her finger. As respectfully as he can, he sucks down a couple drops of blood, then lays her arm back to rest.

The air in my lungs dries up when I sense the shift in his mood. His eyes quickly bleed to crimson before flashing back to his ruby orbs. He tries to compose himself, but he’s failing miserably.

“Just say it, Keeper,” I whisper, mortified.

“This is the drug they administer to those they intend to steal their gifts from. There…there is no cure for this.”

No.

Fifteen

Caspian

Ahhh, I do love the sounds of screaming.

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