Rooming with the Wicked

4 | go fetch

Cold.

It always came slow, like the tide, sloshing around my feet first. Then it rose steadily up and up and up, grasping at whatever parts of me it could reach, seeping in through clothes and skin alike and turning everything to ice.

It was everywhere...and I hated it. But I shouldn't, not right now. It meant I was still alive.

The musty scent of the forest floor was almost overwhelming. Not exactly surprising considering my nose was practically buried in the cool earth. And I could still taste the rain.

The persistent black smudges on my hand greeted me when I opened my eyes. I tried to move my fingers, but...I couldn't. My whole arm was just heavy and...numb. Dead. I could feel its weight, but not really. Like it was asleep.

Damn soporis. I should consider myself lucky—ha!—that I could still walk. Soon enough, it would spread and then I was actually done for.

Cradling the useless, limp extremity in my functioning arm, I rolled onto my back and sat up. The remaining daylight barely illuminated the dirt path and the dense shrubbery on either side. Yup, this definitely wasn't Central Park.

There were no sounds apart from my ragged breathing, even the leaves had stopped rustling. That was never a good sign.

As I reached for my backpack with my good hand, I tried to remember how far I'd walked. It couldn't have been more than five minutes. I could make that. I'd be fine.

If the portal was still open.

Deep breaths.

With the pack slung over my shoulder, it took me a solid four tries to get to my feet. My wobbly, very unstable feet.

Baby steps, I got this.

I was about ten feet down the path when the absolute last sound anyone ever wanted to hear in a dark, unknown forest drifted over to me. Twigs snapping.

What were the chances of someone else being in this random forest? Zero to nothing, that's what. With my luck, it was probably the same somebody who'd poisoned me.

As much as I wanted to know who that was, it would not save my life. Getting back to school would. Most likely.

Half running, half stumbling, I made for the bend up ahead. My stupid arm weighed me down, but the hell if I was going to die in some forest. My shoulders slumped in relief as I rounded a particularly gnarled tree and the bright iridescent lights of the portal crystals greeted me.

More rustling and another snap of a branch, much closer than before, spurred me on. I was about twenty steps away from the gateway when the unmistakable smell of burnt matches and rotten eggs made me crinkle my nose.

Sulfur.

Either my senses were playing tricks on me or—

A low growl sounded from my right.

I froze. Out of the corner of my eye, a pair of glowing orange orbs appeared just beyond the path. Okay, so not a who, but rather a what.

Let's see, eyes resembling burning embers that were at least six feet off the ground, the stench of sulfur, and growling right out of a cheap horror movie—even without taking History of Infernis 101, I knew what creature was stalking me from the darkness. My chances of making it out of this alive just went from slim to nearly nonexistent.

Keeping eye contact, I slowly retreated until my back hit the nearest tree. Although the portal was almost within reach, it might as well have been miles away. The second I made a run for it, I was dead. The fact that my shoulder was now numb too and I was most definitely out of breath didn't help either.