Neverseen's Puppet

Chapter 11: Burns

Hey! Sorry it took me so long to update (again). What can I say? Writing is hard. Anyways, thank you to everyone who's commented/starred on this story. It really encourages my to keep writing. Also: this chapter includes descriptions of burns that may be disturbing to some people. Don't read if your easily triggered by stuff like that.

Biana's POV

"I'm ordering you, Miss Vacker, stay right there until I tell you it's safe to go out," Woltzer warned. When Grizel came and told them that Camilla was outside, pure chaos had broken out. Woltzer wasn't letting her get anywhere close to the action, and she just needed him to look away for a second so she could vanish. Sometimes she felt bad for making his job so incredibly difficult... but only sometimes.

"Why can't I go out?" she whined. He had already given her an answer, multiple times, in fact, but it was fun to see him get so annoyed.

"We're dealing with a confirmed member of the Neverseen, Miss Vacker," he growled at her. She groaned. Biana had a hard time believing that Camilla was any real danger; she hadn't seemed threatening at all when she first came there.

"Why does Fitz get to go out there then? Is it because he's older?" she put her hands on her hips, "In a real fight, I'd be way more useful, you know."

"Whether or not Mr. Vacker goes outside is up to Grizel; he's her charge." Woltzer's eyes scanned the room around them, looking for nonexistent threats. Biana rolled her eyes. Seeing her chance now that he was distracted, she vanished and hurried out the door. By now she knew not to beeline right towards the action because that was a good way to get caught. Instead, she took a longer, more subtle path around the trees and a small fountain. She laughed to herself. It was just too easy.

She could hear the voices now, low murmurs and whispers. She peeked around a tree to see her dad Alden talking urgently into an imparter. Camilla was being picked up gingerly by Grizel. Her eyes widened at the burns that covered her skin. Grizel carried her into the house. She waited for a second and then heard Grizel's voice echo back to her.

"You couldn't keep track of her for five minutes Woltzer?" Grizel exclaimed. Biana stifled a giggle. Her amusement was short-lived, however.

"Biana?" Fitz's face peered around the tree she was hiding behind. She tried to back away but he grabbed her wrist. Crap. "Why aren't you with Woltzer?"

Biana reappeared. "Why do you get to come out here and I don't?" she countered.

Fitz rolled his eyes, "Because I'm older, duh."

"Not that much older." Fitz opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off. "Besides, she's my friend!" She tried to free her wrist without success. Fitz scoffed.

"Don't you get it? She's not your friend! She's with the Neverseen!" his voice rose to a shout. "Just like Alvar, and Lady Gisela, and Fintan!" His eyes blazed. "You can't trust her."

Biana flinched. Ripping her arm out of his grasp, she stormed off back into the house. How dare he tell her what she was allowed to do? He wasn't the boss of her. He didn't know everything. She seethed, running over their conversation in her head, getting angrier and angrier.

Woltzer saw her walking back and he gave a look that let her know exactly how much trouble she was in. She ignored him, heading straight for Camilla. The burns were even worse up close. Red blisters ran up and down her arms, and in some places her skin was completely black. Biana gagged at the sight.

"Elwin and Mr. Forkle are going to be here soon," her dad told her.

"So is Sophie; I just transmitted to her." Fitz ran up from behind her. They glared at each other. No one seemed the slightest bit surprised that Sophie was awake at two in the morning.

The gnomes carried a long white cot over to them, and Grizel gently set Camilla down on top of it. Her skin was bright red

"Have you tried reading her mind yet?" she asked.

"I haven't had the chance to yet," Alden studied Camilla's injuries. He closed his eyes and quickly opened them again.

"Her mind is too empty to search right now, I could too easily get sucked in," he breathed.

She wasn't sure what that meant. "...Do you think she's going to be okay?" Biana tried to keep the tremor out of her voice but failed epically. Fitz was right, she shouldn't care so much about a traitor.

But she did.

"I'm sure there's no reason to worry." She couldn't even muster the amount of sass to roll her eyes at Alden's trademark phrase. What was happening to her? This was definitely out of her character.

"Yeah, I guess," she muttered halfheartedly. She wasn't sure it was possible to recover from something like that. Although she supposed that she shouldn't doubt Elwin's abilities. He'd brought Sophie back from the dead more times than she could count.

A very concerned gnome named Ione brought them some burn ointment. She wasn't sure how affective it would be on burns as severe as Camilla's, but it was worth a shot. Biana gingerly put some of it on the parts of Camilla's skin that weren't quite as bad. Elwin could take care of the rest. She didn't trust herself not to make anything worse.

Five minutes later, Sophie, Sandor, Elwin, and Mr. Forkle arrived.

"Finally!" she exclaimed, "I don't know how to help her." She noticed that Elwin was holding a full to the brim satchel stuffed with elixirs and other remedies. His eyes widened when he saw Camilla's state of being. Biana stepped back so he could start to work on her. She stood next to Sophie and squeezed her hand, hoping she wasn't getting any flashbacks from this.

Everyone hovered around Camilla's cot, waiting for Elwin to say something. He stood over her, flashing orbs of colorful light occasionally. The silence grated in her brain, and she fidgeted with the sash of her dress as she awaited his verdict.

"She's going to be okay." Elwin snapped to make the lights disappear. He turned to them, not looking as un-worried as Biana would've hoped. "Most of the burns are second-degree, thankfully. A few spots are creeping into the third-degree zone, but not on any critical areas. She probably just going to need some cell regeneration fluids." Biana breathed a sigh of relief. Elwin could handle this. She squeezed Sophie's hand tighter.

Elwin pulled two bottles of youth from his satchel. He uncorked one of them and tilted it over Camilla's lips. A few drops dribbled into her open mouth.

"Keep giving her water every fifteen minutes or so," he told Alden, who nodded solemnly.

Realizing they weren't helping at all, only crowding up the area, Biana dragged Sophie and Fitz to the living room. Biana had to almost force Sophie to sit in a chair. She numbly stared into space, not answering any of their questions.

Turning her attention away from Sophie for a second, she asked Fitz, "What are we going to do?"

"I... don't know," he admitted. "Hold on tight and try not to completely fail at everything, I guess." Biana nodded thoughtfully. The three of them sat in silence, hoping what came next would be better than what they had now.

Thank you for reading! Here's an icebreaker question for you: would you rather be able to control the weather or talk to animals? Comment below what you would choose.