"Ariel, wake up." Emily shook her gently, fear lacing her voice.
"What?" Ariel asked groggily. "The condensation won't fly off the window and attack you, Em."
Glancing at her phone, she groaned. It was only eight in the morning. She'd been up until two helping Amelia with Zeke. It was her third late night in a row. After being distracted by everyone on the first day, Amelia decided it was best to do it when everyone was asleep and Ariel had to agree. After being cooped up with Amelia that first day, the others had thought she'd had some sort of relapse and freaked out. It had taken her hours to reassure them she was fine, and stop them from bringing it up.
She felt a bit weird keeping secrets from them, but she wasn't going to betray Amelia's trust in her. In the last two days she'd learned more about witchcraft than she knew what to do with. Amelia seemed to be charging head on with this apprentice idea – even though she hadn't agreed to it yet – and she took every chance to teach Ariel about different types of magic, herbs and their magical properties, and how to expand her magical radar. The last one involved her using Zeke's body, and finding the areas that were more heavily enchanted than others, which had not been fun. Fortunately Amelia had decided that working after three am was not appropriate and would kick her out before she had to try and practice on Zeke too much.
"Ariel!"
"What?" She cried, rolling over and burrowing into her blankets. "Put a blanket over the window if it's freaking you out and let me sleep!"
"It's not the window," she urged, "it's Autumn."
Ariel sat up, fighting against the blankets still wrapped around her. "What's wrong with her?"
Since the drive in fiasco, Autumn had remained in her room. She had tried to approach Ariel the next day, but Ariel had been so wrapped up in the Zeke business, she'd completely ignored her. Since then she'd been busy helping Amelia and sleeping most of the day away to notice anything happening around her.
"Her legs... they're gone."
"What?" Finally breaking free, she blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "What do you mean, they're gone?"
"They're gone!" Emily dragged her out of bed. "Hurry!"
They ran across the hall and entered Autumn's room. Kestral was sitting up on her own bed, watching Autumn blankly.
Autumn lay on her bed, perfectly still. Her eyes were open, looking out the window at the pale morning sky. The leaves on her face were wilted, all of them curling in on each other, crackling with every labored breath she took. Ariel's gaze moved down her bed, a ball of fear forming in her stomach as she failed to see the outline of legs beneath the blankets.
Hesitantly, she reached over, gently touching the area where her legs should have been.
Crunch.
Her hand shot back to her chest.
"Autumn?" Ariel whispered. Her eyes flickered to Ariel, a mask of calm. It was a front. Ariel knew she had to be scared.
"I-I didn't think it would happen so fast," she said slowly.
"What would happen?" Emily glanced between them. "What's happening?"
"She's dying." Kestral said, as if it was nothing important.
Emily started crying.
"Thanks Kestral," Ariel snapped, and turned back to Autumn. "Your parents?"
Her eyes closed, laced with fear. Not wasting any time, Ariel bolted from the room. Flying down the stairs, she crashed into Samson, knocking his tea onto the floor.
"What on earth is the hurry?" He cried.
Not stopping to apologise, she charged into the Doc's office. Zeke lay in the center of the room, a thin trail of putrid magic snaking out of his chest into a ball floating above him. Amelia was asleep on the floor beside him.
"Wake up!" Ariel slapped Amelia's arm and the witch's eyes flew open.
"Bleeding hell, girlie! I just got to sleep!"
"You need to get Autumn's parents," she kept hitting her arm. "I think she's – I mean..."
The word refused to form on her tongue and she hit the witch harder. "Just get them!"
Awake in a flash, Amelia charged out of the office and headed for the stairs, Ariel hot on her tail. No one had moved since she left, and she stood next to Emily as Amelia bent over Autumn. Her gaze hardened as she noticed her missing legs, and she moved her hand over the rest of Autumn's body before she closed her eyes. A small white light formed in her hand and she pressed it gently into Autumn's chest. At once, her breathing eased.
"It ain't much," Amelia said soflty, "but it will ease the pain a bit. We weren't expecting it to happen this fast."
"Thank you," Autumn, whispered.
When Amelia turned around, Ariel nearly lost control of her emotions as the witch wiped tears from her eyes. "Right. I'm going to get the Doc first. Then I'll go and get ya folks. Sammy, hold down the fort for me until I get the Doc back."
Ariel hadn't realized Samson was standing by the door. "Of course, Amelia."
