to have been the odd dream. And Brim’s response could be due in part to the vibes I was giving off.
Just as I decided to turn over and go back to sleep, a small hand slapped down on my right arm in abruising grip. A second hand landed flat between my breasts, shoving me back into the mattress.
A body materialized into a pert-nosed waif with clear blue eyes, white hair in two long braids, dressed in some type of silvery, body-hugging tube around her flat chest and a matching miniskirt. Her midriff was bare and sported a belly button ring. Oh, and she was floating—I squeezed my eyes closed and opened them again—yep, still hovering over me.
“Do you accept my gift?” she asked vehemently, producing a giant syringe and pressing it against my skin.
“What the—Stop!”
Her eyes went narrow. “So you deny my gift, then?”
“What? Yes. No …” Jesus.
Okay. Calm down.
Gift,
she’d said
gift. “What are you doing?”
“What I’m doing is not fooling around with some stupid test of worthiness like my backwoods sisters. You want it or not?”
My eyes fixed on the syringe. “Want what exactly?”
“Air. A hundred mils of it, pulled from yours truly, clean, blessed, and ready for the joining. Snagged this big boy”—she nodded toward the syringe—“from a horse farm in Conyers.”
“I thought that was just a myth, that air couldn’t—”
“Kill you? Sure it can. In big enough doses. Look, you don’t have to accept death to accept a gift. That’s my sisters’ deal.” She shrugged. “If you’re big enough to take the risk, then it’s fine by me. So, are you?”
“And the risk would be?”
“Brain damage. You in?”
“Brain damage,” I repeated numbly.
“Yeah. See,” she snorted, “you’re already halfway there.” When I didn’t laugh, she rolled her large, slanted eyes.
It was like I’d just woken up in some alternate never-never land, where Peter Pan was a smart-ass little female floating above me.
“My gift will move slowly because I told it to. Once you accept all the gifts, and use them for your purpose, you’ll be fine, and what I just gave you will be used up. Should you fail to accept the other gifts or don’t use them within four days of receipt of the first one, then mine is free to make its merry way into your brain. So, what’ll it be?”
These
tests
were all about worth and sacrifice. If you were willing to show you meant it, you were given the gift: the element.
I knew my heart, and because of that I wasn’t afraid.
I met her eyes and nodded, tensing as her grip on my arm tightened. She still hadn’t removed her other hand from my chest.
“Once I have all of the elements inside of me, how do I use them to see inside of my sister?”
“I’m not sure how it works. It just does.” A lethal grin spread across her face. “Don’t worry. I’ll try not to hit an artery.”
And then she shoved the needle into my skin.
I gasped at the sting and the instant bloom of hot pressure as air forced its way into my tissue. The sylph drew back and finally lifted her other hand off my chest. “It should only hurt for a little while.”
I sat up, rubbing at the burning skin. My arm was beginning to numb.
She glanced around the room, saw my small trash can, and tossed the syringe inside. “Later.”
“Wait!”
But she was already spinning into … nothing but air. And as air, she had no problem going wherever the hell she wanted—through cracks, under doors, through window screens … Nice power to have.
I fell back onto my mattress, heart pounding, and pressed my palms to my eyes and cursed. Great. I was a walking air embolism, and I had no idea how to use the elements inside of me to see inside of Bryn and the other
ash
victims.
Brim stood, stretched his long body, and then began circling again several times before lying back down.
I’d received the water gift first, so I had roughly three and a half days left before I needed to use what was inside of me
Just as I decided to turn over and go back to sleep, a small hand slapped down on my right arm in abruising grip. A second hand landed flat between my breasts, shoving me back into the mattress.
A body materialized into a pert-nosed waif with clear blue eyes, white hair in two long braids, dressed in some type of silvery, body-hugging tube around her flat chest and a matching miniskirt. Her midriff was bare and sported a belly button ring. Oh, and she was floating—I squeezed my eyes closed and opened them again—yep, still hovering over me.
“Do you accept my gift?” she asked vehemently, producing a giant syringe and pressing it against my skin.
“What the—Stop!”
Her eyes went narrow. “So you deny my gift, then?”
“What? Yes. No …” Jesus.
Okay. Calm down.
Gift,
she’d said
gift. “What are you doing?”
“What I’m doing is not fooling around with some stupid test of worthiness like my backwoods sisters. You want it or not?”
My eyes fixed on the syringe. “Want what exactly?”
“Air. A hundred mils of it, pulled from yours truly, clean, blessed, and ready for the joining. Snagged this big boy”—she nodded toward the syringe—“from a horse farm in Conyers.”
“I thought that was just a myth, that air couldn’t—”
“Kill you? Sure it can. In big enough doses. Look, you don’t have to accept death to accept a gift. That’s my sisters’ deal.” She shrugged. “If you’re big enough to take the risk, then it’s fine by me. So, are you?”
“And the risk would be?”
“Brain damage. You in?”
“Brain damage,” I repeated numbly.
“Yeah. See,” she snorted, “you’re already halfway there.” When I didn’t laugh, she rolled her large, slanted eyes.
It was like I’d just woken up in some alternate never-never land, where Peter Pan was a smart-ass little female floating above me.
“My gift will move slowly because I told it to. Once you accept all the gifts, and use them for your purpose, you’ll be fine, and what I just gave you will be used up. Should you fail to accept the other gifts or don’t use them within four days of receipt of the first one, then mine is free to make its merry way into your brain. So, what’ll it be?”
These
tests
were all about worth and sacrifice. If you were willing to show you meant it, you were given the gift: the element.
I knew my heart, and because of that I wasn’t afraid.
I met her eyes and nodded, tensing as her grip on my arm tightened. She still hadn’t removed her other hand from my chest.
“Once I have all of the elements inside of me, how do I use them to see inside of my sister?”
“I’m not sure how it works. It just does.” A lethal grin spread across her face. “Don’t worry. I’ll try not to hit an artery.”
And then she shoved the needle into my skin.
I gasped at the sting and the instant bloom of hot pressure as air forced its way into my tissue. The sylph drew back and finally lifted her other hand off my chest. “It should only hurt for a little while.”
I sat up, rubbing at the burning skin. My arm was beginning to numb.
She glanced around the room, saw my small trash can, and tossed the syringe inside. “Later.”
“Wait!”
But she was already spinning into … nothing but air. And as air, she had no problem going wherever the hell she wanted—through cracks, under doors, through window screens … Nice power to have.
I fell back onto my mattress, heart pounding, and pressed my palms to my eyes and cursed. Great. I was a walking air embolism, and I had no idea how to use the elements inside of me to see inside of Bryn and the other
ash
victims.
Brim stood, stretched his long body, and then began circling again several times before lying back down.
I’d received the water gift first, so I had roughly three and a half days left before I needed to use what was inside of me
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