Spirit of Shadows

| Chapter Eleven |

Em woke up in a world of pain. Her eyes fluttered open and her mouth parted for a deep inhale. She suddenly winced and images came flooding to her. The Wailing Willows. Matthias yelling her name. Oh, and how could she forget Svana. How she almost drained the life away from the Swan Maiden, that–that had haunted her dreams.

But, when she finally registered that those were indeed past events, her eyes darted around the area she was in.

Em laid tucked away between a large log of wood and a pile of dirty leaves. She tried to sit up and blink the sleep away from her eyes but the stinging coming from her hip intensified.

Another set of images came to her as her fingers pressed against the wound. She had been hit by an arrow, it dug into her skin, and then she had ripped it out. She remembered bleeding out inside of the dome made of branches as she fought Svana. The thought made her sick.

She pressed her lips together so she wouldn't cry out but her parched throat and sandpaper tongue disagreed with the silent treatment. Em called for Matthias and within seconds he was beside her, crouching down low to her level.

Matthias didn't greet her, his blue eyes snapping straight toward her hip. She followed his gaze and looked at the wound herself. It had been bandaged up (probably from Jonah's handy supply) and covered with a tight wrapping of gauze. The thing that caught her eye was the blossoming of red that swirled around the bandages, turning everything sticky.

"W-what happened back there?" She croaked, her throat still unbearably dry.

Matthias finally looked over at her, only for a second, and tossed her a silver canteen. She hurriedly sat forward and drained the water within it. He had ignored her question though.

"Careful..." Matthias mumbled, "Don't make yourself sick."

One glance at Matthias and Em could see the hollows under his eyes, the way his face seemed to droop, and the way his shoulders were hunched. He was exhausted.

Em pressed her hand against Matthias' that had begun unwrapping her bandages.

"I can do it myself. How about you get some rest."

Matthias quickly shook his head and brushed her hand off of his own, resuming what he had been doing.

"I'm fine." He replied.

Em pursed her lips as she thought about his suddenly cold attitude toward her. She continued to watch him, the way his fingers unfurled the wrappings from her hip, the way his eyes seemed to take everything in. She watched him concentrate.

It was a peaceful four seconds before Jonah showed up to ruin the quiet.

"Em!" He breathed with relief. "Are you alright? Feeling better? Drinking enough water? Oh, Matthias tell me you fed her something to eat."

Em could see Matthias roll his eyes.

"She just got up, Jonah."

"I know but–"

"Let me work. Please." Matthias concluded with a forceful 'please.'

Jonah frowned but ultimately nodded.

"Alright, alright. But when you're done, we need to catch her up on everything."

Matthias nodded and agreed, surprising Em. She didn't think those boys would agree on anything yet, here they were working together, saying please? It was all so strange.

After Jonah had disappeared behind the line of trees, Em turned back to Matthias and smiled.

"What?" He asked without even glancing at her.

Matthias had seemed to swipe a few medical items from Jonah because he was quickly wiping away the excess blood. Then, he pressed a large bandage over the spot. Em winced at the pressure and Matthias mumbled an apology.

"Nothing, I'm just surprised to see you and Jonah agreeing."

Matthias scoffed as he began wrapping the gauze around. "Well, you have been out for a few days, things change–"

"What? A few days?" Em gasped at Matthias confession.

"Yep." Matthias replied.

"We need to keep moving! Oh my gods–I'm–I didn't know! Let's go, I feel fine, lets–"

Matthias cut Em off with a bright smile and she instantly began fumbling with her words. She closed her mouth and swallowed as he began talking.

"Hey, it's alright. I know you didn't know. I mean, how could you? The last thing you did was wipe out an entire army of Wailing Willows with your powers and then you just...collapsed. I thought I had lost my g–best friend..." Matthias' hand rose as if he was about to cradle Em's cheek in his palm but it stopped, awkwardly in mid air.

She saw the worry etched, plain as day, in Matthias face and she felt another pang of gratitude toward this boy. He had done a lot for Em and she could never forget something like that. Someone like that.

She reached forward and pulled his hand into her own, clasping her fingers together with his larger ones. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze and felt his own back.

"Thank you, Matthias." She said softly.

He stared at her for a few seconds before stuttering an apology and pulling his hand from her own. Quickly, he stood up and stuffed both hands deep into the pockets of his trousers. Em noticed he wasn't wearing his familiar cloak, the black attire underneath was really flattering on him.

Woah, where did that thought come from? She asked herself.

"Y–you're welcome." Matthias replied with a cough.

"I'll go, uh, tell Jonah that you're awake now..." He mumbled and in a quick dash, ran off to find the brown-haired boy. Em couldn't help but think about how strange his behavior had been but she knew that right now, there were bigger problems to worry about.

...

Jonah had arrived shortly after Matthias had gone to find him, a smile plastered to his face.

"First things first, Em...you–are–awesome!" Jonah yelled, helping Em off of the muddy ground.

She blinked a few times, shocked that Jonah would even think that about her.

"You think I'm awesome?"

Em continued walking, Jonah's hand was gently wrapped around her waist, right above the wound. He also held onto her left arm for extra support.

"Uh, duh! What you did three days ago was amazing. I've never met another Spirit before who had cooler powers than me. Which, by the way, isn't fair." Jonah said with a wink.

"W–what?" Em asked, astounded. "You're a Spirit?"

Jonah nodded confidently, shooting her a fantastic grin. "I sure am, little dove!"

...

Hey everyone!

Hope you like this chapter, it's sort of boring I know but it's a bit of a filler. Because, Em's been out for about three days with Jonah and Matthias taking care of her wound, etc...

Also, Jonah's a Spirit...surprise!

Anyways, thanks again for continuing to read my story, it means so much to me! Hope you all have a lovely day/night.

— Rachel.