together tightly because the words ‘you would probably be the first to go’ want to slip out of my mouth so badly I’m starting to sweat.
“Perhaps we should allow her rest,” Dagda says. His hard stare makes me believe he knows I’m trying to hold things back. I give him a half smile in thank you. He gives me a curt nod in return, his warm, fuzzy feelings for me from earlier obviously on furlough now.
They file out of the room, but before the door closes after Dagda, I call out. “Where is Kallen?”
Dagda stops and it takes him a few seconds to turn around. When he does, grim is the only way to describe his face. “He is with Kegan and Alita.” Warning bells are going off in my head. Please, please don’t say it, I silently plead. “She has fallen into what seems to be a coma as her mind and body are overwhelmed by the darkness.” He said it. Damn him.
“Should I go to her?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
Dagda doesn’t even bother to respond. He knows he doesn’t have to. He just leaves the room and closes the door behind him. I’m all alone with nothing but the darkness inside of me to keep me company. And it’s not very good company.
Chapter 9
My neurons are snapping at a million miles per hour, but they aren’t accomplishing anything. Not one useful thought has popped into my head. A lot of useless ones have. Thoughts like how much I hate the pink walls of this room and would like to set them on fire to escape their ugliness. And things like how I would like to take my frustration out on every person in the palace by dipping them upside down in warm honey and then use them as bear treats. These types of ideas, thanks to the darkness inside of me, flow freely in my brain. So far I have successfully avoided acting on any of them. So far. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to keep them in check, though, especially if I keep absorbing more darkness. Sure wish I could think of a spell to reverse the stupid one I cast on myself.
Angry enough to hit something, or someone, I need to get out of here before I actually do one or the other or both. I feel the darkness clawing at my chest and chiseling its way into every corner of my mind. There’s so much of it. For everyone’s sake, I should make myself scarce for a while until I figure this out. Closing my eyes, I teleport. When I open them again, I am standing in the middle of the forest.
“I was napping,” a voice snaps from the vicinity of my shin.
Startled, I jump back. “How did you get here?”
Stretching his mouth in a wide yawn before answering, my familiar says, “I haven’t read the familiar handbook, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that where you go, I go.”
An urge to kick him deeper into the forest strikes me, but I choke it back. “I want to be alone,” I growl down at him.
“Yeah, well, join the club. You think this is a picnic for me? I’m basically nocturnal. I hate being out during the day. I want nothing more than to find a hole in the ground to cool off in until the sun sets. Then I want to go searching for a dead mouse or opossum for dinner. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll come across a dead wallaby. That would really make my night.”
“Gross, you eat dead animals you find lying around?” I ask, sickened at the thought.
The beast looks up at me. “Do you know how hard it is for someone my size to take down a wallaby? Why should I do all that work if nature or some other carnivore wants to do it for me?”
“So, what you’re saying is that you’re so lazy, you would rather eat a decaying carcass than hunt for food yourself.” I have a picture of a maggot filled carcass lying on the ground and the Tasmanian devil pulling up to it in a chair with a knife and fork in its paws and a napkin tied
“Perhaps we should allow her rest,” Dagda says. His hard stare makes me believe he knows I’m trying to hold things back. I give him a half smile in thank you. He gives me a curt nod in return, his warm, fuzzy feelings for me from earlier obviously on furlough now.
They file out of the room, but before the door closes after Dagda, I call out. “Where is Kallen?”
Dagda stops and it takes him a few seconds to turn around. When he does, grim is the only way to describe his face. “He is with Kegan and Alita.” Warning bells are going off in my head. Please, please don’t say it, I silently plead. “She has fallen into what seems to be a coma as her mind and body are overwhelmed by the darkness.” He said it. Damn him.
“Should I go to her?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
Dagda doesn’t even bother to respond. He knows he doesn’t have to. He just leaves the room and closes the door behind him. I’m all alone with nothing but the darkness inside of me to keep me company. And it’s not very good company.
Chapter 9
My neurons are snapping at a million miles per hour, but they aren’t accomplishing anything. Not one useful thought has popped into my head. A lot of useless ones have. Thoughts like how much I hate the pink walls of this room and would like to set them on fire to escape their ugliness. And things like how I would like to take my frustration out on every person in the palace by dipping them upside down in warm honey and then use them as bear treats. These types of ideas, thanks to the darkness inside of me, flow freely in my brain. So far I have successfully avoided acting on any of them. So far. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to keep them in check, though, especially if I keep absorbing more darkness. Sure wish I could think of a spell to reverse the stupid one I cast on myself.
Angry enough to hit something, or someone, I need to get out of here before I actually do one or the other or both. I feel the darkness clawing at my chest and chiseling its way into every corner of my mind. There’s so much of it. For everyone’s sake, I should make myself scarce for a while until I figure this out. Closing my eyes, I teleport. When I open them again, I am standing in the middle of the forest.
“I was napping,” a voice snaps from the vicinity of my shin.
Startled, I jump back. “How did you get here?”
Stretching his mouth in a wide yawn before answering, my familiar says, “I haven’t read the familiar handbook, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that where you go, I go.”
An urge to kick him deeper into the forest strikes me, but I choke it back. “I want to be alone,” I growl down at him.
“Yeah, well, join the club. You think this is a picnic for me? I’m basically nocturnal. I hate being out during the day. I want nothing more than to find a hole in the ground to cool off in until the sun sets. Then I want to go searching for a dead mouse or opossum for dinner. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll come across a dead wallaby. That would really make my night.”
“Gross, you eat dead animals you find lying around?” I ask, sickened at the thought.
The beast looks up at me. “Do you know how hard it is for someone my size to take down a wallaby? Why should I do all that work if nature or some other carnivore wants to do it for me?”
“So, what you’re saying is that you’re so lazy, you would rather eat a decaying carcass than hunt for food yourself.” I have a picture of a maggot filled carcass lying on the ground and the Tasmanian devil pulling up to it in a chair with a knife and fork in its paws and a napkin tied
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