"And everything's expired and frozen." I sighed as I went through the cabinets. I grabbed an apple from the fridge and knocked on its frigid skin.
"Well of course, it's been 5 months..." Erin said. "You had like nothing canned..."
"Yeah, well I didn't expect to come back." I snapped back. "And I didn't bring any food from the cave because I didn't expect everything to have gone bad."
Erin bit her thumbnail. "I had a stash of canned food in my old house. In the basement. For emergencies. It is a year old but..."
"What kind of emergencies?" I asked suspiciously.
"I may or may not have committed more than one murder before I left the Grimlands...I didn't know if they'd find out and come for me..." she said with a nervous laugh.
"You really, really scare me sometimes." I said.
"That's the goal." She smirked. "I can go get some stuff from there. You work on making this place, eh... livable again."
And she walked out of the kitchen. I didn't feel like cleaning, so I entered the living room for the first time since September. What startled me was how used it seemed. There was another message attached to the fireplace by a throwing knife, stuck into the bricks' grooves.
And in Fwhip's handwriting it read:
Scott,
If you're reading this, you probably know by now you're an outlaw and I have taken over your precious kingdom. I suggest you turn yourself in. And if you decide to hide out anywhere, I don't suggest Erin's old shack.
-Fwhip
Erin. The shack. That's where she was going. I knew Fwhip hadn't stopped at his embassy. I needed to warn her. I sprinted out the doors, but she was already gone.
So, I started to fly to her old house. She was so much faster than I was, I knew I'd never make it before her...but I had to try.
I saw a black dot in the distance. It might be her. I shouted for her to slow down, I even shouted her real name, Phoenix. No response. I was too far away.
Soon, the house came into sight. The figure in the distance dove for it and landed near the front door. Now I could definitely see it was Erin.
"ERIN STOP!" I shouted but, too late. She had opened the door. A horrible noise shrieked through the air, and I covered my ears as I tumbled toward the ground, trying to block it out. That horrible noise was gas leaking. And it lit. Within a second, the entire building exploded.
I was blasted backwards from the air. And I was still a few hundred feet from the explosion sight. Erin got the full blast of it.
I fell through the branches of a pine tree. My cloak got tangled and by the time I stopped, I was covered in scratches and my clothes were torn.
I ripped my cloak off and fell an extra 10 feet to the ground before I managed to scramble up. Fire. Everything was on fire. A plume of smoke was rising from the explosion sight. Debris was everywhere from the building.
I coughed from the smoke and staggered to my feet. I was already drenched in sweat from my plunge and from the fire. I wiped the blood dripping from my ear as I tried to think in all the heat. Erin. Where was Erin?
I limped through the rubble, trying to avoid the burning wood and furniture. Then I saw her. She was laying, motionless, on her back. I dropped to her side. Her clothing was singed, and her face was covered in the black ash from the explosion. Blood dripped from her forehead and collarbone and had started to soak her waist. I had to pat out the fire on her clothes and on one of her wings. The axe tear Pearl had made in the leathery skin stretched across it had opened up again as well.
"Come on Erin, stay with me here..." I muttered as I checked her pulse. She was alive. For now.
I stood up and raised both my hands, exhaling slowly, like Erin had taught me to do and a wave of frost and ice covered the wreckage, putting out all the fires. I crouched down by Erin again. I slid a hand underneath her back and lifted her up carefully. She fell completely limp in my arms.
I needed to get her help. I didn't care if we were both wanted. We needed Katherine.
I held Erin close to my chest as I flew us to the Overgrown. Thank the gods that Hyacinth was close. As soon as I landed, I banged on the door to her castle as if my life depended on it. Mine didn't. But Erin's did.
Katherine opened the door. "Wha- SCOTT!" She shrieked. Then she saw Erin. "WHAT THE-"
"Shut up you're going to cause a scene." I hissed.
"Where have you two been!?" Katherine demanded.
"That doesn't matter right now. Help her." I said desperately.
Katherine looked to Erin's still body to my face. I knew she couldn't refuse someone in need. Even if it was Erin. "Fine. Get her in here." Katherine opened the door a little wider to allow us in.
The crystal seemed a little obnoxious after all the ice and stone of the cave. She brought me to the lounge, and I placed Erin gently on the couch while Katherine went to grab her medical bag. When she came back, she checked Erin's heartbeat and pulse. Then she placed a small, padded device, similar to stethoscope on her temple.
"She'll live." Katherine said. "If she doesn't bleed out. She needs serious medical attention."
"Then give it to her." I snapped. Katherine looked up in surprise.
"What happened to you?" she breathed. "First you almost kill Gem, then you disappear without warning and now..." she looked around at the icicles already hanging from the ceiling.
