What if every magical creature you'd ever heard of was real, driven into hiding by an army of violent zealots? This is reality for Sarah Heisen and Porter Collins. Sarah is a sphinx living a life of luxury in her family's mansion. Hidden from all da...
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Chapter Twenty One
(Porter)
"Porter? Porter?"
The name bounced inside the young man's head like an echo in a cave, soft but persistent. His skull felt like it was being inflated like a balloon... and it wouldn't take much more to pop him.
"Porter, wake up!"
That was only making it worse. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? He was tired. He was in pain. He needed to sleep! But despite his efforts to ignore it, Porter felt himself rising into consciousness.
"I think he's coming around," the voice said, sounding closer this time.
Porter opened his eyes, and was greeted by the sight of Sarah's face mere inches from his own.
"Porter, can you hear me?" she asked loudly, the fear evident in her eyes.
Her voice cut straight into Porter's head like a heated knife, and he put a hand to his forehead and moaned, "Not so loud."
As soon as he spoke, his stomach turned over inside of him and he had to lay is head back down on the ground for a few seconds. When the nausea finally passed, he took a deep breath and sat up. "What happened?" he asked.
"You tried to eat some rabbit," Sarah explained, backing away and sitting down with an uneasy look on her face, "but you threw it up."
It began to come back to him, and he nodded. That had come after his brief fight with the Other Porter, and his copy had carried out his promise. Just thinking about it made him want to throw up again.
"If you're sick, then we should take a couple days off," Sarah said. Without asking, she stepped forward and put a paw on Porter's forehead. "You do feel a little feverish."
Porter shook his head. "It's just the weather. I'm fine."
Sarah frowned. "Porter..."
"We don't have time to waste," he cut her off. "We need to get you and Tick to that Sanctuary before the Slayers catch up to us."
Sarah's face paled, but she didn't argue anymore. "Can you walk?" she asked softly.
Porter was about to say yes, but stopped when a dark cloud rolled over his thoughts. What if he wasn't okay? Other Porter was obviously gaining more control over his body. What if he actually succeeded in overpowering Porter someday? The Other Porter... whatever he was... Porter had no doubt that he would actually try to hurt Sarah and Tick if he ever got the chance. If that happened, Porter would have no way to protect them, since he would be the one hurting them... which meant the only thing he could do was prepare them for it.
"Um," he said at last, and glanced at Tick, who was watching them both from a few feet away. Sarah followed his eyes, and caught on to what he wanted.
