Pain shot through me like a bolt of lightning, lighting up every nerve ending I had. It only grew to a blinding degree when my back arched off the ground to press the back of my head against it. Pain exploded behind my eyes before everything turned black. For a peace-filled moment where there was nothing...
Then it all came back at once.
Well, the worst of it did at least.
While my disoriented vision swam in and out of focus, my surroundings slowly cleared, a permanent haze remaining as my eyes started to make out shapes in the darkness. Unfortunately, the pain wracking my body didn't return as gradually. No, it returned in full force to light me up like a Christmas tree of agony. The last to return though, was my hearing. It started as a high-pitched ringing that slowly turned into shouts that eventually turned into calls for me. Some more aggressive than others.
Some of them my own.
"Greysi!"
"Shut... up." A sob punctuated the end of the cry that escaped my throat that was raw from screams I couldn't remember sounding.
The voices surprisingly listened, but their silence didn't stop my ears from ringing.
When I turned my head to alleviate the pressure pressing on the reopened wound that needed tending, my stomach gave a sudden twist that sent bile rushing up my throat. Lurching to the side, I threw up a small pile of bile that had a burn lingering at the back of my throat. It barely registered after a few seconds given the state of the rest of me. Experience told me that the pain at my side was the result of broken ribs, but my shoulder and head? I had never hurt them so severely before.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of my toes near the bars. A faint glow from the corridor that grew the more my eyes adjusted to the darkness had me staring at my shockingly pale foot it seemed to illuminate. I had never seen it so... blue. I wasn't sure what was more concerning, the dead tint my skin had gained, or the bright red toes they led to. They turned frighteningly dark near the ends that had felt like they had been struck by lightning. Expect, instead of feeling hot, my foot felt... cold. So cold it was numb. Feeling only returned partway up my shin.
I preferred the numbness. It kept away the pain that I was sure would have had me screaming even louder.
"Greysi? Talk to me," Rowan called, a hint of a plea in his voice. It sounded wrong.
"About what?" I grunted out as I tried to take measured breaths that didn't agitate anything bruised or broken. It was an impossible feat. Just thinking on its own had the ache in my head growing.
"Thank the Sky's," came Silas's relieved sigh.
"Why?" I mumbled out before my lips clamped shut on another wave of nausea. "I don't feel good."
"I know, trouble, I know. How's your head?"
"Broken."
"Don't worry, we'll fix it."
I couldn't help but scoff. "Wasn't trying to fix it what made it worse?"
"Yeah, but at least Silas got to do something," Rowan muttered under his breath as he stepped away from the bars he had grown dangerously close to. Not just because they were iron.
"What the fuck was that?" I asked while lying limp on my side. Just thinking of the pain that had struck my foot had me twitching.
"No-" Silas reached a hand through the bars, careful not to touch them with the already blistering and smoking hand. The tips of his fingers only got two inches past the metal when he jerked his hand back with a yelp. "Clue," he finished through clenched teeth while he waved his hand back and forth as though he could shake the pain away.
