The Young and Gifted

43. phases

By the time Hope returned to the infirmary to check up on Landon, her eyes widened when she spotted him coughing restlessly. The bedside was covered in blood and his face was a blistering red. "Landon." She quickly rushed to his side, helping him turn over. He began to puke red and black blood into the bucket she provided.

Once he was done, he sank back into the bed with a heave. Hope reached for the wet rag and placed it on his forehead to cool his head off. "I don't feel so good."

Hope held the cloth to his head for him and stared at the bucket of mixed blood. "Don't worry, I'll fix this," she assured herself. "Somnum." He quickly went to sleep after that and Hope disappeared from the room.

She returned with books about magical sickness and spent the night researching and reading. By the time the sun had risen, she had spelled 3 remedy's, each with properties that were supposed to heal him. Except she didn't know what was wrong with him so she didn't know which one to give him.

Landon stirred awake and she instantly sat at the edge of his bed, checking for his temperature. He managed to chuckle. "I think I like this nurse side of you."

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Stay still," she muttered. Hope then picked up the small glass bottle and tipped it over his lips gently. Landon cringed at the taste but drank it either way. She settled down and sighed. "I really hope that this will pass."

He placed a hand on her thigh. "Don't worry about me. How have you been?"

"Surviving," she shrugged. "I can't tell if this is a comical joke that the universe is trying to play on me."

He got up and planted a kiss on her nose. "You and I both know that my jokes are superior."

She laughed brightly and for the first time in a while, her heart palpitated with warmth.

*

Kaura approached him, watching as Mason punched the punching bag. He was shirtless and streams of sweat were travelling down his chest. "Hey," she muttered. He didn't say a word. He only stopped and went to grab a sip of water before returning to his punching reps. Kaura swallowed and took another step forward. "Mason."

He abruptly turned to her and his hard eyes pinned her to the spot. "It wasn't just sex for me."

She checked his sudden distance, not liking his tone. "I told you that I wasn't looking for anything."

"Then why the hell did you kiss me?" He scoffed, jerking his hands up with defeat.

"I was looking for fun," she shrugged carelessly.

He laughed and turned back to the bag. "Well, you've certainly had your fun."

"Whatever. I'm sorry about what I said. Can you just forgive me so that we can move past this?" She tapped her feet impatiently, planting her hands on her hips.

"That's not how forgiveness works." Mason continued to assault the bag with his balled fists, not pausing a beat to glance at her.

"Why are you being difficult?"

"You're confusing me, Kaura. Why are you here? You don't actually care about my forgiveness and we've already tried friendship," he stopped the swinging punching bag and spun back to her.

"I don't know," she sighed, staring at the sky. "I just--you're easy to talk to and..."

"And?"

"I actually enjoy your company. There, I said it. Happy?"

Mason grinned and shrugged. "Hm...I'd prefer if you said you enjoyed other things as well."

"You men are the same," she rolled her eyes.

Mason playfully shoved her shoulder. "Fine, you're forgiven. So where does this put us?"

"Friends..." he flinched at the word. "With benefits?"

*

Night came fast and Raf was starting to panic. Even though he had already transformed before, the monster of fear had taken him hostage once again. He waited for her to show up. But Lizzie didn't. So he was forced to go through his second transformation alone.

But as for Landon...he was starting to feel uncomfortable in the bed. Hope wasn't too far, she was reading book of cures because Landon had started to cough all day even after she gave him the potion. He groaned as he sat up, massaging his neck. "I feel so sore."

Hope approached his side, reaching his shoulders to knead any muscle tension. "Does that feel better?"

Before he could answer, something popped. Landon screamed as he gripped the ends of the bed and his back cracked again painfully. Hope stepped back, heavily confused as she watched his face contort in pain. "Landon? What's wrong?"

Maybe Landon just wasn't a human in the first place. Hope remembered what Lizzie said. And if he wasn't a human or a vampire...Are you saying that he's a wolf? Mason's voice rang in her head.

It didn't make sense to Hope because he hadn't killed anything to activate his werewolf side. So she watched in horror as Landon fell to the ground, screaming as his back snapped repeatedly. She reached for him to help him but the doors boomed open to reveal Dorian. "He's a Pheonix," he stated. "Landon is Pheonix and he's in transition right now."

Landon spent hours on the floor, crying and yelling in pain. Hope couldn't help him because Ric had shown up and told her to stay back.

"When Lizzie suggested that he wasn't a human, it got me thinking," Dorian explained over the shouts of pain. "I thought that Landon was some sort of monster so I searched up monsters that could revive themselves and I found out the Pheonix's have eternal sources of life. When he first died, it took weeks for his heritages to finally come to life and the full moon is the next phase of his transformation."

"Phase until what—" Ric asked but stopped short when the scent of blood wafted up in the room.

Dorian's stomach churned when his eyes landed on Landon's back. Just in time to see it rip open with gory red blood. Landon was gripping the floor, pleading and Hope tried to dive for him but Dorian blocked her path. "We don't know what he is capable of."

"Landon would never hurt me," she hissed and tried to push past Dorian. But he didn't let up.

Their gazes turned back to Landon just as...just as massive black feather wings burst from his spine. As both limbs wormed out, Landon's screams finally stopped. All three of them stared at the body in awe. It looked like he was half-bird, half-human. But then they formed into hard and heavy stone.

At this point, Landon had lost his consciousness.

~

"Why should I believe you?"

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