"Trust me. I didn't ask for this." I said flatly.
"What even happened to her?" she asked.
"Fwhip. He trapped her old place. When she opened the door, it blew up in her face." I said angrily.
Katherine pursed her lips before she sighed. "We're going to have to transfer her to the hospital. I'll need help from the nurses."
I nodded before I picked her up. We quickly made our way to the hospital. Everyone got out of Katherine's way, and she gestured for a couple nurses to follow her.
We got to an empty hospital room, and I laid Erin on the hospital bed. Katherine hooked her up to vitals and she began to quickly instruct the other two nurses, informing them of the problem. I could barely hear the words coming out of her mouth; she was talking so fast.
I paced the length of the room as they began to clean out the blood and ash from her wounds. A snowfall had started, not unexpected. Especially because I was panicking by butt off.
"Scott, just sit down." Katherine said once she saw me and gestured to a seat in the corner. I glared at her, and she went back to working on Erin.
"So, what's been going on since...since we left." I asked.
"Well, Joel's not emperor anymore. Joey is. He got the crown from Lizzie last week. Well, stole the crown from Lizzie." Katherine answered. "We haven't found out how to cure Gem yet either."
I didn't answer.
It seemed like forever when Katherine finally straightened up. "I think we've done everything we can. Now, we just need to wait for her to wake up."
I leaned over her. She wasn't out cold anymore... she seemed to be stirring. So, I slapped her across the face.
Katherine stared at me in shock. "Wha-"
Erin sat bolt upright. "OW!" She shouted and punched me in the shoulder. "THAT HURT."
"Well duh." I said. "I needed to wake you up."
Erin looked around in panic. When she saw Katherine, she scrambled backwards and fell off the bed, ripping all the medical wires and stuff off of her. I snorted and kicked her lightly with the toe of my shoe. "You good?"
"No. What the hell happened?" she asked and held her head, suppressing a moan.
"Fwhip and Sausage almost blew you up." I said and helped her to her feet. Her face contorted in rage. Normally, her eyes would flicker red, but they had been red for a while. I hadn't seen her blue eyes in weeks.
I helped her sit back down and she held onto her side. After being awake for a few seconds, it seemed she was starting to feel her injuries.
"I am going to kill them." She growled. Katherine looked nervous.
"Speaking of Fwhip..." Katherine said. "He'll be here any minute."
"WHAT?" I shouted. Katherine flinched and took a step back. "What did you do?"
"Relax. He just wants to talk to you." Katherine said. Judging by the way her voice was shaking, he didn't just want to talk to me.
Erin's fists clenched but she didn't say anything. Katherine took out a jar of ointment, the same stuff she had given me when Xornoth had burned me. "Put this on your wing every few hours. It should help the pain." She said and gave it to Erin.
Erin continued to stay silent, but she accepted the jar.
Katherine left the room, and I heard the unmistakable sound of the door locking. I immediately sat down next to Erin. "How are you feeling?" I asked and felt the burn and tear in her wing.
"Fine, considering I was almost exploded. Right now, we have to figure out how to get out of here..." she said and looked around. She had obviously heard Katherine lock us in as well. Then she looked at me. Window. She got up and smashed the window with the butt of a knife she had hidden in her boot.
I climbed out first and helped her through onto the roof. It was slightly slanted, and I held onto Erin's shoulder as she scooted down it to make sure she wouldn't slip. When she got to the end she held onto the edge of the shingles and dropped, holding on by her fingertips.
"There's a window!" She called up.
"Alright, here's the plan-" I started.
"TO HELL WITH PLANS!" She said and I heard the glass shatter. I looked over the edge of the roof as Erin's fingers disappeared. She had jumped through the window. I rolled my eyes before I dropped and swung myself in through the window as well.
I heard a few healers shouting and I sprinted after Erin who was already halfway down the hall.
"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" I shouted as we ran down the halls, shoving aside patients and employees.
"I THOUGHT YOU KNEW THIS ALREADY!" She shouted back.
We got down to the second floor, Erin's room was on the third, when we saw Katherine.
"GUYS WAIT!" She called. I shoved one of my hands backwards and a huge pillar of ice shot from the ground, blocking the hallway. "Go around! The back staircase!" I heard Katherine order to the people on the other side.
"Erin." I said. "What do we do!?"
"Run faster!" She said, and when I thought her small, injured body couldn't move any faster, she doubled her speed. She practically jumped the entire staircase going down to the first floor and we made a break for the doors.
"STOP!" Katherine shouted and stepped in front of us.
