Page 83 of Monster's Mystery

I looked away from the grieving man and met Aiden’s sad eyes.

A golden shockwave exploded out of Clarissa, affecting nothing. I seemed to be the only person who could see it.

But everyone saw what came after, when she gasped aloud and fell to the ground in a heap.

CHAPTER23

As much asI wanted to check on Clarissa, Bruce was already helping her. Instead, I ran into Aiden’s arms, my magical sight still in place. Everything about him was... normal.

I sighed in relief.

“I told you I’d be fine,” Aiden murmured in my ear. His hot breath made me shiver.

“Lincoln, can you help?” Bruce cried to the healer in our year.

I buried my face in Aiden’s chest. “What went wrong?” I whispered.

“I have no idea.”

“She’s got a pulse,” Lincoln announced, and my heart leapt in hope.

“Then why isn’t she breathing?” Bruce shouted.

“Give me a moment!” Lincoln said. “Get her lying on her back. Do you know how to give mouth-to-mouth?”

“Give what?” Bruce asked.

I marveled at the few differences between the sixteen hundreds and the present. He’d managed to fit so seamlessly into the academy. But some things, like life saving techniques such as mouth-to-mouth and CPR, had been so recently developed that he wasn’t aware of them. It’s not like the academy taught them; we had healers.

Lincoln explained in brief how to give Clarissa breath, and Bruce fitted his mouth over hers.

Something niggled in the back of my brain, and I repeated the cure to myself in an undertone. “Aiden…” I said slowly. “The gift of life... What if it’s a breath?”

“A breath from each of her siblings?” Aiden repeated, cocking his head to the side. “Could be.” His gaze was fixed on Bruce and his efforts. “Hey, Lincoln, is that doing anything?”

Lincoln shook his head. “I don’t understand it. Being without oxygen for so long, her pulse should have faltered. But it’s beating strongly.” He took his fingers away from her neck, where he’d been checking the timing of her pulse.

“It’s magic, then,” I said, more sure of myself than ever. “The breath of life.”

Lincoln’s eyes widened in surprise. “Worth a shot. Bruce, move aside.”

Bruce moved to Clarissa’s head, his fingers stroking her dark brown hair as if reluctant to part with her even for a moment.

When Lincoln breathed into Clarissa’s mouth, my magical sight saw movement. Just a tiny thread of magic moved from Lincoln into the unconscious beast.

“Yes!” I exclaimed. “It’s working. Everyone, she needs you!”

Each of the eleven other beasts breathed a thread of magic into her. When the last one had finished, Bruce looked up at me expectantly.

“Hang on,” I said, watching closely. “Something’s happening. They’re twisting together. None of them are still attached to the beast that gave it, by the way. Now they’re getting smaller... I think they’re dissolving. Come on, Clarissa,” I pleaded with her. “You can do it.”

It felt like nobody was breathing for a moment, everyone focusing their energies on forcing Clarissa to wake up.

Bruce let out a whimper, closing his eyes and pressing his lips together tightly. His chin wobbled, and I knew he was holding back tears.

A sudden gasp broke the silence, and my attention was drawn back to the beast on the ground.

Green eyes were looking back at me.

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