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Slowly, I start to feel warmer and warmer, as if the very rays of the sun are entering my body through the tips of my fingers, heating me up gently from the inside, then this warmth spreads throughout my entire body. Slowly, I stop fighting it, because I see that whatever this strange energy is, it doesn’t want to harm me. It is doing something to me, and I still have to find out exactly what, but it won’t harm me. Something inside of me is assuring me of this. I just need to let go, and everything will be alright.
I inhale deeply, then exhale, opening my mind and heart to whatever this energy is. The moment I do that, heat unfurls inside of me, as if the sun exploded right inside my chest. This is when I am once again allowed to open my eyes, and the first thing I see are the tree branches above me, with the sky spreading around me as far as the eye can see.
I turn to the left, and Edmund is tied to the cheery tree by a million thin roots which are squeezing him. I can see him gasping for air.
“No!” I scream as loudly as I can, the scream being torn out of my very heart.
The moment my voice explodes all around us, the roots instantly loosen around him, and he drops down to his knees, coughing and breathing heavily. I don’t know how this happened, but I don’t question it.
I want to ask him a million questions, if he’s alright being the most important of them, but once again, I am rendered unable to speak. At least I can keep my eyes open.
Unexpectedly, sharp pain cuts through the tips of my fingers, as if someone is sticking needles underneath my nails. The pain is sharp, but bearable. It was just unanticipated. This is followed by hard pressure, which feels as if someone is pulling my fingers, making them stretch as long as they can, which isn’t much.
Then, I feel like all the bones inside of my body crack at the same time. It is a huge amount of pain, all at once, then relief follows, unlike anything else I’ve ever felt.
Slowly, I feel the grip of the roots loosening. When I turn to Edmund again, he is back on his feet, rushing over to me. I am still lying on the ground, liberated now.
He cups my face with his hands. They feel cold and clammy.
“Bianca?” he mumbles my name, making me look at him. “Are you alright?”
It takes me a moment or two for my mind to find the right words. It is as if suddenly, I’ve learned a new language, something that feels much more native to me than English, and now, I have to remember English words and how to use them.
“I think so,” I nod, slowly lifting my head off the ground. “My hands…”
I lift my right hand to my eyes and gasp in horror. The ends of my fingers are green, as green as the grass.
“What’s this?” I exclaim, quickly trying to wipe this color from my fingers, rubbing them against the fabric of my t-shirt, but none of it is coming off. “Shit!” I shout seeing that there is no point.
“You can’t wipe that off,” I hear Edmund say.
I sit up, looking at him, all puzzled. “How do you know? Do you know what this is?”
“I do,” he nods, looking at my fingers, then back up at me.
“Well… what is it!?” I exclaim apprehensively, feeling like I’m about to lose my mind. “I’m turning green!”
I can’t look away from my fingers, which have taken on a greenish hue at the top and around the nails. Nothing hurts, though. At least there’s that. But I look sick. I look like someone with bruised fingers.
“You’re not,” he says, and I want to slap him for sounding so calm, when I’m going crazy with worry. “I mean, not any more than you already are, just your fingers.”
“If you don’t tell me right now what the hell is going on, I swear, Edmund– “
“You’re a dryad,” he says, interrupting me.
“A what?” I ask, not sure if I’ve even heard this term.
“A dryad,” he repeats. “A wood nymph.”
“A wood nymph?” I echo again and feel like this conversation is getting ridiculous. “
“It’s a supernatural creature, just like shifters, vampires and all the rest,” he explains, his voice calm and patient. “There used to be a lot of them, living in forests and mountains. But just like the rest of us, you are growing extinct. To tell you honestly, it’s been decades since the last time I’ve seen one.”
“A wood nymph?” I just can’t stop repeating what he is telling me.
The realization still refuses to enter my mind and stay there. So, I have to keep saying it over and over again, until I make it true.
Suddenly, my ears start to itch. I lift my fingers to scratch them, and I notice that they’ve become pointy at the top.
