Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Elijah
T he red haze lifted from my vision when Kainda lunged out of my arms. I fell over at her hasty retreat. She dove for her boot near the door as one of my jailers scuttled toward the window, intent on escape at the small gap between the window and frame. Anger surged from deep within for it. Kainda had just grabbed her boot when I smashed it against the wall with my palm.
A dead spider now dripped from my hand. Gross. I walked into Kainda’s kitchen to wash off the arachnid guts. She looked at me with wide eyes, standing there with her boot held loosely in one hand.
“Elijah, what happened?” The concern in her voice tugged at something inside of me, a part of me I’d thought damaged by Uttu.
After I washed my hands, I turned to find her still standing there looking at me. I leaned back on the counter, watching her closely. The boot fell from her grasp, thumping against the lament floor as she started walking toward me.
“I saw all those buried memories right along with you. When your consciousness entered my mind, it felt like ripping off a scab. All too real.” I shook my head, wishing to erase all these newly revealed memories. “I wasn’t just watching those memories flash through my mind, I actually relived them like the first time. At the same time, I knew it couldn’t really happen again. I could feel you where our bodies touched, the heat from the stone in my hand, and the vibrations of the stone on your headdress where it touched my forehead. When I saw that first attack, everything in me screamed for me to stop this, to get the hell out of there. So instead, I held on tighter to you to keep me grounded here, to the reason we’re doing this.”
“That’s when you wrapped your arms around me.” She stretched her arms and shoulders that had to be sore from being squished between us when I’d hugged her to me.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you.” She waved away the concern, so I continued. “After that, I tried to ignore what was happening. Just before that last image of Uttu talking about the venom, something sharp pierced my hand. It felt like it electrocuted an exposed nerve.”
My left hand still burned as if it sat on a hot stove top. Two small puncture wounds were visible on the back of my hand. The surrounding skin a giant red welt, but the punctures themselves looked charred and black. How I hadn’t noticed it when I washed them early was beyond me. Giving myself a break this time. The whole situation overwhelmed me, and my mind felt as fragile as repieced ceramic. I held my hand up for Kainda to get a good look at the injury.
“We’ve got to get you to someone who specializes in healing magic. Thankfully, my mother has connections to the local coven. Your hand looks like it’ll fall off if it’s not treated, and that last image of Uttu couldn’t be a memory. It has to be a message. Her little minion probably planted it when he bit you. Now come here and let me wrap your hand, so you don’t scare the neighbors when we leave.”
Kainda pulled an old military duffle bag from under the bed. Things began to pile up on the floor next to it as she rummaged around for something. Then she held up a white plastic case in victory. First aid kit in hand, she joined me in the kitchen again. Holding my wrist of the injured hand over the sink, she poured alcohol over the wound. It burned like the pits of hell working its way under my skin, making tears sting the backs of my eyes.
Bubbles rose from the bite, popping and fizzing as if she’d poured hydrogen peroxide over the wound. She dabbed it dry with gauze before wrapping it with fresh gauze and tape. Just as painful as all the injuries Uttu had inflicted on me in the past. The aches, pains, and pulses of all those old injuries came back to life. Death was surely preferable to this nightmare. I’d had more than enough pain, more than my fair share. When would it end?
Once she’d finished dressing the wound, Kainda restocked the kit. “Get yourself something to eat. I’m going to call my mother to find you some help. We’ll head out after that.”
Not the least bit hungry, honestly, nauseous described me better at the moment. Turning away from Kainda, I opened the fridge hoping for a bottle of cold water, maybe I could tolerate that. I heard her talking on the phone, but I couldn’t make out her hushed words. She stuffed everything back into the duffle bag, including the first aid kit, as she spoke.
The memories felt too close to the surface, and shame crept in at the knowledge she’d seen it all. Every last evil, vile thing the creature had done out there for her to see. Did the suffering ever stop? It didn’t seem possible that I’d ever feel anything besides pain, regret, shame. In the hospital the medications had numbed me to the feelings, I hadn’t cared what I’d felt when I did experience them, but now I felt everything. Hope, the worst feeling of them all.