The Lores of Lyra - Rising Star [Book I]

Chapter 11 - Burning

Chapter 11 – Burning

A terrifying scream rang through the whole house. Everybody stopped what they were doing and rushed to the source of the high-pitched cry of pain.

Veronica Hertz forced her way between all the servants, rudely pushing them aside, and rushed to her daughter’s bedside. Miriam had a pained look on her face, her nails pressed deep into her skull. Sweat appeared on her forehead as the screaming continued. The noise made everyone cringe and attempt to cover their ears.

She had to jump away from the bed. The heat radiating from her daughter was literally scalding her bare hands as she tried to touch the girl.

“Get some ice and fetch Dr. Johansson!” she barked to the servants that stood in silence around them. Some of them couldn’t tear their eyes from the screaming girl while others wouldn’t dare to look. This was the most fascinating and terrifying thing they had ever seen in their lives, and that said something since most of them had watched Miriam’s random attacks for years. Fear, interest, sympathy, and worry masked each of their faces.

A few of the maids reacted, and Gustavo stepped in, sending most of them back to what they were doing prior to Miriam’s outburst. He bowed slightly to Veronica and, with eyes filled with worry, he stepped towards Miriam with two buckets of ice.

The ice was laid around Miriam, almost instantly melting away. At least it stopped her screaming, though it didn’t seem to do much to her body temperature. She was still too hot to touch.

Dr. Johansson came rushing in, staring at the melting ice. He walked to the opposite site from Veronica, and started to examine Miriam.

“Her temperature is out of this world! I’ve never seen anything like this,” he mumbled to himself and started pacing, stopping once in a while to look over the still girl. Without her screams, the silence was almost deafening.

Veronica feared for her daughter, and she had a hard time swallowing the lump in her throat that had formed almost immediately as she stepped into the room. This had never happened before, and she hoped Miriam could be helped this time. If she couldn’t save her daughter, she didn’t know what she would do, how she could go on.

“Keep cooling her down. That’s the only thing I can recommend, and it seems to work,” Dr. Johansson directed and ordered the servants to go out to get more ice.

“Ma …” Miriam whispered, her eyes all over the place, unable to focus on anything.

“I’m here, darling. I’m here…” Veronica answered, her voice barely coming out. She had to be strong for her daughter, so she gave her a reassuring smile. “Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable?”

“It burns… inside,” Miriam whispered as servants kept rushing by with buckets of ice, mops and towels to clean up the growing stream of warm water on the floor.

“Miss, we are low on ice,” Gustavo interrupted, looking over at Miriam with a pained expression on his face. Veronica cringed and looked to Steven for an answer.

“Fill the tub with cold water. We have to move her there,” Dr. Johansson commanded, and everyone set to work. Servants ran to the bathroom to fill the tub with cold water while others ran to get more buckets of ice. Gustavo smiled briefly and curtly walked out of the room, leaving the doctor, Miriam and her mother by themselves.

-

Miriam didn’t notice when several servants reappeared, nor did she hear the groan of the man who lifted her up. His hands were ice-cold, and they stung deeper than the ice had. She wanted to scream, but her throat clamped together.