Twice Burned

Zoe

The second Robin closed the door I let out an angry howl, furious with the heat and pain coursing through my body. A few more hours? I could survive a few more minutes, but the pain was starting to prickle my skin and throat, so hours were out of the question. I was going to die before they came back.

I knew they heard my screams, and I could hear the echos outside the hallways myself. I didn't care. They could hear me scream for days and I wouldn't care. I didn't care what happened anymore.

Heat pricked my fingers now, leaving me with nothing to control. I couldn't stop the heat from eating me from the inside out anymore. I could have sworn I could feel my hair in pain. Sweat was bubbling from my face and lips now, and I licked my mouth, chapping the skin. I felt the teeth in my mouth begin to sharpen just as it had been for the past few days, only now that it wasn't instant, it felt like they were being filed down to a point.

I started to blink rapidly now, my eyes watering from whatever was happening to them. It was like I could feel the coloration form inside them, once like smoke was in my eyes, but now like I could see even clearer. 

Then the shivers started. Waves of the cold from the necklace made my body tremble now, trying to keep me alive while also torturing my muscles. It wasn't long before I passed out in the chair, unable to stay conscious for anything more.

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It wasn't until I felt my head spin and my eye being pulled open that I began to wake up again. There was a sudden flash in my eyes, and I squinted. At first I couldn't hear anything, but gradually it began to get better, going from muffles to somewhat of a language I could decipher. When I could see again, the light was gone and two figures stood in front of me, blurry, but got sharper by the second. Finally, I could see Robin standing in front of me, while Gideon stood next to me, checking other vitals.

I noticed Robin looked worried, and I could see her biting her nail as she watched Gideon. Even her stature looked nervous, standing with all her weight on one foot, while her arms were crossed over her body in a stiff position. I could barely see a crease in between her eyebrows, just beneath her jewel, looking distressed.

Gideon, I observed, looked the same way as he frantically went over the vitals he had done before. He checked my heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and consciousness many times, making sure they were normal.

For once in over five hours I felt normal again. For once in days I felt normal. My temperature felt perfectly fine now, and I wasn't sweating anymore. It was like waking up from a dream, and I felt totally oblivious to what was going on.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" I mumbled, noticing that my throat was sore from my screams earlier. 

Gideon and Robin seemed to relax as soon as I spoke, looking at each other with utter relief. Then Robin smiled and turned to me.

"You're one heck of a fighter, Zoe Winkle." She said. I didn't understand, and that must have been why Robin continued. "You did exponentially better than my first test subject."

"That's how we found out that fairies can't blend other fairy magic to another." Gideon said, sounding relieved as well.

"Who was your test subject?" I asked, shutting my eyes tight to get rid of the drowsiness within them.

"Just another fairy that happened to be really popular around here." Robin laughed. "Went by the name of King."

"You killed Quinn's father?" I demanded.

Robin suddenly became defensive. "What do you care? The father of the woman who brought you here?"

Somehow that statement made me clamp my mouth shut. I was furious at Quinn, but her father was like no other in this world. When I was last here, it was the closest I had had to a Dad in so long. Even though he thought I was Quinn, he treated me as his own, and even when he found out I was human, he let me live. When my dad had died, I holed myself up in my room for several days, knowing that one of my best friends was no longer on Earth. I didn't know what kind of relationship Quinn had with her own father, but I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone.