Page 67 of Cloak of Night
When she looked back, though, his blood had already congealed. “How...?”
Liga had shown them that demigods could heal faster than humans. Could that be what was happening?
Fairy funneled the thistledoon powder back into the vial and moved her hands to the other knife in Wolf’s belly.I hope I’m right about this. She extracted the blade, and the same stomach-turning sensation of metal sliding from bloody flesh reverberated through her fingers.
This time, though, she didn’t look away. And as she watched, Wolf’s bleeding slowed. His skin melded together, smooth like molten rock, where there had, only seconds ago, been a vicious cut. It still looked angrily red and raw, but it was no longer an open wound.
“Holy heavens,” Fairy said.
Her own wound stung then, and she remembered that Menagerie had also left her a sharp souvenir.
Fairy didn’t want to pull it out. What if she fainted? Or died? Then there would be no one to take care of Wolf. But if she left it in, it would only make the damage worse, and she might faint anyway from the shock of the foreign object jammed into her ribs and the inevitable infection for leaving a wound exposed like this.
She poured the powdered thistledoon into her handagain, then clenched her teeth and slid the knife out of her side, gasping. Stars blinded her vision.
“Fairy?” Wolf asked, his voice like sandpaper.
It was enough to remind her where she was, what she had to do. She smacked her palm against her side and smeared thistledoon into the wound, painting her skin with blood in the process. She bit her knuckle as the thistledoon did its work, stinging like salt against her raw flesh. The pain was almost enough to push her over the brink to unconsciousness.
She held her side and curled into Wolf, tucking herself into the space against his chest, away from his healing belly. “Wolf,” she whispered, answering him. “We’re okay. We’re going to be okay. Just... rest.” Her eyes fluttered, tempted to close.
Something shimmery darted through the trees. Fairy sat up, as excruciating as the movement was. At first, she thought it was a beetle, but then it landed right in front of them.
“One of Spirit’s messenger rays,” she said.
Wolf stirred beside her, but he didn’t say anything. She didn’t know if he was still awake.
Fairy’s hands shook. Would the message explain why her gemina bond had gone dark? What if it was a distress call? She fumbled with the tiny paper and only managed to get it open after four tries.
Fairy read aloud, in case Wolf was listening. “‘We have Prince Gin’s soul. But Broomstick fell in the Lake of Nightmares, and he’s not quite himself.’”
It was suddenly hard to breathe, and she didn’t know if it was this news about Broomstick or the knife wound in her side. Or both.
She forced herself to keep reading Sora’s message. “‘We’re going to Paro Village to recover. If you can fly, please meet us there, and bring Liga. Maybe he’ll know how to help.’”
Fairy collapsed against Wolf’s chest. The swell of relief and distress, combined with the pain of her wounds, was too much. Broomstick was alive, thank the gods. But what had happened to him in the Lake of Nightmares? No wonder Fairy’s gemina bond had gone blank.
Wolf shifted and stretched his leg to wrap around her. “We’ll go... soon,” he said.
She wanted to believe it. But she also knew things could end badly if they tried to travel while hurt like this. “We’re no good to them, no good to Kichona, if we’re dead.”
“Sleep, then,” he said. “When we wake up, we’ll...”
Wolf didn’t finish what he was going to say. And it didn’t matter anyway because Fairy could barely hold on to consciousness either. The pain of her wound and her anxiety over Broomstick conspired against her, and like weighted curtains, her eyelids fell closed.
At first Fairy thought it was a dream, because the space around her was a vacuum. No colors or sounds. Neither hot nor cold. Just a black abyss, sucking Fairy deeper and deeper into its depths.
Until suddenly, her bare feet touched sand. Or what seemed like sand, soft and cool between her toes. Everything remained black, but Fairy reached her arms around her. Her fingertips landed on smooth walls.
A moment later, beautiful emerald light appeared a short distance away, sparkling to reveal the tunnel she stood in.
“Where am I?”
A whisper beckoned from the end of the tunnel.Come, young apprentice.You did not get to be a warrior in life, but as a reward for your service to Luna, you can play with more powerful magic in death.
“Oh gods.” Panic fluttered in Fairy’s throat. This wasn’t a dream. “I’m dead.”
Except... wait.
