Guardians of Rithmore | Inflowing Tide (Book 1)

Chapter 6

Panic flooded through Nerina's veins as she saw the ship belonging to Abaddon looming closer and closer. Death loomed over their heads and all they could do was stare in panic.

"How did he find us?" Hestia finally snapped, jumping into action. Her movements snapped everyone out of their panicked stillness.

They weren't ready. They hadn't even unlocked the full power of Nerina's power stone. Everyone yelped out as the ship shot at them, their ship shaking as the hit made everyone lose their balance.

The sounds of glass shattering and metal clattering to the floor echoed in Nerina's ears as she raced towards the med bay. All she could hear was everyone else shrieking for Zephyr to slam down on the button to open a portal to somewhere far from Abaddon, towards safety.

One last hit sent a shockwave throughout the ship that sent everyone tumbling and falling. She heard someone shriek out someone's name as they flew through the portal.

"Zephyr!" Hestia shrieked out her name, the gut-wrenching terror in Hestia's tone sent chills down Nerina's spine.

Hestia was never scared in the face of danger, she remembered how Uriel almost drowned, three years after they landed on Lustryd. He had fallen into a river on Hydrus and hit his head.

Hestia had snapped into action that day and saved his life, allowing Nerina to perform CPR on Uriel. But now? It seemed that Hestia was the terrified one.

Nerina could hear the dragging of feet, as someone yelled out. "Get her to Nerina, she'll know what to do!"

It was Lorcan, his voice wavering as if he was about to cry. There was a loud groan of pain as it sounded like someone was jostled.

Her heart dropped in her chest as she saw Hestia, Uriel, Aspyn, and Lorcan turn the corner to the med bay.

Zephyr was limp in Lorcan and Uriel's gentle, but firm, hold.

Aspyn was only staring at Zephyr's limp form with a panicked expression. There was a large shard of glass that impaled Zephyr in the stomach.

Nerina's breath turned shaky. Blood steadily dripped down Zephyr's torso, staining her soft pink uniform. It was a deep shade of red.

She had no time to lose, she couldn't panic now, she had to act now.

"Nerina! What the heck do we do? Do we remove it?" Hestia yelled out, snapping Nerina out of her train of thought.

"No, don't remove the glass! I need to get in there and see the damage! The glass is preventing her from bleeding out! Lay her on the examination table!" Nerina barked out.

Zephyr was limp, she wore a pale, sickly pallor that made her pink glittery skin, a deadly shade of white. It was as if she had lost all the color in her skin. Zephyr let out a guttural moan of pain as she was laid gently on the table. Nerina had no time to panic.

Zephyr wasn't going to die, not now. Not ever.

Hestia gaped at Nerina's harshness but she could hear the undertones of sheer panic.

Nerina gently unbuttoned the top of Zephyr's uniform. Nerina widened her eyes, paling, the injury was more severe than she thought. The glass was larger than everyone anticipated, stabbing much deeper than everyone thought.

Nerina needed to think of a way to safely get the shard of glass out without causing further damage to Zephyr's organs. Nerina silently prayed to the gods above her that there was no internal bleeding.

"Okay, this is going to be more complex than I thought, since I don't know whether or not the glass hit an organ or artery, sedating Zephyr is going to be risky, possibly deadly." Nerina started, still assessing Zephyr's vitals. Nerina almost let out a sob, Zephyr's pulse was there but weak.