Ironminder

Another Unkindness

The wounds were a savage burn, inking their way up the veins of my left hand. My fingers tightened just above where the burning gold was creeping up my arm, hoping to halt the flow like I'd learned to stop snake venom. Yet, still that magic --like a living creature-- writhed just beneath my skin, shimmering like the light of day trapped beneath my fragile mortal skin. 

I could feel my breath stutter each time the fae magic pulsed up my arm, past the tourniquet of my fingers. It was a wicked ache, causing my muscles to tense and my fingers to clench of their own accord. But, just below that throbbing ache, there was a thrum of unfamiliar power that was intoxicating. It made me wish for the ache if only for a glimpse of that other festering feeling that burrowed deeper and deeper into me, following those leeching vines that had dug their roots into my flesh. 

It delved deeper, ruining another small bit of that human side of me. 

When my eyes rolled back into my head, I couldn't tell whether it was from pain, or that other feeling I scarcely wanted to name. 

Meet me in my court before the new day breaks. 

I heard his voice echoing, beating around behind my eyelids and filling up my mind until I knew nothing save the timbre of the words.

A challenge. To find my way back to that other place...this time without a summons. It was my only option. 

Or... I glanced back down at that golden burn that was halfway toward my elbow. It will kill me. I had no doubt the magic would make its way to my heart. It was only a matter of whether it would kill me then, or earlier. 

My left hand seized and grabbed at the air so tightly that when I finally pried it open enough, I saw the faint imprint of white crescents that had bit into the meaty part of my palm. I grabbed the hem of my shirt and wadded it into a bundle, shoving it between my curled fingers.

I made it back to my dorm in a blur, my memories of the journey were smudged and indistinct. All I knew is that it had taken too long to get there. The magic was almost up to my elbow now, reaching towards sensitive nerves that tingled and sent devastating shocks all the way up my shoulder and neck. Even the sun had dipped below the horizon line.

You won't make it off campus, much less back to faerie. Not that I quite knew where to start anyway. 

Peggy caught me as I stumbled into the door casing, barely strong enough to catch myself if her shoulder hadn't slid under my good arm. "Gods," her face pinched with the effort of helping me to my bed. When she eased me down, the once over she leveled on me cataloged everything, revealing a story I'd never quite been ready to tell, "What happened?"

"Nothing," I dropped heavily onto my side, letting gravity have its way with me. I promised myself I'd only rest for a moment and then muster up whatever strength I could gather.

"You and I both know that's a lie. You look like trash."

"Oh. Thank you, Margaret." Salt coated my tongue.

"That's Peggy to you, Evelyn." Her grey eyes returned to the arm I'd been babying against my chest. Cool fingers pried my good hand away from it, "You're burning up, Lyn."

"You have no idea," here in my room, away from the last thread bits of sunlight that filtered in from the horizon, I still gelt the sweat beading along my forehead and upper lip. It was my body's last-ditch effort to cool the fire that licked further and further up my arm. 

"Lyn!" Her voice rattled my brain and the flames burned brighter, reminding me I had little time for idle conversation, not when there was a more powerful voice still humming at the base of my skull.