“You goddamn bastard, I already told you?—”
A smoother voice, kindness laced into its tone, cuts through both of the angry ones. “Put the sword away, my love. It’s all right. Let me work.”
“James you’re an ungrateful prick, as always,” the gruff man grumbles then falls silent.
I try to open my eyes, but when I do, all I see is the white cinderblock wall of my mother’s hospital room. It’s as if I’m sitting right beside her, both of us staring, dead-eyed, at absolutely nothing. I wonder if someone might come visit us? No, probably not. I was the only one who visited her in the end. My father had already found several other women to occupy his time. It’s just the two of us, trapped, rotting from the base of our skulls.
“Let me out!” I try to shake off the shackles created by my mind. I thrash and scream, my body on fire as I try to free myself.
“Hold her!” the kind man yells.
Big hands come down on my shoulders, pinning me, locking me into the nightmare.
“Let go!” I can’t breathe, my body hot and cold.
“Hang on, lass.” My pirate holds me in place. No, not ‘my pirate.’Hook. Hook is the one who’s got me in his clutches, his teeth ripping and tearing my flesh away.
I scream until I’m hoarse, until my throat is nothing but tatters. But Hook doesn’t let me go. He’ll never let me go, will he? I’m doomed.
My tears roll along my temples and pool in my ears. All I can see is that white cinderblock wall, dimpled and grooved like the surface of the moon. Just as foreign. Just as cold.
“All right.” A voice from somewhere, or maybe I’m imagining it. “She should start to feel some relief.”
“When?” Hook bites the word from between his teeth.
“Any minute now. I cut off the worst of it and bathed it in what I had left of Liuna’s salve.”
I sob, completely unable to control myself as the cinderblock wall comes closer, swallowing up everything in my field of vision.
“Fight it, lass. Fight the cold dark. I know it well. Stay with me.” Hook releases my shoulders and pulls me close again, cradling me in his arms like I’m a little lost lamb. “The worst is over.”
I don’t think that’s true, but I can’t say it. I can’t do anything except sit beside my mother and die slowly, the rot spreading at a steady pace.
He rocks me gently as the pain from my leg begins to lessen, a tingling taking its place. But I still ache. Everywhere all at once—in my body and my heart. I can’t put together a thought, a feeling, a desire.
The tingling sensation spreads up my leg, easing me as it goes. Maybe this is me dying. Maybe the infection from the bite is claiming me molecule by molecule until I’m just gone.
I sigh as the cinderblock wall goes fuzzy and starts to fade.
Hook holds me tighter and continues to rock me slowly.
“It’s working.” His voice whispers along my consciousness. “I can feel her relaxing.”
“She’s not out of the storm yet.” The stoic voice counsels from somewhere nearby. Maybe he’s an orderly at the mental hospital or a particularly attentive doctor.
“That was the last of the fairy salve, then?” The raspy voice.
“Yes.” The doctor sounds resigned. “It was quite helpful while it lasted.”
“Aye. Come now, Huran.” The raspy voice softens a hair. “You’ve done your best. Let’s leave them be. We’ll see if she makes it through the hour.”
“She will.” Hook’s voice rumbles through me.
“She’s strong, but she was already drained when she got the bite.” Huran’s voice, the doctor, hovers closer. “I’ll be back to check on her soon.”
“Thank you.” Hook says it almost grudgingly, but it also has the ring of gratitude.
The cinderblock wall is gone, and the tingling has spread all the way through me. I feel like I’m floating. Not on water. God no. No more swimming for me. But maybe on a golden cloud, something with glitter in it. Lots of glitter.
