Howl

Chapter Seven

Howl's POV

    Just as I turn to leave, run somwhere- anywhere, but here, but Artemis calls out. "Howl! She is sitting up!"

    I shove past the girl, apparently a life saver with her magical abilities. I reach for Sophie's face, about to pull her into my lap. "Sophie, don't you do that to me again!" She looks into my eyes, mouth half open, almost panting. "That's my girl," I encourage, as she pulls my hand towrds her face.

    "Howl, no!" Artemis screams, as she kicks Sophie in the head hard enough that I hear the deafening crack of her skull bouncing off the floor. Artemis wasn't fast enough, though. Sophie has already bitten part of my hand off. The almost webbed flesh between my thumb and forefingers, like anyone else's.

    "Artemis-"

    "Sh, sh, Howl. It will be alright," she silences me with a soothing look. But I don't calm down. I should have known that runes bringing someone back from the dead was not a good idea. I just hope that my eaten flesh is all the price anyone will have to ever pay for this incident. I look at Sophie, her eyes still wide. I should have noticed how bloodshot the whites were, surrounding her pitch black iris, matching the retina. The look of hunger apparent now in her face . . .

    "Howl-"

    "Artemis-" We stare into each other's eyes, as Artemis stands in front of me, blocking my veiw of Sophie's corpse. 

    "What now?" I try to bury the pain, the emotions I never want to face of my loss, fresh in my mind. Most only lose a loved once. Me? I had just lost Sophie twice.

    "I can call for Markl to help me take care of the body-"

    "Runes! Are there any for forgetfulness?"

    "There are runes for remembering things, and upside down could have adverse affects-"

     "Now! Please," I hear my voice crack for the first time in my life, and Artemis's eyes break contact. I pull her face into my hands. "Please, Artemis?" I ask, desperate. Anything to forget this pain. I grasp her face in my hands, and pull her lips to mine.

    "Fine," Artemis croaks out, and we break apart. I feel her carving a symbol into my back, three inches from my spine, before she carves it into the floor. "I need you to carve it into the same location on my back."