Mutante

Chapter 18

Copyright 2023 Elizabeth Frerichs

Crossposted on elizabethfrerichs.com and fanfiction.net

*****

Rosie took a shuddering breath. "All right. Bless me."

The worm drew nearer, one of his hairs inching towards her arm. She tensed as he loomed over her, locking her tail to keep it from throwing her into the worm. As the worm leaned down, she clenched her jaw to keep herself from screaming or running away.

Then a hand took hers and began tracing soothing circles on the back of her hand. "I'm right here," Robert whispered.

Rosie couldn't nod, but her shoulders relaxed a fraction. No matter what happened with this blessing, she wasn't alone.

Pain lanced through her arm as the worm's hair pierced her upper arm. She bit her tongue, trying not to scream out. Nausea roiled in her stomach as the hair began pumping venom into her system. Wave after wave of venom spread through her body. Then her arm began to throb, heat filling her veins as though she were burning from the inside out. She gasped. The pain grew and grew, spreading to the rest of her body.

Was this what dying felt like? Maybe the worm had lied, and Robert would be killed next. The pain intensified.

No, the worm had seemed truthful. It could have easily killed them before. She just had to hold on. The blessing couldn't last forever.

"Rosie," Robert called.

Dimly, she sensed the worm retreating. At least the hair was gone now. Why had she ever wanted a fireworm hair?

Robert shook her, and she moaned as the jostling only spread the pain.

"Be patient, young merman," the worm said. Then he began to chant.

The pain ebbed and flowed as syllable after syllable rolled through the cave, buffeting her mind. Unintelligible to the human brain, yet almost sounding like something she should know.

Then her eyes began to ache, and she closed them, putting her hands over them as though to shelter them from the pain.

"Rosie, what's wrong?" Robert asked frantically.

She swallowed, unsure whether she could get any words out. "Hurts," she whispered. The sound of the fireworm's chants grew louder and louder and suddenly she could hear other sounds, a nigh-deafening roar that filled the ocean.

"What hurts?" he yelled.

She winced. "Shh. Don't yell."

"I'm not yelling," he boomed confusedly.

The worm's chant reached a crescendo and then it broke off.

Now there was nothing to distract from the burning as it encompassed every part of her body. Even from behind her closed eyelids, light stabbed at her and Robert's hand shifted like broken coral against her skin. She whimpered.

Then, as suddenly as it had arrived, the pain left. Rosie took in a shuddering breath, forcing herself to slow down. Not even a residual ache remained. In fact, she felt—better than she had before. Not tired. Not as though she had just spent the night sleeping on sand in a cave. Just good.

Cautiously, she opened her eyes. The cave was now as bright as day. The fireworm sucked in another mouthful of water.

"You have my blessing," he said.

Rosie clutched Robert's hand, still afraid of what she would discover about herself.

"Can you, um, loosen your grip?" Robert murmured.