The Majors, Cold Fury (Book 2)

Chapter 58: Scott POV

I don't know when I fell asleep. But apparently, I did.

I woke up, keeping my eyes closed, to my head pounding. It felt later, maybe early evening? I also felt a blanket over my shoulders which I'm pretty sure I didn't pull over myself. I didn't feel like opening my eyes, I just wanted to fall back asleep.

After a few moments though, I felt the blanket get pulled gently off, and someone's hand slip underneath my shirt and the bandages on my arm covered in burns, to check them I presume. But I still pretended I was asleep. I felt the person shiver once they felt my skin.

"Kat?" Came a small, quiet voice from above me, which was most likely the person who was checking on my burns.

"Yeah?" Came Katherine's voice from the other side of the room. I heard someone footsteps coming over. "What is it, Lavender?" She asked, her voice much closer than before.

"The ointments not doing anything. They're the same as this morning." She said with a nervous tone.

I felt Katherine's calloused hands brush right underneath the bandage, and I had to clench my jaw to stop myself from crying out. "It'll be okay. They're first-degree burns. It'll heal on its own, even if the ointment isn't working." She said confidently.

"Alright." Lavender answered, still with a worried tone. She rolled me over onto my back, and I felt my wings crunch underneath me again as she lifted my shirt and checked the stitched up wound on my torso. Then she pulled the blanket back up over me, and I heard her footsteps fade away and I began to drift off again...

I was standing in nowhere. Just void everywhere I turned.

Cold sweat drenched my forehead as I looked around in panic. Directly behind me was a towering figure. Xornoth was being held up with strings attached to his fingers, his head bowed, his body limp, his knees buckled and the toes of his shoes dragging on what would be the floor if there was one.

I stood there, frozen, unable to move, watching him. He didn't seem to be breathing... Gaining control of my limbs, I approached him, slowly...cautiously.

I was right in front of him. The silence was eerie as Xornoth hung from nowhere...the strings just started. I reached out to check if he was alive when he lifted his head. His eyes were solid red and glowing like flashlights. His mouth went slack with a smile, black blood dribbling from the corners, over his chin and dripping onto the ground. "Puppet..." He hissed, his head tilting.

I shrieked tripping over my own ankles and falling backwards, but I still scrambled away from him. His gaze followed me for a moment, until the red faded from his eyes, the whites turning white, his irises turning purple...

The man gasped, coughing the black blood, looking at me in horror. "Help." He rasped, before the strings were seemingly cut and he fell forward, onto his chest with a thud, and didn't get up.

My hands shaking, I pushed myself up slowly, crawling over to his side. The circulation on his fingers were being cut off by the strings still attached. I carefully rolled him over onto his back. His eyes were still purple. They looked familiar... Like dads. But they were glassy, reflecting the darkness around us. No light behind them.

"Xornoth?" I whispered.

I screamed, sitting straight up, and feeling stabbing pains shoot through my body. I was still drenched in the cold sweat, my entire body shaking with fear.