AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s … something in my stomach aches. It’s like hunger, but feels like clawing, or something.” It was as she lifted her arm that I noticed blood.
“Vespyr, did one of them bite you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She twisted her arm, and as she examined it, I noticed two clear arcs in the shape of a bite. “Is that bad?”
I turned toward the boy, who sat on the other side of me, and when he lowered his gaze, nodding, an ache blossomed in my chest. He twisted around toward the fountain, scooping water up to drink.
Ignoring her question, I dipped my cupped hands into the flowing stream and scooped as much as I could hold, which I tipped into her mouth. “Drink. It might settle your stomach.”
She sucked down the water quickly, and I gathered up more to feed her, until she seemed satisfied, then drank some myself. As I lowered my hands from my face, something caught my attention. Black objects lying scattered all over the monastery yard.
Black birds.
Dead.
I turned around to find more of them behind me. Perhaps hundreds, lying motionless.
“Do you hear that?” Vespyr asked, and when I swung my attention back to her, I noticed sweat beading across her forehead and over her cheeks. “Do you hear them?”
“Who?”
“I can hear them talking.” Her eyes filled with tears, lips quivering. “The doctors. They’re saying I’m sick. My fever … is too high.” She panted in between words, and I pressed my palm to her forehead.
I didn’t even need a thermometer to know she was burning up. Too hot. Way too hot. Scooping up more of the cool water, I gently poured it over her head, wetting her hair thoroughly, and over her neck.
Lids heavy, she rolled her head back and forth against the fountain, moaning.
“Vespyr.” I gripped her face, forcing her to look at me. “I want you to try to return. Can you do that for me? Try to go back again.”
A sob shook her chest. “I can’t. I can’t go back.”
“Please try.” The tears in my eyes blurred her form.
“Farryn! It hurts!” She curled into herself, and I scrambled to the other side of her, laying her head in my lap.
“I’m here. I’m right here.”
“What’s happening to me! Oh, God, I’m scared! I don’t want to be alone! I’m scared, Farryn!”
“Shhhh.” Stroking a hand down her hair, I kissed her forehead. “I’m right here. I’m right here with you. You’re not alone.”
“I’m becoming … one of … them. Please … kill me. Please.” She clutched my arm, and my muscles twitched with the panic pulsing through me. “I don’t want to stay here. I want to go home. Please Farryn. Let me go home.” At a tight grip of my wrist, I looked down to see her palm clutched over where I still held the blade.
Through tears, I shook my head, wishing I could wake up.Wake up!“I can’t.”
“I don’t want to stay here anymore. Please! I’m begging you.” Her grip of my arm tightened, and when she lifted my blade-toting hand higher, I broke. Hands trembling, I held it loosely, as she guided it over her heart. “Chest … throat … skull,” she said on a shaky breath. “Okay?”
Tears wobbled and spilled down my cheek. “Please try to go back. I can’t do this. I can’t do this!”
“You have to. Myrmecophily. Remember?” Her lips trembled, the blue of death stripping their natural pink hue.
I hiccupped another sob and nodded. “I remember.”
“I get to be the butterfly, right?” She let out a tearful laugh. “I get to fly away. Far, far away.” With a deep breath, she released my hand and stared up at the sky above us. “Free as a butterfly. Far away from here.” For a while she stared, just breathing, until her eyes widened, and in their reflection, I saw the clergyman standing over her with his crosier and book. Blood trickled in to the whites of her eyes, seeping over her gray irises. “Say your name. Say your name. Say your name. Say your name,” she whispered over and over.
I dragged the blade over her chest, across her throat, and as I held it to her temple, I rested my forehead to hers and whispered, “Vespyr. Your name is Vespyr.”
I drew back and pierced her skull with it. “Fly away,” I said through tears.
