Tɪɢʜᴛᴇɴɪɴɢ Bᴏɴᴅs || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ Bᴏᴏᴋ Tʜʀᴇᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ sᴇᴠᴇɴ || ɪɴᴛᴇʀʀᴜᴘᴛɪɴɢ sᴀsʜᴀ

Navia

Sasha cursed loudly and dropped one knee beside Zay, whose face had taken on a greenish tinge. Ryan had caught Zay as she fell unconscious, gently holding the girl. She was frowning deeply.

I knelt beside them, putting a hand on Zay's forehead. I wrenched my arm away after only the slightest touch. "She's burning up."

Sasha had straightened again and was pacing restlessly.

"Go get a cool compress." I barked at him, pulling off Zay's cloak and bundling it into a pillow for her head.

Ryan set her back against it and rocked back on her heels. "And now?" She asked, her eyes on the sickly girl.

"Not sure." I admitted.

Tyler strode to my side and crouched as well. "What's going on?" He asked briskly, masking his concern under a no-nonsense demeanour.

"We don't know." I answered, accepting the compress that Sasha brought and placing on Zay's forehead. "She passed out."

Tyler nodded slowly, pushing off the ground and standing. "We can't afford to lose any time." He hissed under his breath, turning and stalking away.

I exchanged a surprised look with Ryan. It was unlike Tyler to care more about the mission than us, his charges. I chewed at my lip. He wasn't wrong, though. Every moment we stayed here was a risk. The Conquerors could come back and finish us off. We were vulnerable. I looked back down at Zay.

She didn't look much better, but her arm kept twitching. It was the arm with Xavier's tattoo on it.

All of a sudden, the viper burst out of passive state. He launched himself at his summoner, frantically biting and attacking her.

I yelped in surprise and scrambled backward, almost tripping Sasha. The Zhongese boy leapt over me, snatching Xavier up by the neck. He clamped the snake's mouth shut with a palm, the body and tail still thrashing furiously.

I glanced up at him with wide eyes.

"What?" Sasha asked, the tips of his ears going red. "I know how to handle a snake. Well, mostly."

The corner of my mouth quirked and I shook my head. "No, silly. I just realized something."

Sasha scowled at me, the red still fading from his ears. "I'm not silly. I just saved Zay's life. Call that silly?"

I inspected Zay's arms and body. "Yeah, sure, whatever. But that's not important."

"What is, then?" Sasha demanded.

I stood, satisfied that none of the scratches would kill her and faced him. "Did she ever talk to you about her bonding?"

Sasha was silent for a moment, thinking. He then shook his head. "No. Not as far as I recall..."

I exhaled and turned toward Ryan with the same question on my tongue, but she was already shaking her head regretfully but understandingly.

I hummed thoughtfully, "well, I have a theory. But I would need to know how she bonded first."

Sasha furrowed his eyebrows at me. "Can't you tell us your theory?"

I knelt beside Zay again, checking her pulse. "Ryan already guessed. Can you seriously not figure it out?"

Sasha glared at me, but didn't reply as I straightened and headed away toward Tyler.

"So?" The black haired man asked expectantly.

"She's okay... but Xavier just attacked her. I'm not sure why, but," I raised a hand to stop him from saying anything, "Ryan and I have a theory."

"Which is?" Tyler cocked an eyebrow, not looking pleased.

I sighed deeply. "She might have—"

"Whoa, rude!" Sasha interrupted, stomping over. "He gets to know and I have to guess? No fair!"

Tyler shot me a strange look, "Sasha doesn't know?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Apparently not. I thought he'd figure it out. Ryan and I did."

"See? Totally not cool." Sasha folded his arms. "Everyone should get to know."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "If you want to go round up the others to tell them, be my guest."

"I will!" Sasha stuck his tongue out at me and walked away.

I turned back toward Tyler with a light exhalation. "Sorry about that. Sasha can be a bit of an—"

"I'm fully aware." Tyler cut in cooly. "What were you saying before?"

"Oh, right, of course." I averted my gaze. "Well, Ryan and my theory is that Zay is very sick. But it's not just any sickness, it's—"

"Got everyone!" Sasha interrupted again as he rejoined us. The rest of the team trailed behind him.

I facepalmed. "Okay, fine. As many of you know, Zay is not well." I restarted my speech yet again. "Well, just now, her viper Xavier came out of passive state on his own and... started attacking her."

The others gasped and looked at each other in confusion.

"A very rare and very strange occurrence." Tyler assured them.

I nodded my thanks to him as the murmurs quieted. "Anyway, we are not quite sure what she's sick with. But we have a theory."

"We meaning her and Ryan." Sasha interr—clarified.

I clenched my teeth. "Yes. Ryan and I have a theory."

"Well? What is it?" Niko grunted.

"It's..." I swallowed, "it's that Zay... she might have the bonding sickness."

:OOOOO What now? Sorry for the shorter chapter this time... I made it as long as I could. Anyway, happy late Valentine's Day! (At least we know that the Eight weren't lonely then!) Next chapter will be here soon, I promise!

edit: 15/04/2024
hbd sabien
exams are a w f u l
anyway this is so lazy I'm sorry but
it's all I have the energy for ;-;
enjoy my lovelies