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“I don't know. ” That part was the truth, at least. I had no idea what he'd done to me, or what would have happened if he hadn't been stopped.
“You can see something there, can't you?”
I shook my head again, then closed my eyes and nodded.
“What is it?”
“I don't know. It's like--it's like the fire I felt from him, it's still there, right under where the handprint is. Just swirling around, all golden and creepy. I've never been able to see anything under myself before. ”
“Not even when he was doing this to you earlier?”
“I don't know. It was different. ” I tried to remember; I knew it made me feel warmer, but it always faded after he left. “I never bothered looking because it wasn't permanent. The feeling always went away. Back then it was as if he was letting me borrow the warmth. This time it was like he was forcing it into me, making me take it. ”
“Maybe this will fade, too?”
“I don't know,” I said, trying not to cry. “It's not just on my arm. ”
“Where else?”
My voice came out a whisper. “My heart. ”
Lend was quiet for a long time. “What did Raquel say?”
“I didn't tell her. They've already got me classified as a paranormal. I don't want to give them anything else that would make them--make me, I don't know, weirder?”
“I can understand that. I've hidden from them my whole life. But where else are you going to get any answers?”
“They don't know a bleep thing about faeries. ”
Lend laughed.
“What?” I asked.
“What's with the bleep? Didn't they teach you any actual swearwords here?”
I blushed, then laughed. “It's kind of an inside joke. Lish--Alisha, my best friend--she's a mermaid, and the computer talks for her. It won't translate swearing, so it all comes out as 'bleep. ' I kinda picked it up. ”
“I guess that makes sense in a weird way. ” He was still holding my hand and looking at the burn. I really, really, really liked the feeling of my hand in his. It was amazing that even with everything that happened today such a little thing could still make me feel giddy. Granted, it would have been better if he wasn't staring at the wound that had gotten him electrocuted and possibly meant I was even more of a freak than before, but I'd take what I could get.
“Isn't there anyone you can ask about this? I'm kind of worried about it. ”
I laughed. “I'm the one who's freaking on fire on the inside. Lish would keep it a secret, but she doesn't know anything that IPCA doesn't. And I could always ask Reth what the bleep he did to me, but I kinda don't want to see him again. Ever. And I'm sure no other faerie would help. They don't really do helpful. ”
Lend had a weird look on his face. “Did you say you're on fire on the inside?”
“That's what it looks like on my arm and chest--kind of all swirly and golden, like liquid fire. ”
“Liquid fire. ” His tone was flat, disbelieving.
Feeling defensive, I shrugged. “Yeah. ”
He sighed. “'Eyes like streams of melting snow, cold with the things she does not know. Heaven above and Hell beneath, liquid flames to hide her grief. Death, death, death with no release. Death, death, death with no release. '”
What. The. Crap. That was what I thought. And what I said was, “What the crap?”
Lend let go of my hand and rubbed his hands over his face. “I don't know. It's what the banshee gave us, some sort of prophecy poem. I have no idea what it means. And a lot of it seems like it means you. Your eyes, and you're always talking about how cold you are. And now the liquid fire inside you. ”
“Umm, yeah, but you're forgetting that whole 'death death death' part! And I am not a killer!” I stood, insulted. I couldn't believe Lend would think that.
