Chapter Four
Blaze
My mind is fuzzy, my back is sore, my eye is...
“Ah!” I cry out weakly in pain.
“Firecracker?” August squeezes my hand tighter. “Don’t sit up. Don’t open your eyes, just trust that I’m here.”
“I know you’re here doofus I can hear you.” He holds my hand to his lips and I feel them brush along my knuckles.
“You know you almost died.”
“I know. Speaking of that, what happened after I blacked out?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“How long till I can see you again.”
“I don’t know.” He sighs. “The doctor I got for you is the best in all of Ericlyn but...she says there's a possibility you’ll never see out that eye again.”
“There was a possibility.” A slightly raspy high pitched voice arrives in the conversation.
“August who is-”
“I’m Iris, the optometrist. Dear old Kaaaaaaaa——————” She goes off as if she’s singing. “I MEAN a friend sent for me.” I hear her thump August on the head and whisper something.
“How long until I can see again.” She ignores my question.
“I was lucky enough to save your eye. However you will have a nasty scar for the rest of your life. The surgery was difficult, and I did have second thoughts to if your eye was really worth saving, but you’ll be able to see in a while.”
“How long is a while?”
“Mmmmmm…” Her voice turns sing-song again. “A week if you’re good, and knowing you Blaze, that’s not going to happen.”
“How do you...what makes you think that….?”
“Don’t kid yourself, I’m a ghost, I can see your inner thoughts.” A cold and damp hand presses against my forehead. “Ah, Yes. You wish to mate with the boy.” Heat flashes my face and I swipe her hand away. My hand goes through her arm and leaves me feeling like I’m in a cloud of cold mist.
“NO IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!” August starts laughing maniacally. “AUGUST YOU DON'T ACTUALLY BELIEVE HER DO YOU!?!”
“I missed you.” He kisses me and for the first time I’m angry, I can’t see him.
“But in all seriousness Blaze, if you don’t do exactly as I say you may never see again. I’ve been doing ophthalmology for a long time. A really long time. If you don’t take care of that eye you may lose the other one. Stay safe.” She giggles and starts sitting me up and pushing me off of the cot.
“You know you can open your not injured eye right?”
“Now you tell me.” I open my one eye and see where I am. I’m in a small room of an even smaller cottage, August looks like he hasn’t been sleeping. I’m wearing what I came in, but the doctor, Iris, is the one that makes me do a double take. She has no eyes, stitches sew her eyelashes shut, long blue hair reaches almost to the floor.
“Stop staring, it’s not polite.” She says in a snarky tone and shoves me completely off the cot.
“You can...see me?”
“Of course I can, now get out.” She smacks me on the head with a broom, sending pain through my head and eye.
“Ow!” August wraps his arms around me and leads me outside. “Where are we?”
“Just outside the forest. No one can see us, I made sure of that.” I feel exhausted.
“How long was I out for?”
“Not even a day.”
“Then why am I so freaking tired.”
“Adrenalin rush, anestesia, pain. Honestly I don't blame you for being tired.”
“Okay then, but before we go any farther what happened after I blacked out?” He stops and looks around, then turns back to me. I can’t help but notice the worry in his eyes when he looks at the bandage over my face that prevents me from opening my eye.
“After she hurt you and tried to take me down she let me off, under the one condition that I take care of you. She sent the doctor for you, Blaze, you could have died without her and yet she’s the one who tried to kill you.”
“Did she say anything else?” He hesitates.
“Just that she had to go to school.” He’s not letting on everything, I can see it in his worried smile and hear it in his voice.
“The only school around here is Ericlyn Prep...Maybe if we go there, we can find her.”
“Why on earth do we want to go towards the person who tried to kill us?” I shrug.
“Revenge , answers, you know.”
“You’re not going anywhere until that eye heals up.” He holds me closer to his chest and we walk to the forest, careful to keep our wings tucked close and my eye hidden.
Unbeknownst to us, a figure lurked in a nearby tree, tracking our progress. The figure sighs.
“I should have just killed them when I had the chance.” But Kara couldn’t deny there was something strange going on. Something inside of her just couldn’t let her kill the girl called Blaze.
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