Page 115 of Seared Fates

I must black out. The next thing I’m aware of is bright colours flashing behind my eyes.

A painting?

My mouth stretches into a smile, and trembling, I reach for the twisted blues and swirling yellows, towards a sky that’s becomeThe Starry Night.So pretty, I want to touch it.

My fingers meet something solid, clear, and I make a distressed sound.

Why can’t I touch the painting?

“It’s okay, little prince. I’ve got you.”

I blink. Once. Twice.

Vidar.

The painting fades, replaced by a road whizzing by, framed by yellow street lights. The rich smell of leather finds me, as well as the smooth black interior of a car. I jostle where I’m held on Vidar’s lap, the car going well over the speed limit.

Slowly, Summer’s blonde head and fluffy purple coat come into focus from the passenger seat. She’s shouting directions to Lucero, who follows them with lightning-fast precision. The tyres screech as we speed through the night.

A sudden burning races up my hands as if I dipped them in lava, and I shoot my fuzzy gaze down to find the source, only to recoil at the sight.

“What’s happening to me?” I croak out, pleading to anyone who’ll listen.

White scars, thick as rope, coil out from under my T-shirt sleeves and twist around my arms, wrists, and shaking hands. My skin is inflamed, my fingers bulging around the nails like coins sinking into wet clay. I can’t see the rest of my body, but a sickening fear constricts my stomach at the thought of where else the infection has spread.

Or how deep?

“Summer! The transformation is happening too fast!” Vidar shouts, his deep voice edged with hysteria.

Summer whips around, clinging to her headrest so she isn’t thrown into the door when Lucero makes a sharp turn. She hisses out a curse, unsnaps her seatbelt and crawls into the back seat.

Lucero takes another turn, sending Summer’s face colliding into my legs, and I let out a pained, weak groan.

“Watch it!” she snaps just as Vidar yells, ‘Careful!’, and hoists herself into a sitting position.

“I can either be fast or careful,” Lucero bites.

Summer shifts her focus to my horrifying hands, her shoulders trembling. “Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!”

“T-that bad?” I whimper.

“Fix him!” Vidar growls.

“Do I look like a damn healer?” my shadow mage friend spits. “We’ve gotta get his soul back in his body, it’s the only way.”

Vidar’s hold tightens around me. “How long does he have?”

Summer’s red-rimmed eyes lock onto mine.

Her throat bobs, as if she doesn’t say anything, then it won’t happen. But the deadly truth is written in the tears that begin to gather in her eyes. “This wasn’t supposed to happen so quickly…”

Vidar must see the same thing. In the next second, he’s drawing his elbow back, then slamming it into the door with such unimaginable force that the metal flings off like a spat-out piece of gum.

Lucero swears loudly, Summer shrieks as a blast of air whips her blonde locks around her face and throws her arms around a headrest, clinging for dear life.

Somewhere far behind us, the torn door screeches against the road.

Vidar lunges out of the car, me in his arms, and I don’t even have enough time to be terrified as we quickly approach the asphalt.