Taken

Chapter 25

Leo steps to the side  as the newcomer kneels before me, taking off the hood of her indigo colored cloak to reveal a woman with vibrant blue hair. Her eyes are only a tad darker, and her skin is milky white.

I try not to gape at the two antennae poking out of her head.

She pulls out a small stone that is practically translucent save for the cloudy white symbol engraved at the top.

            "What is your animal?" I ask her, my words strained from the pain in my leg.

            The corners of her lips lift up in a small and secretive smile as amusement glitters in her mesmerizing eyes. I watch as she undoes the knot around her neck, letting the cloak fall from her shoulders. She wears tight brown pants and a dark blue top with long sleeves, the ends wrapping around her middle fingers. She has on a belt that slants over her hips and brown leather pouch at her side. On her feet she wears leather sandals.

None of this is what really captures my attention, it's what unfolds out from behind her back.

            Large and thin butterfly wings spread out behind her, lined with black and filled with blue, much like a mariposa.

            My eyes widen and I gasp. I know that the Arco have an animal, but I never thought that there were also ones for insects.

            "You—You're a butterfly," I finally say, my eyes still wide and mouth open. She only chuckles.

            "I'm the Arco for butterfly, but close enough," she replies, but I can't form a response.

            "Ari, meet Hesper," Leo says, gesturing to the butterfly Arco beside me. "Hesper, this is Ari."

            "Are there other insect Arco like you?" I ask and she shakes her head.

            "I was a human once," she says and I raise my eyebrows at her. "I helped save one of the Arco, although at the time I just thought it was a normal animal. Saving that Arco ended up killing me, but Beata saw the whole thing and took pity on me.

            "She saw a black and blue mariposa and decided to turn me into the Arco of butterflies—she always had a soft spot for them. She then named me Hesper, sent me here and gave me the calx so I can continue helping my kind."

            "Whoa," I say as she flattens out my injured leg. I hiss in a pained breath.

            "Now this technique is almost painless. You will only feel a slight pinch as the magic takes effect," Hesper says.

I nod and wrap my fingers around the sleeping bag, clenching it in my fists as I brace myself for the worst.

            I bite my lower lip as she places the cold stone on my injured knee, causing me to wince. Holding onto the stone with one hand, Hesper slowly waves her other one over it as she mumbles a few incoherent words. I watch for a moment as her eyes turn white before the 'slight pinch' kicks in.

            Only, it isn't a slight pinch. It's like when you get a cut and someone cleans it for you, saying it won't hurt a bit, and yet once the hydrogen peroxide comes in contact with the wound, it feels like a fiery inferno of torment.

This is ten times worse than that.

It doesn't sting or burn or throb—no it aches. It seeps through my body and my bones and lacerates every fiber of my being. I think I close my eyes at one point, but everything is jumbled. I can't tell what is up or down, left or right. My body is drowning in pain, so deep in the current that my brain doesn't know what to do or how to handle it. I can't think, I can barely even breathe—