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Our eyes stay locked, neither of us saying anything until Sabra rushes back with a bag. She pulls out several little sample bottles, shoving a couple in her pockets and lifting one to Layden’s face along with a tiny brush.
Like an archeologist, she brushes the gold dust from his forehead and cheeks into the sample bottle.
“Can I talk now?” Layden asks, and I’m so fucking relieved to hear his voice.
“Yes,” Sabra says, forehead scrunched in concentration, “But otherwise don’t move. Stay as still as you can. We don’t want to lose a single particle.”
“What happened?” I ask again. It takes everything in me not to reach for him. “Are you okay?” I’m pissed that Sabra is more concerned with gathering particles than making sure he’s alright.
“Yes, I am okay,” he says, blinking. “I think.”
“Tell us everything,” Sabra demands as she gathers the gold dust from his shoulders.
He takes a breath, eyes widening a little in wonder. “One second, I was here, and then it was like I was lifted out of my body and tumbling over and over and over in space. At first it was dark, and then it was light. So, so bright. And beautiful.”
His eyes land on me again. “I wish you could have seen it.”
I smile, feeling awash in relief. I guess I was worried for nothing. Sabra was right; she did know what she was doing.
“Did it feel like a physical realm?” Sabra asks. “Was there land or beings who moved in a physical space?”
Layden nods. “Yes. Both.”
“Beings?” Sabra squeaks. “You contacted spirits?”
Layden nods. “Just one.”
“Did you ask about your curse?”
Layden’s eyes drift to the side, again full of wonder. “I talked with a being of light. They had a physical body, I think, but they were so bright I could hardly make them out with my eyes. I was sort of drifting at that point. Still in my body but out of it at the same time. We… spoke.”
“What did you say?” Sabra presses. “What did it say?”
“Sabra,” I chide. Layden looks pretty out of it, and all she can do is demand information. “Maybe he needs to sit down and rest a while. He doesn’t need an interrogation right now.”
Sabra looks affronted but continues furiously moving around Layden’s body, moving onto a second little bottle after she fills and caps the first with cork.
“I’m not even sure I could tell you all that was said,” Layden relays. “But I think I’m free of the curse.”
“What?” Sabra and I ask at the same time.
“How?” she asks.
Layden looks down. “I drank from a stream while I was there.” He lifts his eyes back up, and there’s a strength and confidence there I haven’t seen in him before. “I’m cured.”
“An elixir from the realm the curse came from.” Sabra nods. “Of course. Things like that have been written about.” A line appears between her eyebrows as she finishes filling another bottle and holds the first up, full of sparkling, otherworldly material. Her eyes gleam. “I wonder what kind of potions we can make with this.”
I frown. Sabra seems satisfied, but I know Layden, and it seems like he’s holding something back. Then again, I was the one saying we shouldn’t interrogate him, so I don’t press.
It’s starting to get dark out, and five full sample bottles later, Sabra’s finally willing to let Layden out of the circle.
“Take off your shirt,” Sabra says. “I’ll soak it and save the water for potions. I don’t want to lose any of it.”
I roll my eyes, but Layden accommodates her willingly, pulling his shirt off over his head. I avert my eyes, but not before getting an eyeful of his wide, muscled chest, abs, and the sharp V that cuts down to—
Yeah, um. That’s when I finally jerk my eyes away from him.
“Whoa. What’s wrong with your back? I thought I felt something weird poking up through your shirt.”