With a crack, Amelia vanished. A heavy silence fell over the room and the ball of fear within Ariel started to turn into panic.
She didn't know what to do. Her only help had been to get an adult, but they hadn't said what else she should do to help Autumn. Feeling like a child, she turned to Samson for help, but even he appeared at a loss for words.
"Why didn't you tell us, you were...?" Emily finally asked.
"I didn't want to upset everyone," Autumn said softly. "The Doc and I guessed I wouldn't survive this winter, but we thought I had a little more time. Amelia has been trying to reverse the negative effects of the curse since she returned."
Amelia's demands that their sessions with Zeke be finished by three in the morning suddenly made sense. "She's been treating you in the early hours, hasn't she?"
"Yes. She thought it might help to prolong the inevitable, but deep down we both knew it was pointless." Her eyes closed and Emily sobbed. Ariel grabbed her hand, trying to give her whatever strength she had to offer.
A crack sounded downstairs and then footsteps rushed towards them. Another crack sounded as the Doc entered.
He looked as though Amelia had dragged him out of bed. Running a hand through his ruffled hair, he stepped past everyone to kneel by Autumn's bedside.
"I'm so sorry," Autumn, he said softly. "I should have been here –"
"It's fine," she replied. "We both knew this was coming, and it can't be stopped. You had Ben to worry about. Is he well?"
Doc nodded, gently touching her face. "He's much better. We were going to bring him home soon."
"How nice," she smiled, and two leaves fell from her face.
Emily's grip threatened to snap Ariel's hand in two, but she was sure Emily probably felt the same way about her own. The Doc seemed to realize they were all standing there, and he gave them a broken smile.
"Perhaps it would be best if you head back to your room, girls. Autumn's parents will be here shortly."
"Okay." Ariel wanted to ask if they could stay, to at least say goodbye to Autumn, but then her throat became clogged, and her scar was starting to pull too tight. She'd never got to say goodbye to her Grandpa, and she regretted it, but now when she had the opportunity to say goodbye to Autumn... it was too much. She couldn't do it.
"You can come back in later," he promised, seeing their faces. "I'm sure Autumn will wish to have you here."
A crack sounded downstairs and Autumn's eyes opened, nervous. She looked at Emily and Ariel. "Come back later."
"We'll see you later," Ariel choked. You better be here, she thought furiously.
Emily managed to say a few words of encouragement and with one last look, they headed back to their room.
Amelia met them in the hallway, a pale couple behind her. The woman had the same brown hair as Autumn. Her features were delicate, every emotion clear as day in her blue eyes; fear, pain, panic.
The man looked like he'd once been larger, but had recently lost weight. There was gauntness in his face, his eyes bloodshot and struggling to hide how he was really feeling.
Amelia ushered them inside the room, and Ariel tried to smile with encouragement. She wasn't sure if that was what she should be doing, but nothing felt right in this situation.
Together, they crawled onto Emily's bed and arms linked, they waited. Emily cried quietly, resting her head on Ariel's shoulder. Ariel stared at the opposite wall, her mind at war.
This is happening.
This is not happening.
The words kept repeating over and over in her head, like a cruel merry go around and with her free hand, she reached up and dug her fingernails into her scar, wishing the pain would stop.
Lucas appeared in the doorway, looking unsure. Ariel guessed he'd just heard the news. Motioning for him to come in, he sat on the floor by the bed, his back to them.
Pulling Emily, Ariel sat down on the floor next to him, putting Emily on her other side. There were no words spoken. Everyone knew what the likely outcome was, but no one wanted to talk about it. Slowly, their room filled with the others; Michael came in and sat by the window, Samson stood by the door, his hands clasped, head bowed. Even Kestral made her way in, sitting on the floor by Michael's feet, staring at her hands.
Death had a strange way of drawing people together, but making you feel alone, Ariel thought, and then shook her head in anger. Don't think like that!
Lucas reached down, taking her hand and she let him pry her fingers open, wrapping her hand around his thumb. Silly thoughts of crushes and boys weren't important at that moment. She rested her head against his large frame, listening to his breathing. The faint beat of his heart echoed in her ears and she closed her eyes, listening to it's steady beat. It felt like an anchor, weighing her down to the world and protecting her from the pain she still felt.
