Crystal clear

Chapter 13

"Morning princess. How are we today?" Alexander asks as he pulls open the blinds. He walks over to me with a tray of some sort in his hands.

"Close the freaking blinds." I grumble pulling a pillow over my head. I had a pounding headache, but thankfully no more stiffness. I pull my legs up to my chest as I reach for something to throw at him.

"Come on, how often do you get to have someone come into your room and bug you that you have a meeting with the King and Queen?" He jokes. I groan as he sets the tray next to me. I reach over towards my right and grab a pillow. I lift the one on top of my head as well and throw them at Alexander.

"Shut the drapes." I murmur. I suddenly tense as the door creaks open. A small voice calls in telling Alexander that I have to meet with the King and Queen in half an hour.

"Let's go Kimberly! We don't have time for this!" He snaps.

I sit up, and pain shoots through my chest. My hand jumps to it immediately to apply pressure to it. The pain I guess is just coming out of a numb state, which must be applied by a nurse or someone of the sort, because I hadn't felt it yesterday when I was speaking with Bart. I gasp as it shoots up my spine, like someone was running a knife over it. It spread through my body like a poison, the vile green fingers of it curling around my midsection and up my neck. My hands went limp so I could no longer grasp my side. I look helplessly at Alexander who is shouting for help. I cast a look down at my hands to find they look a sickly white, as though the very life was being sucked out of me.

"Venom," Alexander says outside the door. When did he leave?

"Well, is there a snake in there or something? Because until you came in no one was in there." A quiet voice whispers.

"Prehaps some sort of poison then, IM NOT THE DOCTOR YOU ARE! Maybe it was put in some of her food last night or something, I don't know. But there was no way she just woke up with a cold or something like that." Alexander hisses. He closes the door slightly as though that would make it so I can't hear him. "But I can promise you, if the eldest heir to the throne of Calbaché is to die because of a negligent nurse, I promise I will not hesitate to put your name out there!" He drops his voice even lower, "now take a look at her, and tell me she looks fine. Or you can go fetch the Queen to heal her."

I look back down at my hands to find a sickly shade of toxic green. It looked roughly the same shade as toxic waste. The green slowly started to move in branches up my arm, tugging at the skin it infects, and making the lines rise away from most of my arm, tarring at the soft tissue of my flesh. I cry out in pain as it slinks up to my elbow. I fall back against the remaining pillows that rest against the headboard. The green looks like vines as it crawls up my right arm. Luckily it stays stationary on my left. Tears drip down my cheeks. Now, I scream. The vines start to grab my neck as the door is flung open. They seem to snap around my trachea, suffocating me.

A woman, not the same woman as before, rushes to my side, her long soft curls wave as she sits down on the bed. "My dear girl what's happening to you." She whispers, but I can't respond. I can't breath. She places her hand gently on my neck and the tangled mess of a puzzle starts to release my neck. The pain suddenly becomes insufferable as she moves her hand slowly, edging the vines away from my face. I cry out as she touches the tip of the green netting. "Be still. Relax your arm," she scolds softly.

"Easy for you to say." I mumble through my teeth. I gasp again when she jerks her hands away, pain like no other surges through my body, like someone is stabbing me repeatedly with a needle. She places her hand back and continues to move slowly down to my fingertips, till the maze of crisscross is gone on my right arm.

"Almost done." She says. Her voice sounds as though it would put you to sleep if you wanted it to. She takes my other hand and simply places it between her own. After a few seconds she drops her hands from mine and pulls the covers up over me. A sudden warmth washes over my already fatigued body. My eyelids start to shut as I lull off, but not before I hear her say, "rest, Princess. Your father will not be as kind." And then, I'm out.

-

I feel vaguely aware of the fact I'm sleeping, but I can still see everything that is going on around me. A man dressed in a smart black and grey suit paces at the foot of my bed, and the woman sits on a small couch in front of him. "Truly Eric, your going to wear the floorboards through." She snaps, the corner of her mouth twitches as though she were to smile. His pale lips seal themselves in a line. His pink skin, and I mean deep pink. It wasn't light. He looked almost the shade of a rose, but darker. His eyes find the woman. Those black ringed eyes weren't natural. The outside of his iris was rimmed with a deep black, while the rest of his iris slowly faded to white.

Eric, the man, stops pacing and turns to the woman, "My love if I don't wear them through I'll take an axe to them. I can't stand this room." He scowls at the thought that comes to his mind next, "my mother loved it." He takes back to pacing the length of the room. He comes to a stop at the foot of the bed that I lay in and cocks his head to the side. "Confusing child isn't she. She screams when you try to help her." I bristle at his words, and know to be cautious of him. I don't care if he's the king or the queens brother or my second cousin twice removed! He just came off the wrong way, yet there was something very interesting about him. I felt he would stand by and die fighting for you even if you were wrong.

"Dear, she was in agony. Should you expect any less of her? She is much more resilient to pain then even you, however she has been taught to find a way to release pain. If this is her way, so be it." The woman looks suddenly solemn, "and if you cannot accept this of your own daughter, then of whom?" My jaw drops. Or at least, it would have if I was a physical being, and I don't even know what I am at this point in time.

"Your right Avril. But I don't think I can stand to hear another scream. I could hear her down in the east wing." He says rubbing the back of his neck.

The woman who had helped me, Avril, nods before her face becomes miserable, "she had part of the curse. Her skin looked like a jungle, at least on her arm." She raises her head to look at Erik, "she has part of the curse! I..." She trails off as Erik sits down beside her, "what have I done." I hear her mumble  as she stares blankly at the carpet. Erik pulls her into a hug as a single tear dips down her perfectly flawless complexion.

"It's not your fault. You took all the precautions you could. And at least it's only titanium. Right?" He asks hopefully.

Avril shakes her head which rests on his shoulder, "she's also allergic to iron." I become pale, or at least I would but...we've been over this.

So, iron and titanium. Interesting.

-

The second I regain consciousness, pain floods my head. "Damn is this what a hangover feels like?" I mutter as I place my right hand on the side of my head. It must have been from that strange vision. And I knew it was real, because I could see Erik sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Glad to see your alive." Erik nods.

I let the corner of my mouth twitch, "don't remind me." I scan his deep pink features for anything. But I can't tell what he's feeling.

"Hope you're prepared for a long, long talk. Because I believe Avril and I have some explaining todo." The corner of his mouth turns up, "let's talk about that wonderful little trip you took first."