Chapter 10 #2
I ignored her as I dismantled the recent portrait of the Helair family.
Hazel stood beside me with her demure smile and knowing eyes.
I, of course, grinned wide only to appease Mom.
She always told me how much she loved my smile.
That it was gentle and soothing. For Mom I would do it, even if it felt fake.
There, behind the portrait, sat an electronic code box embedded within the wall.
I froze.
Mom gasped as she came up beside me. “I had no idea…”
“What would the code be?”
Mom’s wide eyes and open mouth soon smoothed over into an expression of clear betrayal. Her jaw clenched and the slight wrinkles in the corners of her eyes deepened as she scowled at the offending box in the wall. “Try my birthday.”
I did, and a loud beep sounded. “Shit,” I hissed, unsure how many times I could try it until it locked me out for good.
Mom didn’t say anything about my language this time. “Let me try.”
I sighed and stepped back, dazed. Rushing back to the princess’s side, I checked for a pulse again.
It was weaker than before, but I’d take it.
Especially considering how she’d paled even more somehow in the brief time I’d parted from her.
“Mom!” I called out, more panic rising to the surface.
I was going to suffocate. I just knew it. “Hurry.”
Mom didn’t respond as she typed in yet another code in the hidden electronic box. Each beat of my heart seemed to pulse in time with the beeps from the keys she pushed. Time slowed as we waited.
The light glowed green, and a beep that signaled success sounded, as did the click of the small metal door.
“Here,” she said, holding one out for me to take. “You know how to administer it, but just stick to one for now. She might not need two, but just in case, I have an extra.”
I nodded. With air lodged in my throat and my hands trembling, I held the syringe up to the light and thumped it lightly several times to ensure that air bubbles dispersed. I pulled the plastic cap off the needle and knelt at Princess Gray’s side on the couch.
I was abnormally aware of the hard floor digging into my kneecaps, but I ignored it.
Gray was ghastly pale, and it seemed like she’d ceased breathing through blue-tinted lips.
Gently, with trembling fingers, I pushed her long tresses behind her.
They billowed around her head like a halo as if she were an angel who just wasn’t meant for this cruel world.
With her neck exposed, I wasted no time finding the protruding carotid and pressing the needle against her skin until it disappeared beneath. Once completely submerged, I pressed the plunger and emptied the contents of the crushed nickel liquid into her bloodstream.
I hovered over her face, watching for any signs of revival.
Come on, Gray. Breathe for me. Live.
If she didn’t give me something, my mother was going to have to revive me. “Come on,” I muttered, fearing I had been too late.
“Give it a second, Slate. You know how it can take an extra moment for it to kick in and do its job,” Mom assured me. “Breathe, son.”
I nodded and forced air to flow through my nose and into my lungs.
Silence encapsulated the room, and finally, I fell back on my heels, staring numbly at the princess I failed to save, letting the implications set in on what that meant.
My neck could no longer hold the weight that rested on it as my head drooped in failure.
My chest felt hollow, and all I could think was, How could I fuck up so badly?
A hand rested on my shoulder gently. “It’s not over, baby.”
The oppressive force stifling my chest wouldn’t allow me to respond. I just squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the pain.
Why would she go to such lengths? Was she that miserable?
A sniffle.
My head snapped up at the sound. Her face scrunched in agony, her nose wrinkling on the sides. A weak cough sputtered from her throat. She groaned, more like a whimper. However, she had yet to move.
I took her fingers in my hand, giving them a slight squeeze. “Princess Gray,” I said, hoping she could hear me.
Gray didn’t respond, but her frown deepened at the sound of my voice. Her breathing sped up and grew uneven.
“Hey,” I said softly. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”
The princess released another groan, but there was still no movement except for her panicked breaths. I wasn’t sure if she was unconscious or not.
At last, her breaths turned to pants, which then morphed into cries of anguish. Moans and whimpers climbed louder as tears began to stream down her cheeks.
I jerked around to look at my mother for answers. She, too, looked just as shaken as I felt. “What’s happening? This isn’t part of the normal healing process, right?”
Mom stared at her in confusion and concern. With a shake of her head, she muttered, “No, honey. It’s not.”
“We can’t call on the healers. If they find out about this—”
“I know. There’s no telling what the king will do,” Mom finished for me.
