Page 124 of A Thousand Cuts

Fix broke the curse.

“What the fuck?” Ash asked again. “How is this happening? I thought we caught the guy?”

“Liam… Shit, there’s no easy way to say this but…” Fix started holding him as tightly as he could while maintaining eye contact with Ash. He had to be ready. For anything and everything that might happen. “Honey, you’re the one cursing yourself.”

There was a moment of silence so complete that Fix almost reached for his marker, thinking the oppressive lack of sound was another curse.

But then a bloodcurdling scream left Liam’s lips, and Fix’s world descended into madness.

The furniture started moving, there was a wind swirling their things around when all the windows were closed. Liam’s hair started changing colors, his pajamas got damp, it got incredibly hot for a moment, then unbearably cold.

Liam cried, shaking violently in Fix’s arms, and Fix couldn’t think of a single thing to make him settle enough for them to try and control it.

There was a glow around him now. Pale blue lingering just above his skin.

Black had given up writing down his curses and was just counting them now. Fix was desperately trying to break them as he felt the fatigue setting in. Ash did his best to curb the worst of it, stopping flying objects from hitting anyone and removing anything sharp from reach in case it came at any of them.

It was mayhem.

And it built.

One curse after another.

One scream after another.

Liam’s skin turned pale and clammy.

He was cold in Fix’s arms.

The curses kept coming.

“Fix, we have to do something!” Black called out. “There are so many of them, any one could be the final one.”

Fuck, Fix knew that. He knew and he was trying to think, but the desperation and fear clouded everything else. He was drowning in his own failure.

Another curse.

Fix broke it.

Liam’s breathing went from loud gasping to soft little hitches.

One more curse.

Fix broke it.

Liam’s heartbeat went from thundering to fluttering.

One more.

Broken. Fix could feel his cursemark tingling. He was overexerting himself, but he didn’t have the luxury of caring about it now.

The glow around Liam dimmed.

And Fix still had no answers.

“We have to get him to Nexus,” he said, pushing himself to the edge of his bed, Liam still clutched in his arms. Black and Ash both nodded without question, following after him as he carried Liam downstairs.

“Call the others,” Fix said, bundling Liam up as best as he could and breaking the curse on the buttons of his jacket that kept popping open.