Page 1 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

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VANESSA

“Help me!”

Leo was calling for me; I would know that voice anywhere. Suddenly, I was thrust into a miasma of technicolor. None of it made much sense, just a mire of shades.

“Ven! Help me!”

It was as if his voice conjured the world. All the vague shapes suddenly solidified, and I was back in the lab again, the lights flashing red around me. Leo was in front of me, faceless lab technicians grabbing at him, trying to pull him away from me.

“Vanessa! Ineedyou!”

“I’m trying!” The words coming out of my mouth felt like mush and were incomprehensible.

I threw myself against the window separating us, clawing at it and slamming my head against it, but I was so goddamn weak.I could only watch as Leo was dragged farther and farther away, still crying out my name, begging me not to abandon him.

“No, no, Leo, please! I’ll get to you! I swear I’ll get to you!” I slammed my palms into the glass, as if somehow I would become strong enough to shatter it.

But the crazy thing was, I could have sworn it was starting to give. The faintest green glow appeared around the edges, with spiderlike cracks growing in the glass.

Wait, no. Not spiderlike. Vine-like. Little hairline slivers of emerald. I had no idea what that could possibly be, but I did it again, and again, and again until the cracks began to spread farther out across the surface.

Suddenly, the ground turned to something like quicksand below my feet, and it was pitch black. I began sinking almost instantly, the floor greedily sucking me down like it was ravenous. My nails scored along the wall as I tried to grab the window ledge, but there was no stopping the insistent drag. Bit by bit, the ground swallowed me until the hungering void reached all the way up to my chin.

I was still calling for Leo as acrid nothingness spilled across my tongue. It was a curse and a plague all wrapped up in one, and I couldn’t even spit it out before my entire head was swallowed and I was plunged into the endless dark.

I screamed—at least I thought I did—but there was no sound. Nothing. For a moment, I thought I would spend the rest of my life trapped in an endless void of nonexistence. But then I was dropped into a room where I hadn’t been in quite a while.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. And by that, I meant it quite literally. Flames lit up the walls to my left while thick, cloying smoke bellowed through my closed door.

It was hot, so abysmally hot! I sat up from the bed and tossed off my comforter. Some part of my brain knew I needed to stick close to the floor and find a way out, but it was like my body was no longer my own. Fear, discomfort, and confusion overrode that small voice that knew what was safest.

I crawled to the closet, opening the door and hiding myself among the plushies there. All the while my mind was screaming that I needed to get out.

Get out.

GET OUT!

“Vanessa! Vanessa, baby, where are you?”

Oh, that voice.

I hadn’t heard that voice in over a decade. It was melodic and usually full of love, but now it was packed with the same terror I felt.

I tried to reply, but when I drew in a breath to answer the call, my lungs filled with smoke, and all I could do was cough.

It was getting hotter, and every second that passed made it harder to breathe. I needed to get out, but all I could do was hide with my toys.

That voice kept calling me, begging for me to come out, but I couldn’t. All I could do was cough and cling to the closest stuffed animal. I was so terrified, my entire body was paralyzed. My grown mind was screaming at me to move, to do something other than hide.

But I didn’t. Even as the world burned down around me, I let my fear win.

“Fuck!”I sat up so fast, my head spun. My stomach churned, wanting to get in on the action, some sort of competition for which body part could make me feel sickest quicker.

“Mrrr?” Goober trilled inquisitively as he rubbed his cheek against mine.

Mudpie wasn’t far behind, kneading my thigh and rumbling lightly.

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