Thistle and Stone [Chaennie]

Chapter 15

CRUSH

The gentleness lasted a few more seconds before it was punctuated by muffled shouting that grew closer until it fought with the ringing in her ears. Careful hands gently rolled her onto her back, slipped a pillow under her head, kept her still. There was a flash of tangled blonde, then freshly showered red. Jennie smiled at the presence of her friends. So, she had recognized the feel of the carpet after all. Her lips curled and she squinted up at their faces.

"The rug," she murmured.

"Oh sweet Merlin. Jisoo, apply pressure there to the back of her head. That's it, be firm." Lisa's voice hovered above her.

"Hi love, it's good to see you," Jisoo hummed into her ear and Jennie smiled in response. "I'm glad you like the rug. You helped us pick it out, remember?"

"Jisoo, can you hold her wrists still, just in case?" Lisa again, using a tone Jennie was used to hearing only when she was out on the Quidditch field, marching about and giving orders.

"It'll sting for a minute, love, just give us a deep breath." She felt Jisoo's hands close over her wrists, palms warm against her cool skin. She smelt like old parchment and the fresh rosemary from their garden. She focused on the thought of their garden for a moment until she heard her own gasp. Whatever it was, it stung. She sucked in a breath through her teeth as liquid poured down her scalp, across her forearms, her hands.

"You don't have any more?" Jisoo whispered.

"This is all I had in my bag. We're lucky I had any at all," Lisa replied in hushed tones. "Once she's stabilized, we'll call Jungkook. He always has Dittany in his cabinet. This should at least stem the bleeding enough for now. She's bloody out of it though, isn't she?"

"Lisa," Jisoo warned, voice low, "she can still hear you, you know."

"Lunes, look at her pupils. I haven't seen pupils that dilated since Katie Bell was knocked clean off her broom in fifth year. She was muttering about the damn rug a second ago. Who knows what's happened to her. She looks like she's been smashed across the head then splinched to high hell." Lisa's voice rose in unsteady waves above her and Jennie grimaced at the noise.

"Lis, go get Jungkook. I'll stay with her," Jisoo waved off Lisa with her hand, the other still carefully holding a compress against a crush of curls. Jennie was vaguely aware that Jisoo had started talking to her again, but she couldn't fight off the longing to close her eyes and give in to the gentle pull of quiet.

-

"I knew—I just knew something like this was going to happen. I sensed it on the phone...like a foreboding."

"Oh, cut the dramatics, Taehyung. Wait—the phone? Jennie called you?"

"She gave me a ring the other day. Don't be jealous, Lis. It was a personal call."

"A personal call. To you. From Jennie. What was it about?"

"Ask her yourself when she's awake. It's not for me to go spilling her secrets."

"Oh please, there's not a secret between the two of us—"

"Hushed tones, you two, please."

The voices of Taehyung, Lisa, and Jisoo floated above her, Taehyung's sharp tone sparring with Lisa's quick jabs, broken only by Jisoo's quiet reminders. Jennie moved to rub at her eyes but found her arms heavy beside her. She scrunched her fingers against the blanket beneath her hands, noting that the woollen rug had been replaced by stiff and freshly starched sheets. Slowly, she managed to lift her fingers enough to peer down and inspect them. The half-moons of her nails were caked with dirt, and old and darkened blood had dried into the lines of her knuckles.