Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 364

Chapter 364: A little snack
Mia pulled Ford backward as the monster lunged. He was too weak and drained to do much, and Grandpa–she didn’t want to think about that until the monster was gone.

The bleeding eyes of the monster were vulnerable, and Mia thought quickly.

With her arm around Ford, she could feel the whittling knife he kept in the sheath on his belt. She drew it into her free hand as the monster snapped blindly into the alcove. Then, she released the man she cared all too much about and searched for a place to stab that would kill the creature instantly.

Disregarding her own safety entirely, she followed the pull with the knife in her hand, pressing forward.

The monster’s movements were erratic, and so the pull shifted constantly, but Mia had been following her magical tugs since before she knew what they were. Her hand was drawn inexorably past the snapping jaws as she dashed forward.

The monster roared with anger as it sensed her, but suddenly, Mia disappeared. Her eyes widened but she didn’t have time to consider the implications of Ford using what was left of his magic to hide her.

Without being able to see her own hand, she plunged the blade into a deep wound just above the creature’s right eye, where the crimson flowers had both cut deep and numbed the monster’s senses.

The sickening feeling of the knife entering the creature’s head was one she ignored, pressing as deeply as she could, not willing to let up until everyone was safe.

Until the threat was past.

The monster convulsed and fell from its stubby legs, landing roughly on the floor of the little cave.

Mia’s hands–and therefore Mia herself–flickered back into view.

Her heart was racing wildly, her hands shaking with adrenaline. Was it dead?

She couldn’t bear to look too closely. She couldn’t even keep her hand around the handle of the knife. Releasing it, she promised herself she would apologize to Ford later for leaving it in the head of the monster.

Her fingers had been deeper into its skull than she realized, and she cut herself as she pulled her hand free. Whether on jagged scales or on shards of bone, she couldn’t tell. Didn’t want to know.

She’d helped her father kill animals on the farm for food before, and break down meat from hunting, but… nothing this brutal. This sudden. This personal.

When Mia raised her eyes, Anaisa was already at Grandpa’s side, carefully avoiding the discarded crimson blooms as she dribbled a bit of the healing water into the man’s mouth.

The greenish blood on her hands turned Mia’s stomach, and she lurched to the side before emptying her last meal on the white floor.

The vomit swirled with the viridescent fluid draining from the monster’s head, and Mia dry heaved again. Her hands were dripping a mixture of her own blood and the monster’s.

The colors were discordant enough to obfuscate Mia’s sense of reality.

“Ford.”

The whispered word brought her back to reality, and she turned to seek the secondary pull that she always felt. Her eyes found him on the floor, at the tip of the monster’s jaws.

Scrambling forward, she searched frantically for some sign of injury. Mia’s father was beside her, gazing, horrified, at her face.

“Mia, are you all right?”

“Is Ford? Is he ok?” Her words seemed slurred to her own ears, her movements heavy. Weighted.

“Anaisa, get that water over here,” Seth commanded.

“For him? Is he hurt?” Unbidden tears filled Mia’s eyes, making the world shimmer and blur.

“Mia, lay down.”

“No…” The word hung in the air, but had she spoken it? She couldn’t quite feel her tongue very well.

Her aunt’s voice was suddenly very close.

“Was it numbing from a flower, or is the monster’s blood poison?” She asked, bringing a water skin to Mia’s lips. “We have to be careful—we’re almost out.”

“Give it to her,” Seth ordered, and Mia felt liquid spill into her mouth. It was difficult to swallow. It felt like her breathing was being choked off, and she nearly coughed and vomited again.

“Easy, easy,” Anaisa urged, taking the water away for a moment. “Swallow that before you have more.”

“Mia, drink. Please.” Seth’s voice was urgent enough to set off alarm bells in Mia’s head. She looked down at her hands, still covered in the monster’s green blood.

“Wash…”

The bodily fluid felt disgusting to her. No, more than that. More than repulsive. She needed it off, immediately. The violence of plunging the knife into that creature’s–

“Here,” Anaisa disappeared momentarily, and reappeared with a damp rag. “Here, Mia.”

Quickly, she wiped the girl’s hands clean, speaking softly and soothingly as she did.

“There, now, you’re clean, doesn’t that feel better? And I bet we’ll cross another pool before we reach the top of the cliff, won’t that feel nice? That warm water to take all the aches and pains away.”

“Anaisa,” Seth interrupted. “Use the rest of the healing water. She’s not getting better.”

“I’m okay,” Mia’s thick words convinced no one, and made her even doubt herself. “Ford?”

“He’s unconscious,” Daniel provided informatively, from somewhere Mia couldn’t see. Why did turning her head seem like so much effort? “He hid you, while you attacked the monster. He’ll be out for a long time, I think.”

“Hurt?” Mia kept her eyes as wide open as she could, scared that if she closed them, she would fall asleep and wouldn’t find out whether Ford was truly all right or not. If Grandpa was.

“I’m not hurt anymore, Bug,” Grandpa’s voice beside her calmed her racing heart a little. Had she spoken aloud? “Are you hurting?”

She tried to shake her head, but the motion made her dizzy. The cave nearly disappeared in a tunnel of black.

“Drink a little more, if you can,” Anaisa lifted the water to Mia’s lips, but the girl’s stomach lurched again.

“No–”

Unable to face the choice between vomiting and oblivion, Mia gave in to the dark.