Beyond the Fairy Gate

Chapter 20

Nyline

Nyline could barely move, her entire body felt like a dead weight and a pounding was taking up residence behind one of her eyes. Nausea swirled in her belly as she forced her body into a sitting position. Every muscle that moved felt like needles and when she opened her eyes, her vision was blurry. The vague outlines of people standing around her, at a distance, made all the hairs on her body stand on end.

"What did you do?" A voice she would recognize anywhere with its unhappy undertone, her Uncle, spoke close to her. However, she didn't move towards the noise as she tried to clear the fog and pain from her mind.

"I didn't do anything. We were just talking, and she was fiddling with the rosebushes." Gabriel's voice spoke from further away sounding breathless. "What in all the gods happened?" Concern and awe washed across her mind like a wave pool making her stomach flip and she worried that she might be sick.

A hand hooked itself under her arm and pulled her up suddenly. The blood rushed up into her brain and she felt her legs buckle, but the hand holding her didn't let her fall. Though, she didn't feel like she could stand, and her eyes still wouldn't focus. There was a whistle.

"Now, there's the red head that we spent out childhood looking for." Rebecca's very loud, and very annoying voice basically screamed at her. Nyline pressed her free hand into her eye. Red head? What red head? She's the only red head that's here right now.

"Oh, no she isn't." That soft voice spoke in the back of her mind making her stomach flip again, only this time calm washed over her, and she felt a little less off balance. Then the inner voices started, and she felt as though she was being hit from all sides as the voices from all six scout sets started chattering to each other loudly. She felt her body slump more as her mind fell further into the haze.

"Nyline?" She turned her unseeing eyes onto where the arm was holding her. He released her suddenly and she surprised herself by staying upright. Two hands pressed against her face and she knew it was her Uncle by how he held his memories back from her. "What's wrong?"

"My head, my body, everything hurts." She bit out on a breath as she felt her body get heavy again, and a new wave of dizziness washed over her. Her knees wanted to buckle once but she managed to stay upright. "I can't see," She mumbled as she tried to raise her arms and rub at them to make the blurriness go away.

Uncle John made a shushing noise before she felt the aether enter her mind. It was like a balm on a fresh burn as it soothed all the rough edges and calmed her nerves. Her body slowly started to feel lighter, like she could move it and the pressure behind her eye was slowly dissipating. After what felt like minutes but was probably only seconds, her arms were able to lift and rub at her eyes as she continued to try and clear them.

"Can you still not see?" Her uncle whispered as she blinked several times, her hands going back to her eyes. She shook her head as she made the motion of looking down at her hands but only slight outlines. Her breath hitched in her chest. Was she blind?

"Take a deep breath." Her breath hitched again at Gabriel's soft soothing tone in the back of her mind and she looked towards where she thought he was. "It's going to be alright." Those tears that she had been holding back welled up in her eyes as she looked back towards where her uncles outline was.

"Don't cry," He chastised in a soft tone, "You're not going blind. Just take a deep breath and give me a second." His hands were on her again as they took her head and he ran a single thumb over one eye then the other. "Open." Nyline did as instructed and opened her eyes slowly. The moon was bright in the sky as she blinked several times before she focused onto her uncle's solemn face and finally focused.