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I press my hand to her forehead. I quickly pull away, stifling a gasp that almost escaped my throat.
“Fucking hell, Bianca, you’re burning up,” I tell her, shocked at how hot she feels. I wasn’t expecting that. “We need to go back immediately and– “
But she doesn’t allow me to continue. “Are you crazy?” she asks incredulously. “We need to get to that tree and see if the stones are there.”
“The stones will be there when I return on my own and when you’re lying down in a bed, keeping this fever under control,” I almost order her, but that only seems to flare up her defiance. I should have expected that.
“No,” she says stubbornly. “We’re both here now, and we’re both going to see if that well is there or not. If it’s not there, then we’re really out of ideas.” She pauses, lowering her head to her chest, breathing heavily. A few moments pass, then she continues talking. “But you’re mistaken if you think that you’re going to get all the credit of finding the well.”
I can see she’s trying to suppress a smile, which means that she’s also trying to lighten up the mood. I still don’t feel right about making her keep going, but she is obviously the more stubborn of the two of us. There is no reasoning with her.
“Fine,” I finally agree. “We go and see.”
“Why are you standing there, yapping all the time then?” she asks, taking the first step in the direction of the cherry tree.
I follow quickly behind, allowing her to remain in the lead. But it doesn’t escape my attention that the closer she gets to the tree, the weaker she seems. She is walking more and more slowly, and she looks like she’s having trouble keeping herself up on her feet.
We reach the tree, and she leans onto it for support. I’m torn between picking her up in my arms and just returning to the factory and continuing what we started. Again, she seems to read my mind.
“You go and see,” she orders me. “I’ll wait here.”
I do as she tells me this time. I feel like whatever I choose, I would feel guilty for not choosing the other one. But I do what she says. I walk around the tree and there, slightly away, I see the stones. They’re lying in no particular order. I wouldn’t have even noticed them if she hadn’t mentioned dreaming about them.
I approach the closest stone and try to lift it. There is nothing underneath. I do the same with the next three, with the same result. Then, I lift the next one, and I notice something underneath, something that feels like a brick, grown over by grass and moss. I lift the one closest to it, and the same thing is revealed.
I start digging and lifting as much earth as I can, revealing more a longer and more intricate brick layer underneath the initial layer of grass.
“Look, Bianca!” I turn around and the moment I do, I notice that she isn’t leaning against the tree any longer.
I’m shocked to see what is happening, and for a moment or two, I can’t move. I am frozen in place, as if I’ve traveled out of my body and I can just watch what’s going on, without doing anything about it.
When I finally regain my senses, I rush over to Bianca, who is lying on the ground, twitching uncontrollably, with a strange light lifting all around her from the ground.
Chapter Nineteen
Bianca
I have no idea what is happening. I feel like I have floated up from my body and now I’m looking down on myself.
I see Edmund rushing over to me. He wraps his arms around me, embracing me, but it helps little. I seem to have fallen into a trance-like state, where my entire body is twitching and jerking. There is also some weird light and fog forming around me, as if it is oozing from the ground itself.
Suddenly, roots of nearby trees start tearing themselves out of the ground and aim straight for me, grabbing my arms and feet. I feel that falling sensation, and once again, I am back inside my body, with someone keeping my eyes firmly shut.
“Edmund!?” I manage to muster, but I feel like my mouth has gone numb as well, and I can barely form words properly.
“Bianca, hold on!” I hear him shout back.
The grip on my right wrist loosens, and instead of a hard, wooden grip, I feel skin on skin. I don’t see anything, but I know it’s Edmund. He is trying to free me from the roots, which I fear might try to pull me apart. The thought frightens me beyond belief, even more than this inability to open my eyes.
Edmund lets go, and instead of his hand, a root grips at me once more, keeping my arms and my legs in a widespread position. I expect to start feeling pain any moment, but still, nothing. I am merely kept in place by the roots, nothing else. They aren’t inflicting any pain onto me. At least, not for the time being.
“Ed… mund!?” I manage to call out to him again, but I barely hear myself. I doubt he can hear me as well.
The fact that I can’t see him, I can’t call out to him, I can’t feel him, makes me feel completely lost. I have no idea what is going on and I feel alone, although I’m sure that he didn’t leave me.
I hear heavy breathing, and I can only assume that it’s him, trying to free me from the roots, without any success.
