Nymphix

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

“What have you done?” The girl Lacey currently held up yelled, and Katerina felt the familiar panic bubbling in her chest.

“Calm down” Lacey patted the girl on the shoulder and stepped away from her.

“It’s fine” She drew a small strand of water from the stream and walked over to where Katerina kneeled over the boy. Her face was hidden by shadows, but Katerina could see the hard line of her mouth as she dropped the water over to boys face in hopes to awaken him. But once again there was no response, he remained motionless.

“Kat... What... what did you do?” Lacey nudged him with her foot.

“I-I don’t know. I kind of just...” Katerina waved her hand over the boy’s face the way she had done before and a curl of magic escaped the boy’s lips and returned to Katerina’s hand. Suddenly he gasped loudly and shot up coughing a little on the water covering his face and shirt, his eyes wide with fear.

As he shook himself off, Katerina closed her eyes for a second, trying to calm her breath and keep all her panic off her face.

“What happened?” He whirled around trying to figure out how much time had passed.

“Nothing” The girl said after a long pause in which she glared at Katerina skeptically before walking back into the forest towards Mire.

“The game’s over. Let’s go." As they walked back through the forest, Katerina remained quiet and stared at the ground as if it were the most intriguing thing she had ever seen. All the exhilaration and excitement Katerina had felt previously was gone and replaced by a feeling of dread.

What did you think would happen? A voice snarled from a dark corner in her mind

One pathetic lesson with that teacher and suddenly you’re normal again? Katerina squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the voice out but it was embedded into her skull, continuing to cackle and taunt.

You’ll never be normal. Katerina’s breath hitched in her throat, and it seemed she couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. Her eyes fluttered as she tried to regain her bearings, but the voice seemed to be choking her, restraining her chest so that the breaths couldn’t get in or out. 

Look at what you’ve done. Anyone who gets close to you will get hurt. It’s only a matter of time before-

The voice was cut off abruptly when something grabbed her hand. Looking to her right, she saw Lacey with a blank look on her face giving away nothing, but when she looked down she saw Lacey’s hand grasping her own, the warmth seeping into her ice cold hands. Lacey gave a squeeze and if Katerina could feel the pulse at her wrist beating rapidly, there was no doubt Lacey could too. Taking a cautious deep breath, Katerina realised that the voice had disappeared and she could breathe normally again. Exhaling slowly, Katerina squeezed back before gently letting go. Lacey remained close to Katerina’s side for the rest of the walk and for once remained silent until they reached the clearing where the rest of the students stood. Only then did she look over to Katerina and smile sadly. Katerina didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Lacey seemed to so easily understand Katerina and what she was going through. They’d only known each other for a couple of hours and already she seemed to get her – somehow it made her feel uncomfortably transparent.

 *   *   *

Katerina seemed to watch the rest of the night through a third person perspective. While she could understand what was going on, no emotions seemed to register and she simply stood and observed. Even when Mire announced that their team had collected the most flags – 23 – and Lacey pulled her into a hug, Katerina stood limp like a doll trying her hardest to pull her mouth into a smile; but her muscles wouldn’t obey and remained in a stiff line. Finally with a few more words, Mire dismissed the class and the students scattered to return to their rooms. It was completely dark now, the moon hidden by the trees overhead and Katerina walked back with Lacey at one side and Fox on the other. If he had noticed anything off about Kat, he didn’t say anything. Lacey however had recovered from her period of silence and chatted away to Kat and anyone else who would listen. As they approached the edges of the forest and the school came back into view, Katerina’s thoughts wandered until they caught on something. She stopped abruptly at the very edge of the forest as everyone else continued to walk past her, a few looking back to give her confused looks. Lacey noticed not long after and turned around worriedly, but Katerina vacantly waved her off murmuring about forgetting something before turning around and pushing through the crowds of people back into the forest. Finally when she pushed past the last of the students, she quickened her pace and raced so fast through the trees that they blurred and merged together. Small outstretched branches whipped across her face and she tripped over protruding roots more times than she could count but Katerina continued to run.