Page 123 of Legendary

NICK

Iwoke up in my bed, staring at the wall. My eyes hurt as if an intense amount of pressure had been behind them for a long time and I was just now feeling it. I felt myself wanting to go back to sleep, but then I started to remember where I was, what had happened with Dani, what we learned about Beetee. I must have fallen asleep instead of going downstairs like I thought I’d planned to. I started to turn over, but the side of my head started throbbing and I reached up to touch where I could feel the pain but all I felt was some type of gel liquid, kind of reminding me of the stuff Dani had put on my wounds when I got struck with Elise’s tail. Why the hell would I have this near my face…again?

I actually took in my surroundings, noticing Reese and Elise huddled around me. They didn’t make a sound, but they just watched me as if any of my movements could be something to account for. I dropped my hand and started to shuffle back and up so that I was parallel to the headboard. Reese leaned over and propped the pillow up so that my back was supported. My jaw felt like it had been hit and my stomach was screaming like ithad taken a foot right to it. I wanted one of them to start talking, say anything, so I didn’t feel so completely out of sorts right about…

Reese connected his fist to my shoulder in one solid punch. I winced, clasping my hand around my shoulder, until the pain subsided. He pointed his finger at me. “That’s for trying to kill me.”

My eyes widened in confusion. “I tried to do what?”

“Kill me! End my life. Remove me from the realms. Take your pick, Nick the Dick.”

“No, I didn’t, I wouldn’t do that.”

Elise laughed. “Yeah,youwouldn’t. Very annoying, lovestruck, pretty Nick wouldn’t. But then again, you weren’t…you.”

I raised one of my eyebrows. “So, you’re saying that I went around and tried to kill you without really knowing it.” I pointed a shaky finger at my best friend trying to pull together any recollection of what they were speaking of.

“You tried to kill all of us, Nicholas.” Elise backed up and plopped down onto Reese’s bed.

“You stabbed Garrett. You cut up the little psycho’s legs, you tried to stab and strangle me, none of it was pretty. I eventually had to knock you out, hence the…” Reese motioned towards the side of my face.

“I stabbed someone. Is he okay? Also, is there any reason why my mouth tastes like smoke?” I tried to process his words as I stuck my tongue out and smacked my lips.

Elise tapped her chest. “He has a hole in his shoulder, but you know he is just fine. And it’s the venom I dropped into your mouth. It doesn’t taste good going down, but it's great at severing unwanted bonds, seizing them, and making them retreat.”

“First you have a tail and now said tail produces venom that can do more than just paralytics.” Reese sounded astonished.

Elise ruffled her bangs and leaned back on the bed resting on her hands. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Blondie. And probably some things you’ll never know.” She winked and looked back at me. “Nicholas, before Dani left, did you guys make any kind of connection? Like besides your incredibly vomit worthy love connection.”

I scratched the side of my head, thinking. “Not that I’m aware of.”

“Are you sure? Like I know your head is a little fucked, but nothing happened between you guys that might give her a tiny hint of leverage towards you.”

“Elise, I don’t…why the hell are you even asking?”

She swiped her tongue across her front teeth. “Because Nicholas, yourlittle girlfriend is the one who possessed you. Hence why the last thing you remember is what, being in this room? The talk with Beetee’s parents?”

I opened my mouth, but then closed it because she was right. Everything else beyond those times were a blur. I felt the allure of magic, just a whisper, and my eyes cut to the end table next to my bed. Reese followed my gaze and walked over to it, opening the tiny drawer and reaching inside. He hesitantly pulled out Dani’s dagger, examining it, as he closed the drawer back. The dagger shook and then disappeared from his grasp. It reappeared in my lap and we all made no moves towards it.

“Where did you get that?” They both said in unison.

A small memory of it appearing next to me before everything went dark flashed across my mind and I slid my fingertips along where her name was etched into the steel. “It just appeared.”

“What the fuck do you mean it just appeared?” Elise shot up from the bed and stalked over to me.

“Exactly what I said. I remember sitting right here and it just appeared. Out of nowhere. But I feel like I’m connected to it in some way, like it was trying to find me.”

“Dani just gave you her dagger without even telling you.” Reese tucked a piece of his blonde hair behind his ear and angled his eyebrows inward.

Elise placed her face in her hands. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” She sat on the edge of my bed and wrapped some of my shirt in her fists pulling me up close to her face. “Think fucking hard Nicholas. Did you make any other connection with her? Anything at all, even if it was the smallest thing.”

I did what she asked, and I thought back, searching my mind for anything that could be useful when…

“S-she took some of it.”

“Some of what?” Reese asked.

“All the darkness that was harboring inside of me, she took some of it. Not in a bad way or anything like that, but she wanted to help ease it out, so she took it into herself. She was fine afterwards; I mean she told me it was fine.”

---