Page 91 of In Death's Hands
The world explodes around me when I come to. I’m gulping down air like I haven’t been breathing for too long. My body isscreamingin pain, my mind lost in between realities.
I don’t know.
I don’t know.
I can’t feel who I am.
My consciousness is scattered. Split in between. It feels too large and too small all at once.Whatam I?
“Liv!”
Nathan. His voice is a tether bringing me back into my aching flesh.
A flesh that has been marked.The thought comes and goes before I can process it.
I gasp, water sloshing all around me. Water. Cold. I whimper and strong arms reach for me.
I see skin. Skin. Skin. Skin.
Nathan. Nathan. “Nathan.”
“I’m here.” I feel his warm hands brushing back the soaked strands of hair that have escaped the messy bun atop my head.
“How…touching.”
Celestina. Shit. My mind takes too long to return to me. All I feel is cold, her voice creating stronger shivers than the icy water ever did.
Fresh air kisses my skin and I gape at the shattered window next to me. I have seconds to take in the destruction in the room. Chaos.
Shadows climb the walls, curving in towards us at the top like a wave about to swallow us. More are gathering at the base of the tub, which Nathan is pulling me out of, holding all of me as my shaking legs cannot support my body. Celestina is in front of us, murder in her eyes. A scream bursts from my lips when I see Atys passed out on my left, a trail of blood on the wall behind him. I try to get to him, but Nathan holds on tight. I go back to Celestina, searching for an explanation, but my eyes land on Turan standing in the doorway of the bathroom, looking desperate and soguiltythat my stomach sinks.
“Wh-what’s going on?”
Turan opens her mouth, but a wave of Celestina’s hand has the bathroom door shutting her out.
“What did you see?” demands Celestina, taking a step towards me.
Nathan moves in front of me, and I see his shadow taking form in the far corner of the room, behind Celestina.
“We only did what we agreed to,” he tells her with a voice of steel. “Liv went searching for answers.”
“From the Order?” screams the woman, rage incarnate. Her hair is moving on the breeze coming in from the window I’m willing to betsheshattered.
Nathan nods once. I want to step up next to him, but his hands are keeping me firmly at his back. The hair on my nape is the first to stand, then my whole body is brimming with his unspent energy.
Violence is a living thing in this room. But I don’t understand what’s happened. How did we get to this?
“Everything is fine,” I say weakly, trying to deescalate the situation, which I’m sure has got out of hand for no real reason. My eyes keep tracking Atys’ breathing, the rise and fall of his chest irregular and barely noticeable. He needs help. Quickly. When I rise on my shaky toes to look over Nathan’s shoulder, I meet Celestina’s wild eyes.
“Everything isfine?” She laughs roughly. “You stupid,stupidgirl. What did you learn?”
“We broke one rule, Cel; it does not warrant such a reaction,” says Nathan through gritted teeth.
“I will be the judge of that. You dare come into my court and disobey me? I will only repeat myself once.Whatdid you learn?”
“Nothing!” I really don’t know what I learned. It’s all so murky.
I make the mistake of looking at Atys again, and my eyes widen when his still unconscious body is dragged by an invisible hand towards the woman scaring me to death.