Opening her eyes, she looked across the room, and saw her heart's case just visible beneath her pillow. She'd placed it there last night when she went to bed, wanting it close to her. She could see the crack, crystal clear in her mind and her scar went taut as she thought of what would happen to it now.
She knew there was no chance it would come out of this unscathed. The pain she felt at that moment would be nothing when... she didn't want to think about it. It felt selfish to be thinking of what was going to happen her. It shouldn't matter. Autumn was the one she needed to focus on. Even as she tried not to think about it, she built walls in her mind, trying to brace for future.
An hour passed, and the floorboards creaked, drawing them from their thoughts. The Doc stepped into the room and all eyes turned to him. Ariel's freshly built walls shattered as she saw the look on his face.
She didn't hear him tell them of her passing. Emily's crying sounded miles away, and she could feel Lucas' body rumbling as he spoke, but she couldn't register what he was saying.
Fresh pain ripped through her, her vision turning black. Her scar was on fire, the familiar pain she had hoped to never experience again resurfacing. She tightened her grip on Lucas' hand, his pulse resonating through her skin and she tried to focus on that, and not the pain.
It doesn't matter, she thought, keeping quiet. Someone touched her shoulder but the pain was still consuming her. Something pinched her arm and the pain melted away as she slipped away.
"Will she be alright?"
Lucas' voice drifted from somewhere above her as she finally stirred. Her eyes opened slowly, the pain in her chest a dull ache. She saw stars beginning to shine outside her window and she sat up.
"Ariel." Lucas was sitting beside her bed, his hand covering hers. Emily was curled into a ball near the foot of the bed, and she sighed in relief as Ariel met her gaze. They were wearing the same clothes and she guessed she'd been asleep for the whole day.
"Looks like she'll be fine." Amelia sat on the bed, touching her shoulder.
Ariel brushed her hand aside. "I'm okay. What happened?"
"Doc knocked you out." Amelia put her hand back on her shoulder, and Ariel could feel her using magic. "You went into shock, Doc was concerned it might be too much for your heart to handle, and felt a sedative would be for the best."
Her mind felt foggy, and she knew she should be worried about her heart, and upset about Autumn, but there was nothing. She just felt numb.
"Did he give me anything else? I still feel weird."
"Yeah, just some medicinal tea to help numb... well everything."
"Oh." It felt weird, not feeling anything, but she found she preferred it. She knew what the pain and sadness felt like. This was preferable.
Amelia coughed. "Lucas, Emily – would you guys give us a minute?"
They hesitated standing up, and Ariel nodded, letting them know it was okay to go. Truthfully, she didn't want them there. She just wanted to be alone. When the door closed, Amelia pulled out the small case.
"Sorry, girlie. I had to take a look while you were out; just to make sure everything was okay."
"Yeah, sure." Ariel already knew it would be worse. There would be another crack that couldn't be healed. It felt like she was having an out of body experience. The fear was there, she could feel it, but whatever was in that tea was beating it back, putting it behind steel doors and she hoped it locked the door and threw away the key. "How big is the crack this time?"
Amelia frowned at her monotonous tone, and peered into her eyes. "Doc put too much in that tea," she muttered. She sighed, taking the key she'd wrapped around her wrist and unlocked the case. "Maybe it's for the best."
Ariel felt Amelia touch her heart, but it didn't feel right. There was something off, but she couldn't put her finger on it, and the fear started banging at the door, trying to break free.
Carefully, Amelia placed her heart on the bed. Ariel could see the first crack, but nothing seemed any different. She was about to ask what was different when slowly, Amelia turned it around and her throat closed up.
A chunk of glass, the size of her thumb was missing. Reaching into the case, Amelia pulled out the missing piece, placing it next to the heart.
With trembling fingers, she reached out and touched the broken piece. It was as though someone had pierced her lungs. Each breath hurt. The pain radiated through her body, threatening to rip her apart, but she didn't care.
She was tired of caring.
Very faintly, she could feel her heart beat in that tiny piece. It was struggling and fluttering, each beat making her scar throb. It became mesmerizing and she stared at the broken piece, listening to the feeble rhythm of her heart.
"That's enough, Ariel." The Doc's voice appeared beside her and Amelia removed her hands, putting the heart back in its case. "I'm sorry I had to drug you, but –"
"It's fine," she whispered. "I understand. Can I have some more of that tea now?"
I'm trying to post as soon I finish writing. We're getting close to the end guys!