Page 67 of Forgotten Monsters
A second woman cries, hunched over her loved one. “Can you save her?”
I take stock of the woman’s condition. Her lips are gray, and the creature wrapped around her heart looks different than the one in Flynn. It’s curled up in itself, and a thin membrane covers its skin like a cocoon.
My instincts tell me that, if I try to remove the hollow, the woman will die instantly.
Tears roll down my cheeks. “I’m sorry, it’s too late. I can’t do anything for her.”
Brie grips my wrist, her neon-green hair swirling around her face. “And my mother?”
I follow the mermaid to the Sea Queen, the woman who proposed the Swan trial sitting on a chair.
“You’re conscious.”
Elsa Demers nods. “Not for long. Brie tells me you might be able to help?”
“The hollow entered through her leg. It doesn’t seem to have spread to her chest, yet, though the healers declared her a lost cause,” Brie says, her melodic voice brimming with hope.
“Yes, I see it.”
The hollow is stuck inside the Sea queen’s thigh as though it miscalculated its attack, its white form slowly inching up toward her heart.
I rip it out and kill it. The process takes a few minutes and drains what’s left of my energy.
Brie squeezes my hand. “Thank you, Winslow.”
I give her a small nod as she kneels at her mother’s side.
Cole wraps an arm around my shoulders. “You should take a break. You’re white as a sheet.”
I rest my head against him for a second. “I’m so tired, I think I could sleep right here.
Dr. Chen hurries to our side. “Flynn is stable now, but unconscious.” Her eyes widen at the sight of the cured mermaid.
The entry wound on the Sea Queen’s leg has already started to heal.
Dr. Chen licks her lips. “How did you manage to save them?”
“I can touch the hollows.”
“What happened to your hair?” Allie’s voice resonates behind me.
She stares at me with both hands on her hips, and Dr. Chen slips away to tend to another patient.
Allie squints at Cole and me in turn. “Is it…thehornthing?”
Cole pecks my cheek. “I’ll make arrangements to have Flynn transferred to the palace. No need to linger on Earth longer than we have to.”
I guide my sister to the corner of the ballroom, away from Oz’s sneaky quill and the healers’ supernatural hearing. “Beth’s powers make me impervious to the hollows, so I followed Darkwood to the heart of Dark Falls.”
Her mouth opens and closes. “You found the Aegis?” she whispers the last word under her breath.
I check over my shoulder to make sure no one is listening. “Yes.”
“Mom told me it was in the cave beneath Dark Falls, but I didn’t believe her. Seemed like nothing but a legend.”
Legends live and breathe before they become whispers of old…
“Do you hate me?”
