Darkness had managed to use me or the power of the medallion through me to create an exit for us. He was the one who had rescued us, even though it seemed as though they’d all wanted me — a regular person — to do something magical.
Storm approached the hole first, sliding into it like a baseball player before disappearing from view. Nightmare lowered Darkness to the ground and pushed him inside.
Nightmare turned, and his eyes widened when they landed on something behind me. “Duck!”
I turned to see what he was looking at, but before I could realize what was happening, Ziz’s sharp talons wrapped around my middle. Blood oozed out my side as his talon pierced my clothing and dug into my flesh.
“Help!” I cried before moaning from the extreme pain.
Nightmare caught my hand and yanked me back, fighting with the last of his strength against Ziz’s powerful pull. My hand slipped from his as Ziz’s wings flapped ferociously, stirring up a vicious breeze.
Ziz released an ear-piercing victory screech as he pulled me into the air. I watched Nightmare grow smaller as I moved higher and higher into the air.
I had to think fast, and as the medallion burned against my wrist, I could think of only one thing to do. I pressed the hot artifact against Ziz’s talon. The horrifying sound of it sizzling against his talon made me wince, but it worked.
Well, it sort of worked.
Ziz released me with an agonizing cry, and while I was glad not to be going wherever he was taking me, I was plummeting fast toward the ground. I was less than twenty feet from crashing into the ground when Storm’s hand reached out of the hole.
A blast of icy wind hit me hard, breaking my fall but causing me to glide across the rocky ground. My body bounced repeatedly until I eventually rolled to a painful stop.
I pressed my hand to my side and held my blood-coated hand in front of my eyes. “Oh, shit.”
Nightmare gently scooped me up, holding me as if I were a fragile child. Pain ripped through my body as he raced toward the closing hole.
Blinding pain tore through me as I spilled out onto the rough ground. We were in a circular clearing surrounded by tall pine trees so close together they formed a wall around us. There was a fire going, and a man covered with different pelts crouched down next to it, rubbing his hands together.
The man stood with his arms crossed, looking down at me. He was wider than he was tall, his nose wrinkled as he turned to Darkness, who was back on his feet.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
Darkness gave him a single nod.
The man clicked his tongue before letting out a heavy, disappointed sigh. “If you say so. Bring her closer.”
Nightmare hoisted me to my feet, and Storm helped Darkness closer to the flickering fire. The man swiftly arranged a rolled-up piece of cloth on a moss-covered stone and meticulously unraveled it. Inside was a collection of peculiar-shaped bottles and vials, with pockets containing a strange assortment of tools.
“What is all that?” I asked, wincing as I bent forward at the waist. The pain in my side was increasing with each passing second.
“Shh!” the man hissed, holding up a single finger. He stroked his beard and looked his things up and down. “Show me the wound, please.”
Nightmare supported me as I lifted my shirt. An unsettling sensation gripped my stomach as the fabric stuck to the parts of blood that had partially dried.
“Hm, yes. Ziz is an evil bastard. Lie down, please,” the man said.
Darkness grabbed a lengthy roll next to the man and spread it out on the ground. Both Darkness and Nightmare helped ease me to the ground while Storm positioned herself atop a jagged rock, her watchful gaze fixed intently on me.
The air was heavy with dampness. The fire crackled as the man threw little pellets from one of the vials into the dancing flames.
Sweat beaded on my forehead as my jaw tensed from the excruciating pain. The wide man walked in a circle around me, waving a smoking stick of sweet-smelling herbs.
“There might be a touch of poison in there, but nothing that will hurt her. We just need to seal the wound,” the man said.
“Who is this guy?” I asked in a pillowy voice as the man stepped away.
“A druid,” Darkness said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
The man chuckled. “Not just any druid,” he said, turning. “The best druid, and because of that, you will be as good as new when I’m finished with you.”
“Good,” I mumbled through my lips. “Because right now, I feel like I might be dying.”
The druid wore a determined expression as he hunched over the rock and sorted through his items. His thick, calloused fingers picked up several vials and a few sprigs of dried herbs.
He moved with grace and precision, but it was painfully slow. I looked into Darkness’s beautiful eyes as my memories started to move through my mind one by one.
I remembered playing outside with my brother as my parents sat with smiles on their faces, watching us as they drank lemonade at a picnic table. The sky was sunny, and there were fluffy clouds moving overhead. It was so real that I wanted to get up and see them closer, but my body wouldn’t let me move.
“Hurry,” Nightmare urged, popping the hallucination and bringing me back.
“Don’t rush me,” he said, dropping the herbs into a mortar. The druid’s eyes remained on me as he ground them into a fine powder with the pestle.
He poured an oil from one of the bottles into the mixture as he bowed his head and mumbled to himself. The druid carried the bowl with both hands as he walked around me three times.
“Lift her shirt again, please,” he said.
Darkness’s cool fingers brushed against my hot skin as he raised the fabric. My stomach rolled, and my focus blurred as a wave of heat moved over my body.
“Forces of nature converge with tranquility and serenity and combine with the boundless power of love. Unite now to mend this young one,” the druid sang as he kneeled beside me, bowing his head. “For she calls upon us, and one day we may call upon her in kind. All who hold the values of peace, harmony, healing, and love say, ‘In this, we are.’”