All I could do was watch as the princess grew more agitated, until cries of pain ripped from her small body. She was too frail.
Gray’s head jerked to the side as her back arched from the couch, contorting at an odd angle.
“What the hell?”
My mom covered her mouth with a shaky hand, but I jumped to my feet, moving to help Gray stay anchored to the couch before she hurt herself. Just as I touched her heated and sweaty skin, she began to thrash about, arms flailing and shrieks slicing through my dad’s office.
I snatched my hand back and dodged a punch to the cheek.
“Slate!” Mom called out. “We have to hold her down before she hurts herself.”
“I’m trying!”
I forced myself to pause, turning my back on the tortured princess, pinching the bridge of my nose so I could think. I was the calm one—the rational one. This was what I did best.
Most Kinetics didn’t react like this to the redfern antidote. Chrome and I had been healed with it too many times to count, and this had never happened. Perhaps it had something to do with her being a hybrid? But if that were the case, then wouldn’t Chrome have reacted the same?
I gritted my teeth through the screams that raked jagged nails through my brain, forcing myself to barricade the sound long enough for a solution.
What if she was reacting like this because she was a hybrid that hadn’t awakened her other power yet? I wracked my mind with everything I’d learned about Elementals from Chrome. What if her Elemental side was blocked?
Black crystal.
Of course, Forest would keep her Elemental side suppressed with black crystal.
I searched her wrists for a bracelet that might seem out of place.
They were bare, although her blue currents winked in and out.
I scanned her throat for a necklace. There, just below her clavicle, sat a thick black stone.
Halfway pushed in the collar of her shirt and off to the side, it gleamed.
“Mom! Take off her necklace!” I cried out as I shifted to pin down Gray’s arms, pressing my knee across her thighs where she continued to buck from the couch.
“The necklace?” Mom asked, confused. “Why?”
“Just do it. Hurry.” Realizing how rude I acted, I added, “Please.”
Mom jumped to action as I wrestled to hold down Gray’s thrashing body without hurting her. If I was correct, her body was at war with itself in trying to purge the redfern from her system. With her Elemental magic being suppressed, her body fought a battle on two fronts.
As Gray tossed her head from side to side, my mom struggled to find the clasp of the leather strap at the back of her neck.
My muscles grew tired, burning from restraining her enough so Mom could remove it.
Pulling the necklace from her neck, she held the heavy, polished stone in her palm and backed away from the sofa.
Gray continued to flail beneath my hold while Mom set the necklace down on my dad’s desk.
I breathed a sigh of relief when she rushed back to the couch, aiding me in holding down the princess’s arms so I could focus on containing her legs and hips.
Neither of us spoke as the princess fought her internal battle.
I held my breath, begging any of the mystical gods to hear my pleas to keep her alive.
Gradually, Gray’s body began to settle. The thrashing simmered into mild jerks until she was limp at last.
I wasn’t sure how long we’d been there with her, but my arms shook by the end.
Gray’s clothes were drenched in sweat, presumably in her body’s attempts to purge the redfern from her bloodstream.
Her breathing had finally leveled out, and after checking the pulse on her wrist, I noted that her heartbeat had returned to a normal pace.
I heaved a breath and slid to the floor from the couch.
The adrenaline had officially fled my body, and I just sat there, exhausted and in shock as my vision glassed over while I stared at nothing.
Running a hand through my hair, I propped my elbows on my knees, trying to process everything that had just happened.
How close the Kinetic Princess had come to dying.
Mom dropped into Dad’s oversized office chair behind his desk and slumped down into it.
Her pale pink braids had loosened, stray hairs standing askew.
Her usual warm eyes held the harrowing tale within them, her face ashen as she wiped her palms down her face.
“What the hell was that, Slate?” she said at last. “What aren’t you telling us? ”
I shook my head. “It was just a hunch,” I mumbled, hating that I had to lie to her.
“Don’t lie to me. What was that necklace?” she pushed.
I shrugged a shoulder, deciding to remain silent.
Glancing at the couch behind me, I observed the princess as she slipped into a restful slumber, my heart constricting from her suffering.
My urge to protect her from all pain, emotional and physical, was on another level.
I couldn’t share her secret—a secret she didn’t even know she had. Not even to my sweet mother.
Mom sighed and shook her head. “What have you and Chrome done?”