Erin waved her hand in front of her, and she was blasted to the side by red magic. The glass doors exploded into millions of pieces as we ran through them. I saw Fwhip's plane getting ready to land.
"SCOTT?" Erin shouted with panic. I pointed two fingers at the plane and a shard of ice shot from my fingertips, lodging in the plane's propellers. I didn't watch long enough to see it spin out of control.
"THAT SHOULD BUY US TIME. HIT THE GROUND." We did. We slid into the woods and down a steep hill, shooting us faster than we could run away from the hospital. I heard people shouting behind us, but I decided to ignore it.
The ground leveled out and we broke into another run. "GO, GO, GO!"
I don't know how long we ran but we were well away from the hospital when both of us collapsed underneath a tree. Erin clutched at her side. The bandage around her waist was red, it had started bleeding again from our sprint.
We were both gasping for air, but Erin's breaths were hoarse and shallow. I moved closer to her. "Are you ok? What is it?" I asked and moved her hand away from the bandages.
"N-Nothing. It just stings." She winced. "Where are we?"
I looked around. We were still in the oak forests of the Overgrown. But I could tell from the undergrowth we weren't near any towns. "I say we're near the border. Must've ran at least 15 miles..."
"Jeez. Who knew I could run so fast when I'm desperate?" She panted with a smirk.
"It feels like you're getting hurt every other week." I grunted, tightening the bandages. "We need to get to Rivendale. To get you fresh ones."
"Alright." She agreed and staggered up. She rolled her shoulder blades a few times. "It'll take a few days for these tears to heal up again..." she said.
"No worries. I can carry you. It's not far from here." I reassured.
"I hate it when you have to carry me." She mumbled. "Can't we just walk?"
"If you want to walk over freezing cold mountain ranges for a few dozen miles." I shrugged.
"Never mind. Carry me."
Just like when I saved her from the ledge after Fwhip had shot her down, she wrapped her arms around my neck, and I supported her back and waist as we flew. I felt her blood start to seep onto my clothes from pressing against me.
I decided to get her back for all the times she'd punched me halfway there. So, I pretended to drop her. She shrieked and dug her fingernails into my neck. When she saw me laughing, she glared at me. You don't know how scary she looks when she tries to. I was convinced that she would murder me as soon as we landed.
When we did land, she punched me in the nose. "Ow, I could have actually dropped you." I said, clutching my now, probably bruised nose.
"I swear..." Erin mumbled murderously.
I looked down at my shirt. Just as I had thought, right over my stomach was stained red with blood.
"Oops." Erin said when she saw it. With absolutely no remorse of course.
"It's fine. I can change once we get you new bandages." I said and led her inside. I hadn't actually been in my room since we left. Someone had gone through all my stuff. That was expected. What wasn't expected, was that someone had actually made my bed and put some of the stuff away. Gem was totally here.
I led Erin to the bathroom. There I kept most of the minor medical supplies. Like the long wrap bandages for instance.
I took hers off for her. The wound wasn't deep, it had just burned most of the first few layers of skin off. Erin winced as I applied a bacterial spray to it to stop infection before I rewrapped it.
"Now," Erin said and took her knife out of her boot again. She stood in front of the mirror and cut off the singed tips of her hair so that it hit midway down her shoulder blades. "I don't look stupid."
"Eh, you do that without your looks." I smirked. She gave me the death glare again before she put her hair up in a knot on the top of her head.
"Now let's plan our revenge on Fwhip and Sausage." She smirked. "I'm thinking we cut off their power supply." She strutted out of the bathroom and sat down on my bed.
"What are you talking about?" I asked and sat down next to her.
"The Grimlands burns coal for all its energy." She explained. "And all that coal comes from a mine in the mountains around 2 miles from Eastvale. It travels on a train which delivers it to a building near Fwhip's mansion to be turned into energy. If we can cut off the train track..."
"We can cut off his power supply." I finished. "Erin you're a genius!"
"I know." She said and flipped her hair. "I'm just stuck on how to hit Sausage where it hurts...I only lived in Mythland for a few months..."
"Well, the capital, Black Dawn City, is a port..." I said and started to pace. "If I can freeze the docks no water shipments can get in. The economy will suffer."
"I guess we're both geniuses." Erin smirked.
"We'll need to do a little planning before-" I started.
"Ugh, planning." Erin groaned and flopped backwards on my bed.
"Yes, planning. I know how much you love it." She stuck her tongue out at me. "But we do need to make sure Fwhip, and Sausage aren't around to stop us."
"Alright, fine. We can plan it." She said and rolled her eyes. "By we, I mean you."
"I know. That's how it always is." I smirked.
"Always." She agreed and gave me a fist bump.