Page 106 of Knight's End
I knelt and put my hand on his unruly mop of brown curls. He gave me a weak smile.
He already had his hand to his own shoulder and was using pink magic to heal himself. He took a shaky breath and said, “Pull that sarding thing out, Bloss!”
“But—”
Ryan reached around me and yanked the trident out in a single pull.
Connor screamed in pain and smashed his fist into the ground.
I smacked Ryan’s leg.
“Hey, he couldn’t heal himself with that thing in there,” Ryan protested.
Connor simply put both hands to his chest and then let his head sink to the floor. His eyes rolled back in his head and his hands lit up with bright pink light. “Go on,” he murmured. “I’m gonna be here for a while.”
I leaned over him, checking his pulse. “Are you sure you’re gonna be alright?”
Connor nodded weakly. “Go. Get Avia.”
Declan and Blue offered to stay with him and keep him safe.
I pointed a warning finger at them. “You call us back here if anything starts to happen.”
Blue’s thoughts accidentally projected.She looks like a hot tutor right now.
I narrowed my eyes at him.Focus.
Sorry. Random thought.
Keep him safe.
Yes ma’am.
Ryan, Quinn, Posey, and I ran down the passage the mermen had emerged from, assuming they’d been guarding Avia. But the cavern twisted and turned and looped. There were so many offshoots it was a maze. We had to have Quinn speed ahead in order to figure out the right path. Even so, we took the wrong passage a few times and had to backtrack.
The entire time, my heart pounded. My body was on high alert for more ashrays, more mer creatures. But Ryan’s blast had cleared the caves of water, and that might have made all the difference.
When we finally came to the cave I’d seen in the scrying stone, a large cavern with a circular hole at the top which let in a ray of sunshine, we found my sister.
My heart glowed the brightest white; it felt like it was lit directly by the moonlight outside. My face hurt instantly as a barrage of tears threatened to overtake me. I had to use every ounce of willpower to shove them down.
Avia was on the floor, her legs splayed out, and cheek in the dirt. Her beta-fish-like wings spread on her back limply. The orange and purple coloring on them formed a limp little rainbow as the wings wilted on the floor. Avia’s scales glittered on the outside of her arms, but they were the only part of her that looked healthy at all. In fact, it looked like she was gasping for air.
“Ryan, she needs water!”
Shite! Shite!
I rushed forward scolding myself: Why didn’t you think of that earlier, Bloss?
Ryan quickly multiplied a little pool of water around Avia. I splashed through it and grabbed onto her hand. It was a minute before she opened her eyes. When she did, she blinked slowly, as if she wasn’t quite sure what she saw.
My hands cupped her cheeks. “Avia?” I asked gently.
“Bloss?” her eyes, now the most amazing lavender color, filled with tears. “Is it really you?”
I pushed back the golden locks that were now her hair, the brunette color they’d been enchanted with long gone. I nodded and pulled her into a hug, so relieved I’d finally found her. So relieved and happy she was alive. I felt whole again for a moment.
But my sister didn’t hug me back.
