AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The sickening sensation reminded me so much of Fafnir’s touch that I flinched away. Or I tried to. My hands were stuck on the ground.
“What’s happening?” I called to Karin and Natasha, a little bit hysterical as the flashes of my past surged to the surface of my mind. “I can’t move my hands. It’s just taking more magic. What should I do?”
“What?” Natasha’s eyes widened, and she looked to Karin for help.
“It’s all right,” Karin replied calmly. “It just means the wards like you. They should release you soon.”
But my panic was overwhelming, and I began feeling dizzy and nauseous. I didn’t know if that was because of the draining or the memories, but I quickly reminded myself never to offer to do this again. I groaned, closed my eyes, and said, “I feel sick.”
“It’s never done that before, and she feels sick,” I heard Natasha whisper furiously. “How do we get her out?”
“Don’t touch it, Natasha!” Karin shouted. “We’ll lose the magic.”
“She doesn’t look well. You need to get her out. Now.”
Like a light turned out, suddenly the pressure holding my hands and drawing magic was gone. The barrier had vanished, and the room was as it was before. Except I was confused, drained, panting, and unable to walk.
Natasha rushed toward me and gripped my forearms as I sagged. “Are you okay?”
I blinked. “I’m all right. Just shaken. I won’t be doing that again in a hurry.”
“Sorry. It’s never done that before,” she said as she helped me up.
Karin beamed at me as I hobbled out of the pentagram. “Well done, Clawdia. That was such a huge amount of magic and power. I can’t believe you hold so much in your body. You’re the perfect familiar.”
It was similar to how Winnie would praise me for helping her with her spells and giving her magic, but it made me uncomfortable. And it bothered me that Karin seemed to only value me for what I, as a familiar, could give a witch. While I used to feel tired after helping Winnie, I’d never felt sick before. Something about all this felt wrong.
I nodded at Karin and asked Natasha in a small voice, “Can you help me back to the cabin?”
* * *
I barely looked at Baelen,Daithi, or Savida as I walked into the cabin. I didn’t question why they were there. I headed straight into the bathroom before stripping off my clothes and hoping into the shower. I turned the temperature up to scorching and let the water wash over my neck. After the short walk back in the fresh air, I no longer felt sick, and the extreme fatigue had faded, but throbbing over my eyes told me there was a headache imminent. I used the extreme temperature of the shower to head it off.
I tried not to think about the strange sensation of the wards or how upset Zaide had been or how Baelen wasn’t acting like himself. I only wanted to calm down under the hot spray, wash, and go for a nap. The fatigue, both mental and physical, started to hit the moment I got warm.
Stepping out of the shower, I wrapped myself in a large, fluffy towel and wiped the condensation from the mirror. I filled a cup of water from the tap and greedily drank the ice-cold water. It was one of the sensations I loved when since becoming human again, so I did it as often as I could. Cold water after being in warm water was so refreshing.
My stomach cramped suddenly, and I tensed with the pain of it.What now? Haven’t I been through enough emotions today? I can’t be a cat again, Zaide will have another breakdown.
As I pressed a hand to my stomach, I frowned in confusion as it cramped again. Almost like I’d eaten something that disagreed with me, my stomach rumbled, but then I felt a swoosh like I’d just wet myself and knew exactly what was happening.
But how? I’m a familiar?
I sat on the toilet and wiped myself and saw, as I expected, blood.
I’m menstruating again? How? Why?
Unable to do anything else, I tided myself up and washed my hand, staring at myself in the mirror as I tried to work out how I felt about this development. It meant I was functioning like a normal woman and not a familiar. It meant I was a healthy woman. It meant I could have children one day.
I had a flash of an image, three little boys, one with yellow eyes and scales, one with golden skin and blue eyes, and one dark skin and red eyes. And a baby, a girl, a bow in her golden hair but nothing else indicating who her father was. I blinked, and just as suddenly as they came, they were gone.
What was that? A vision?
Despite the confusion, I was bereft. My stomach rolled as emotions hit me like a train, and I sat on the lip of the bath as tears welled in my eyes. I took a deep, shaky breath as I closed my eyes to focus, to bring them back, to work out what that was and how I’d seen it, but nothing happened.
The one little boy had scales.I didn’t know what that meant, but it made me sick with anxiety.
If this is how Daithi feels every time he has a vision, it’s no wonder he’s miserable.I felt awful.
