Metamorphosis (Breaking Free, book 2)

Chapter 7- Milo

It was late. I couldn't tell exactly how late or how long I had been here, holding the hand of my best friend and counting his breaths to make sure he was still breathing.

The sun had long past sunk beneath the mountains watching over us somewhere distant and removed, and the sounds of people milling about the cave had lulled to a gentle stop. And still, I sat here, my eyes burning from holding in tears and fighting back sleep. Mari had long since told me to leave and get some sleep, but I couldn't. I couldn't leave him here, not after I'd left him before.

Cooper had barely stirred since I had brought him back. He had snored a little, then coughed and fell back asleep, but that was the extent of it. Mari had told me he would be just fine, she had pulled all of the fragments of the bullet from his chest and he wasn't showing any signs of infection.

It was good, he was healing, I knew this, but still, a knot had found its way into my chest, and it sat there, rotting. It was waiting for something bad to happen so that it could spring open and poison my mind and body with corrupt words and fear. It hissed at me, saying that Cooper was going to die and that it was my fault for leaving him behind.

The squeaking of Mari's converse on the cave floor let me know that I wasn't alone before she ever walked in. I sighed heavily, hoping that she wouldn't bring any of this up. I knew she wasn't happy that I'd stayed, I could feel her disapproving glare on my back. She was always lecturing me these days on watching out for my mental health.

She would frown at me and tell me to watch out for myself while she tapped her head with a chewed up pen. She chewed on them when she was thinking really hard about something that was eating her up and lately, it seemed like she never stopped chewing on them. Every pen in a ten mile radius was demolished.

"I thought I told you to go to bed hours ago, " Mari said, huffing indignantly. Her voice was resolute, a wall erected between her and any nonsensical ideas I might get into my head about arguing with her. Cooper wheezed out a little breath and I stared at the floor, my brows furrowed. My gut clenched at the small sounds of pain Cooper made, and I bit my lip.

"I can't leave him," I whispered, my voice croaking from the hours that had gone by without using it. I looked up, expecting a harsh glare on her face, but Mari just stood there, her hands on her hips and a crooked smile on her face. She had a sparkle in her eye that told me she'd had an idea, and when Mari got ideas into her head it was best to move aside and listen to them, lest she run you over.

"Well, you're here so you might as well do something." She said firmly, leaving no room for questions. Mari marched around the room, pulling out several different books, surgical equipment, and a banana. "How would you like to learn about medicine?" She smiled at me, her eyes twinkling. Something in my chest warmed and I smiled back at her. This, I could do. This was something tangible and pulsing with life beneath my heart, just waiting to be set free.

"I would like that." Mari's lips twitched into a smirk, and she dropped the thickest book I had ever seen onto the table in front of me.

"Well, you better get to reading. We have a lot to cover." She said, clicking her tongue, her lips pulled up into a mischievous smirk.

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I was a third of the way through the first book Mari had assigned me when Cooper began to scream. My book had fallen off my lap, the pages crumbling underneath the weight of its spine. His screams bounced off of the cave walls. They were shrill and piercing and painful, his eyes scrunched shut in terror. Each scream shot itself through my chest and shattered my heart with an ease that startled me.

Mari dashed over, quickly assessing Cooper. I ran my hands over my face helplessly. There was absolutely nothing I could do to help him, I would only get in the way and I knew that.

When Mari looked at me, her eyes were wide and scared. There was nothing she could do. Cooper shivered, his screams calming to quiet whimpers for a few moments. He shook, his knuckles clenched and his face scrunched up in pain.

It took me a couple of minutes to notice that somethinging wasn't right. The hairs on the end of Cooper's entire body were standing upright, and the space just around his body crackled and shook. It  took me a single second to recognize the vibrating light around him, before everything clicked.

"Get down!" I shouted, dropping to the floor. Mari's eyes were huge as she dived next to me, just before lightning struck. It bounced off of the metal in the room and jumped off the walls, spraying sparks everywhere. Mari screamed and clutched her head and I pulled her to my chest. With a piercing cry, Cooper's screams picked up in volume. Bolt after bolt of lightning jumped off of his skin, bouncing around the room with fatal recklessness. We had to leave. If we stayed we would be hit for sure.

"Go!" I cried out, pushing Mari towards the mouth of the cave. A lightning bolt flashed in front of my eyes. Pulling back, we barely missed being hit. My heart thundered in my chest and I pushed Mari forward. "Go, keep moving!" I cried out again, feeling sparks prick the edges of my ears.

Diving out of the room, I pulled Mari out with me, falling to the floor in one tangled heap. We stared at each other, panting heavily and shaking like a drowned cat. Tears welled up in Mari's eyes, and for a second the world seemed to slow as we stared at each other, relief and terror and joy mixing into one tangled bundle of emotions. Then suddenly we were laughing, clinging to each other desperately as relief washed over us, laughing loudly and with our entire bodies.

We had just survived the most ridiculous encounter. Still, Cooper's screams could be heard, shaking the cave walls and making it rain little pebbles down on us.

"What the hell is going on here?!" I froze, turning to see the tired and alarmed eyes of Alo staring back at me, weary and irritated and on edge. Mari spluttered, shocked at seeing him out of his room, scared of his authority and shaking from the ordeal she had just gone through. Touching a hand to her shoulder, I smiled gently.

"Cooper had a nightmare," I stated plainly, surprised at how steady my voice was. "And also he appears to give off lighting, so there's that, too," I muttered indignantly. Slowly, Cooper's blood-curdling screams lulled, and the lighting faded to a dull buzz of electricity. Alo gave us an incredulous look and ran his hands through his matted hair, his fingers getting caught in his corkscrew curls, before he gave up entirely, letting it hang at his side.

"Jesus Christ, I thought nothing would surprise me at this point." He mumbled bitterly, glaring at the floor before looking up at the two of us, shaking in a pile on the floor, covered in soot and our hair standing straight up, deep bags hanging beneath our eyes. "But this, this takes the cake." He said, before walking off, his robes trailing behind him, and his ducky slippers quacking every step of the way.

I blinked, then turned to Mari in confusion. She just shrugged before we gathered ourselves up and prepared to go back in and assess the damage. We had a long night ahead of us.