Cosmic Collisions (Novel)

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen:

Isla and Freya both got ready for bed and by the time they were both ready Freya was getting more and more worried about Isla. She watched as the blonde fumbled to the beds, her hands out in front of her as if she couldn't see that well at all. When Freya saw her eyes she had to turn away slightly; one of Isla's green eyes had clouded over slightly while the other one remained as it always had been. Her cheek was bruised and she was limping quite badly.

"Are you sure you're okay? Your eyes and check, they look...," Freya began.

"Terrible? Awful? Horrible?" Isla muttered getting into bed without looking at her, shame creeping up on her.

"I was going to say painful," Freya whispered, getting into her own bed, facing Isla with her elbow propped up on her pillow

"Yes they are, to be honest ," Isla finally admitted, "and for some reason my back hurts as well. It feels as if there is something trying to come out. I know it doesn't make any sense. Maybe I'm going insane." she laughed, but they could both tell that it wasn't real laughter.

"What did they actually do to you?" Freya asked gently, worry in her pale blue eyes. Isla recounted the experiments, including the one where she was locked up in the glass pillar with the electrocution button and the one where she and Estelle had to crawl through the small hole at the top. Freya listened in amazement not saying a word until she was sure that the blonde had finished talking.

"Wow. I'm so sorry that happened," Freya started, "Did the same thing happen to Finley?"

"I don't know, but he looks to be in so much pain," Isla answered, her head and back throbbing with pain as she lay on her stomach with her arms over her head on the pillow facing Freya, one of the two people she was now sure she was in love with. Her heart thumped in her chest as she realised that even though they were almost right next to each other, she could only see through one eye. In truth she was terrified about that aspect, even more than she was at the things that she felt moving around in her shoulder blades trying to break free. It felt like they were digging into her bones and the pain was something Isla had never experienced before.

Freya didn't say it out loud, but thought to herself 'you look as if you're in pain too'. It hurt her to even look at Isla as she winced every few seconds at the pain that Freya couldn't see or feel. She reached over to Isla to hold her hand. She returned the gesture and they stayed like that for a while, each occupied with their own thoughts.

Just then, Cosmo came into the room, shutting the door behind him with one of his wings. He flew over to them both. Noticing that they were holding hands, he didn't say much as he lay down at Isla's feet.

"I've missed you both," Isla whispered.

"I missed you too," Cosmo and Freya said in unison. He sensed that something was terribly wrong with Isla, but at that moment he couldn't quite grasp what it was. Then the overwhelming sense of dragon's blood wafted through the room. Knowing that the two young women couldn't smell it, he didn't say a word. As the two exhausted humans slowly fell into a troubled sleep still holding hands, Cosmo watched Isla wince every few minutes squeezing Freya's hand in the process. His unease only grew; he knew that something was terribly wrong with his favourite human and it had something to do with dragon's blood.

***

Once Elliot had helped Finley to one of the two beds he asked, "What actually happened, Finley? I noticed you holding back; was it because Isla was there?"

He nodded and turned to face Elliot saying, "how did you know?" Finley winced as his ribs and shoulder blades had sharp pains travelling through them.