I awoke up in a daze in the hospital ward. The nurse was running around from one storage cabinet to another, yelling to herself. “I know it’s here somewhere!” she said in a panic. “I know we have some left!”
My eyelids parted just enough for me to see what was going on around my bed. Holly stood in the corner by the chair, tears streaming down her red face. Achilles and Atticus were huddled together by her, their expressions dark and full of dread. Even Gordon Scott had tears in his eyes as he looked on at the chaos that consumed the ward. Lance stood next to him, his thick lips pulled down into a painful frown, sweat gathered on his forehead. David was helping the nurse to search for whatever it was she was looking for.
I moved my head enough to glance at the spot on the pillow where Dahlia usually lay, but she wasn’t there. Instead, the petite white bird was sitting at the foot of the bed. She craned her neck to stare as far away from me as possible. Panic rose through my chest, making it impossible to breathe.
“Why won’t she look at me?” I cried out.
David and the nurse stopped for a moment and stared. Holly turned and buried her face into Lance’s shoulder as she cried harder. Achilles rubbed at the back of his neck as his eyes glossed over.
“Why won’t she look at me!?” I cried out again.
David walked over as the nurse continued to search, knocking glass bottles and vials down with her shaky hands. He lay a hand on my shoulder. The weight of it was almost unbearable. My face scrunched together as I winced.
“We’re doing all we can, Paige,” he said softly. “But a Shtriga bite can only be cured by the saliva of a Shtriga.”
My eyes welled up as I stared at his grave face. “What does that me?”
“It means Dahlia can’t help you…and if we don’t find the vial containing the saliva…you’ll eventually die from the bite.”
My eyes widened and my jaw clenched. It wasn’t so much the fear of death that sent my nerves firing. As long as I could be reunited with my son again, I didn’t care if I was alive or dead or stuck in between. It was everyone standing over me, crying, not ready to say their goodbyes as I withered away that choked me up. I never got to say goodbye to my son. One minute he was there and the next he was gone. And what about his killer? I still had to stop it from hurting others!
“We’ll find that vial, Paige, and you’ll be fine,” David said with mustered confidence followed by a sniff. “Don’t worry.”
He left my side to search another cabinet on the other end of the room. I craned my neck to look at Dahlia again. The little bird, whom I thought had grown especially close to me in all my visits to the ward, wouldn’t turn her head to look at me for one second. I called out her name and tried to make a kissing sound to grab her attention. Nothing worked. She kept her head awkwardly turned away to glare at the hospital ward’s entrance.
As I lay quietly in the bed staring up at the bright white ceiling, I couldn’t help wondering what dying felt like. Will it hurt or will I slip away without feeling a thing? Had it hurt Danny or was he dead before he knew what happened? Would someone eventually destroy the thing that killed my son or would it live on forever without me to take my revenge?
I tried to sit up, but my head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. It wouldn’t budge an inch. Instead, I looked at Holly and called out to her to come to my side. She wiped the tears from her face and rushed over. Once she was beside my bed, she took my hand in hers and squeezed it tight.
“I need you to do something for me.” My voice was strained and weak. “If I don’t make it, I need you to find Danny’s killer and stop it.”
Holly shook her head as the floodgates opened. “No, you’re not going to die,” she sobbed.
“If I do,” I pressed. “Please.”
She closed her eyes and finally nodded her head. “Okay, I will.”
In all the craziness I hadn’t noticed, but someone who should have been there was not..
“Where’s Ryker?”
Holly let out a satisfied snort. “He’s meeting with Vice-Head Rutherford now. Hopefully the little prick gets what he deserves and is out of here by morning.”
The feelings that bubbled up inside me weren’t ones of happiness nor excitement as I thought I would have felt at hearing the news of no longer having to deal with Ryker Alexander. There was only guilt. Because of both our actions that night, a young man might lose his dream of being a Huntsman—the one thing in the world he wanted more than anything.
I thought about being denied the chance to take my revenge, which was the one thing I wanted. It tore me up inside to think someone I knew might go through that agony of unaccomplished desires. One more Huntsman in the world meant so many more lives saved. They couldn’t kick him out.
“I found it!” David’s voice cried out.
It was the first time I could remember hearing any emotion behind his tone. He ran over and popped the cork off the top of a tiny glass vial. Inside was a thick, clear liquid.
“You need to drink this,” he said, shoving it toward my lips. “Don’t think about it, just do it.”
I wrinkled my nose and took the vial containing the Shtriga’s saliva in my hand. It smelled like wet, rancid meat. I held my breath and tossed the vial back, letting the thick liquid slide down my throat until it was empty. Instantly, I wanted to gag. The taste was worse than the smell. But I clamped my mouth shut and forced it to stay down.
My eyes fell on Dahlia, still sitting by my feet. Her tiny feathered head cocked to the side. She stood up on her golden leathered talons as she moved in a circle. When her black eyes landed on mine, I felt a warmth spread through my heart. She hopped up the bed and settled herself in by my shoulder. I let my head rest against her back. Her soft white feathers brushed against my warmed cheek.
The Vice-Head