Acadia Restoration

Chapter 12

 Leo woke up to complete darkness. He didn't bother announcing he couldn't see, because everyone already knew that. He could hear their whispers about his white eyes. He simply asked where he was. They had taken him back to the temple, Cristina sat next to him stroking his hand. He sat up, Max spoke first.

"What happened?" Max asked.

"One of those things bit me," Leo responded. He hadn't decided how he felt about being blind.

"Bet you didn't see that coming," Kelp replied, a smile creeping on his lips. Luna slapped his arm.

"I was going to say that! Steal my puns again and it's on sight," she made boxing motions. This elicited groans from the group.

"Are you guys going to turn a blind eye to the fact they are picking on Leo?" Lily scolded. Luna slapped her on the back as they tried to contain their laughter.

"Eye can't believe you guys would make fun of my boy Leo," Max joined in. Their laughter exploded.

"When I met you guys I never envisioned all of us making jokes like this," Alex added with a grin.

"You guys are getting on my optic nerves," Laiko attempted. Their laughter stopped.

"Laiko your puns suck," Luna told him bluntly. Norah gave his hand a supportive squeeze. "I want you to look," she bit her lip to contain her smile, she had to finish her sentence. "around at all of the funny people, I can't imagine any way that pun would have worked," she shook her. "I'm sure Leo definitely can't see a way that would have worked,".

"Iris you guys would stop making those puns," Leo gave in. Kelp howled and Luna broke in the waist from laughter.

"You all are so immature," Cristina rolled her eyes. Then The Guardian burst into the room. Leo felt as The Guardian cupped his face.

"He has the mark!" The Guardian cried out in awe. A few other workers rushed in, all of them writing in books and/or scrolls. Leo couldn't see any of this of course, he could only hear shuffling around him.

"Is it reversible?" Norah asked.

"No," The Guardian replied.

"How will blindness help find the peprude?" Cristina questioned.

"Because sometimes you have to be blind to truly see," The Guardian answered before they left the room. The servants followed The Guardian out of the room, one stopped as she reached the door.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour," the girl informed them. Norah gave her a nod. "Do you guys need anything?". Leo shook his head, he hoped he was facing the correct direction. Then the girl left.

"Okay, I know you said one of those birds bit you, but can you give us a more detailed recap?" Cristina asked as she ran a hand through his hair.

"It started when I saw one of the peprodes, it had golden eyes. I felt this urge to follow it, so I did. It led me to this area with a pond and-" he made sure to cut out the part with his reflection. "And all of the trees were filled with birds, all of them staring down at me. Then the golden eyed one pecked at my leg, so I reached down to pick it up and it bit me. Then I lost feeling in my body and everything went black," he explained. No one knew what to say, so they left to get ready for dinner. He stood up to follow and rammed his hip into a table. He let out a groan as he doubled over gripping his side.

"Leo are you-" Cristina began, he just nodded. She took his hand and led him back to their room.

"I think I'm going to shower," he said. Cristina helped him turn on the water and laid out towels.