Behind Lock & Key

Chapter 10

"What was that?" Rio asks the moment I open my eyes again.

The light from the ceiling streams through my eyes and into my throbbing brain. The sounds around me are painfully silent while being equally loud. My heart is beating loudly in my ears, and I feel as if it is overpowering my nerve system, making me unable to move my fingers.

My magic is stirring as well. Like a wounded animal, its white light is gloomy in my head. Ashamed by its behaviour, it keeps itself on a bare minimum. I can practically feel its tail between its legs. Pathetic, all mighty until it realises its actions have consequences.

As much as I hate my magic, it's also it that restarts my system by letting a soft string of magic roam through my body along my veins. When it reaches my fingertips and a small, almost invisible spark emerges, I feel myself becoming mobile once more.

"My tainted magic," I reply and let Rio's hand slip under my back and help me to a sitting position. My vision is blurry. All I can clearly make out is the light coming through the window and Rio's sitting body beside mine.

"Y/n, you were literally about to kill yourself, you were draining yourself," Rio pushes a glass of water into my hand while my fuzzy brain tries to make out my surroundings. I have been lying on the floor right beside the table we were sitting at. However, I don't recall it being this dark. My stool is nowhere to be seen, and the tea has disappeared as well.

I huff, annoyed by the fact that Agatha said that to me a few days ago, and I didn't believe her in any way, but now Rio is repeating the exact same words. I thought my magic and I were finally cooperating, and it turns out we really are just each other's nemeses.

"You almost had me worried there for a second," Rio says, I ignore her and look around, my house has changed drastically while I was unconscious. It seems Wanda's spell meddled with my interior design because I wasn't awake to ban it.

"How long was I out?" I ask as I realise the sun is supposed to be setting soon. The light coming through the window is way too bright.

"A long time, your heart was very weak for a couple of hours," she says. She had the chance to kill me, and she didn't. "A night has passed... around midnight, your entire house rearranged itself."

I barely listen to her last sentence. Why didn't she kill me if she had the chance? I have been lying right here for an entire night, and what has she been doing? Debating whether to kill me or not? She's been cleaning the table and sat prepared with a glass of water for when I woke up.

I've been begging her to kill me for years, and she's tried multiple times, but now that she had the chance, she didn't. I don't know if I should be angry or thank her. "Why didn't you kill me?" I can't help myself, I want to know.

She sighs, and her eyes glide toward the ceiling, "because a small part of me wants you not to die in misery."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she looks back down, "now let's get you on your legs so I can get on with my job. The dead don't take care of themselves." She stands, and her hand grabs mine. The other she slides under my elbow. I struggle onto my wobbly legs, and Rio keeps holding onto me until she's certain I won't fall right back to the floor.

"I really mean it," I say as she slowly lets go of me, "thank you." A source of magic wraps itself around the muscles in my legs and helps me stand more confidently.

"Okay," Rio says, "just don't do it again it's not very pleasant looking." I nod, believing her, my magic whines quietly in my head.

Rio heads for the front door, letting a streak of bright light into my house as she opens it. I watch her step out and look as her body is bathed in the too bright light. Rio looks misplaced in this much sunshine. She turns around with her hand still on the doorknob, "Y/n?"