The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 34

"Okay, tell me then," I snapped, turning to Lucas. "What is this thing?"

"Witches End has five main phases to it," Lucas said as he opened the briefcase and pulled out a bottle of something. "You're still in the first phase, but nearing the end. The end of that phase is when the noises get excruciatingly painful. Once you move into the next phase it's no longer treatable, unless you've somehow managed to become infected my Felicia's special version..." He trailed off and I frowned n confusion.

"The evil witch that ripped everyone's families apart? What has she got to do with this?" While I spoke I kept a watchful eye on the instruments in his hands. He had used a syringe with a long, wicked looking needle to draw out some thick green liquid from the bottle, and was now holding the syringe in one hand and a rather nasty little knife in the other.

"Felicia," he said, "Wanted to use Witches End to her advantage. You see, there are the five phases. One, when it's just noises that affect you and you can still be treated. Two, you think it's gotten better but you start to hear these whispers in your head that you just can't quite make out. It's enough to drive you insanely paranoid. Three, the voices become clear and they cause you physical pain, much like what you were feeling earlier but not as bad, just enough to have you constantly uncomfortable and hurting.

"The fourth stage is quite possibly the worst; the voices become a roar and the pain is almost unbearable. You can't hear anything else and you start to think that the voices in your head are your reality. By this point, some people have started to go insane. They lose their powers too during the fourth phase, and it can last anywhere between six to eight weeks. The final phase, that's that one Felicia was interested in this for. The voices in your head suddenly go silent and you get your powers back. You're lost, confused, barely able to think for yourself and you are so, so much more powerful than you have ever been before." He stopped talking and looked up from what he was doing with the syringe and the knife. I was staring at him, my eyes wide as saucers from shock and fear.

"That's why Felicia was interested," he went on quietly. She figured since they become so powerful and can't really think for themselves, she could control them. And so she could, but by that time it was only weeks before they died. You could tell a few days before they were going to die, you know. They'd start to bleed out of their ears, not really a pretty sight."

"How do you know so much?" I whispered. What had this poor guy been through?

"Because," he said grimly. "It's what she was using on the members of the silver coven that she was collecting. She was experimenting with them and somehow managed to change up the virus. She made it so that rather than it being caused naturally, it could be induced, and because she knew how to induce it, she knew how to stop it. It took years to figure it, but she found a way to speed up the entire process that could initially take anywhere between two and six months. Within a month she could have people at phase five, and her phase five could last up two six weeks but was painful. Then, if she caught it before their ears started to bleed, she could bring them back. She'd them of the entire thing, only to infect them again a month or so before she needed them at maximum power again."

"So do I have that one or the other one? The natural one?" I asked, terrified. Were you supposed to freak out a person like that when they were quite possibly going to die within six months?

"I don't know yet," He said with a frown. "But I'm going to have to find out."

"How?" Jaylon asked. He hadn't been talking much, but right now he was practically dripping with fury. I squeezed his hand and he glanced at me. I sent him a small smile, trying to get the message across that I didn't want him to be mad. I just wanted him to be there for me; with me every step of the way, whatever happened.

"I'll have to sample your blood," Lucas said, raising the knife he had been holding earlier.

"Why?" I demanded, shrinking away from the shining object.

"Please cooperate," he said, sounding tired. "I promise I know the best way to do this without hurting you, I've done it so many times before."

"You have?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. "When?"

"For Felicia," he admitted, and I was so focused on my words that I didn't even notice him taking my hand. "She had some of the older kids help out with the experimentation process. By the time I was twelve I had watched so many failed attempts, I never expected her to succeed. I had given up any hope of anything when I watched my parents die."

I opened my mouth to reply but instead let out a short gasp of pain and surprise, though this was nothing compared to what I had felt in my head. I look down and saw the cut, probably about a centimetre long, on my finger. Blood oozed from it, and as I tried to pull my hand away Lucas took a square of white cloth and wiped the blood away. He released my hand and I pulled it away, watching as he held the white fabric, now stained with red blotches of my blood, up into the light.

I could see his lips moving as he spoke silently, and then the fabric shimmered and my blood turned a deep purple.

"What just happened?" I demanded. "What's going on? What does that mean?"

"It means," he said, lowering the cloth with a sigh and chucking it carelessly into the briefcase. "That yours is Felicia's kind."

"So I'll die more quickly?" I said with a slightly hysterical laugh. "Great! That's great! Just what I wanted to hear."

"Louisa, it'll be okay," Jaylon said reassuringly beside me, squeezing my hand and rubbing his thumb across my knuckles. "You-"

"How can you say that?" I shrieked, yanking my hand away and tumbling out of the bed, almost falling as I got caught in the sheets. "You're not the one that's going to die!"

"Louisa!" Lucas cut in, planting a hand firmly on my shoulder and pushing me back down onto the bed. I sat there, breathing heavily, feeling both like I wanted to laugh and cry hysterically.

"Is there anything you can do?" I whispered.

"Weren't you listening?" He chuckled. "We can stop this. You'll get to the last phase and then we'll be able to use the cure. You'll be fine, I promise."

"Can't you just do it now?" I whispered, leaning my head in my hands.

"Sorry," he said sympathetically. "It only works once you're into the last phase. But I can give you something now that will stabilize you so you won't be as affected by the other phases. You won't go insane, overly paranoid, anything like that."

"Is that what that monster syringe was for?" I asked nervously. He nodded, taking out the syringe again.

"Look, I wish I could use magic to make all this stop and with some things you can but this isn't one of them," he sighed and held the syringe out, shifting closer to me. "Come on, it's not that bad."

I closed my eyes and slowly nodded. "Fine. Go."

I felt his hand on my abdomen lifting my top up and automatically stiffened.

"Just relax," he said. "It will hurt much less."

I took a deep breath and reached out, scrabbling around without opening my eyes. Jaylon's hand found mine and he held firmly in both of his. I let out the breath I'd been holding and tried to relax. Not easy when you know the world's biggest needle is about to be stabbed into you.

"One, two, three," Lucas countered down in a low voice, and then I let out a gasp as I felt the needle pierce my side. It stung, and as he injected whatever that green liquid was, I felt a cool, sort of numbing sensation fill me. And then the needle retracted and he dropped my top back down.

"There," he said, "now all we can do is wait."