Shai Soi

Chapter 45

It was probably the stupidest decision I could've made, but it worked. Sadie just had enough time to brace before I rammed into her with the force of a pissed off mountain goat. My shoulder screamed when rock bit into it. My ribs liquified. Sadie snapped and growled. We rapidly changed. Into big cats and birds and at one point hippos, (trust me, they can fight.) But I knew with all my abilities I couldn't beat her. Not with my injuries.

Sadie pinned me underneath her putting her weight on my ankles and wrists. Every breath I took was like breathing water. My lungs rattled. Sadie's blotchy face blurred and refocused. She smiled. But it was less of a smile and more of a grimance. "What are you doing Rebecca? You could've had everything. I could've taught you. Yet you sided with them." She jerked her one side of hair to the shai  battling all around us. Everyone pulses with their own energy- their own heartbeat. Sadie's, Nathaniel's, and mine radiated the most. "I guess we all have to go with our instincts."

She disappeared. Something sharp pierced my ribcage. Agony writhed around my torso.I screamed. Something had just entered my blood stream. I didn't know what it was, but I knew I didn't like it. Sadie reappeared crouching over me. I tried changing. I tried moving- but I couldn't. Sadie leered. "You enjoying yourself? All numb and cozy?" She took a broken fingernail and traced the cut in my eyebrow. She let the dirty nail twist in the wound. I bellowed at the torment. I felt nothing else. Pins and needles worked their way up my neck. The left side of my face sagged. I felt like I was choking on my own skin.

"In case you were wondering, I've just given you a taste of pufferfish venom. Nathaniel and I discovered it while we were... having fun. I've never felt its effects but when a small amount is used it can slow your heartbeat to one beat per minute. Your whole body goes still. It gives you the outer appearance of death while leaving your mind at liberty to observe and take in whatever happens around you. I heard that a man was even buried alive after consuming some in a voodoo potion." Sadie pressed her forearm against my throat. I couldn't even gag.

"You'll know exactly what'll happen to you, and you'll be powerless to stop it. I wonder what to do to you first. I remember seeing a picture of a brown recluse bite. Maybe that for starters? Oh, did you know a platypus stores its highly toxic venom in the spurs of its feet? Let's have some fun shall we?" I saw her fingers tremble as she raked them down my arm, ripping straight through the fabric of my hoodie. She gritted her teeth. Her breath was heavy and warm against my cheek.

Help me...

I startled- if I could move. The voice was hers. It was coated in pain. I wondered if the venom was making me delusional. W-what?

HELP ME!  I saw it then her her dark eyes. They weren't angry or blazing. They were broken. I felt all the thoughts and feelings running through her veins. Sadie felt caged in her own body. By her own animal instincts to defend herself. The instinct to destroy threats to her top predator status strained to be heard louder than the rest. Her impulses coinicided perfectly with her human flaws. I could feel the darkness eating away at her. The line between human and animal blurred and broke. Sadie could no longer tell which one was which, and which one to rein in. Nathaniel was right, none of the good was left. Only the fact that she didn't want to live like this- like a caged animal in every skin she took on- was the reason behind her pleading.

Help me.

I felt everything she did. I could feel her darkness creeping through the shaok  bond trying to manifest into me. The venom snaked its way into my bloodstream. My heart got slower. My breathing shallowed. What could I do to help her? What could I possibly do but lay here without a sound?

No. I said I'd help Sadie. I'm going to help her.

Are you sure?

Please.

I took one last look in her eyes. They cleared for just a millisecond. She didn't want to hurt anybody else. She wanted to be free of the animal and the human. And she wanted me to help her with it. I may have been the only one that could.

I forced the venom back towards the flesh wounds. The numbing went away. My breath picked up. My heart started beating faster. Good luck, Sadie. I'm sorry.

She closed her eyes letting her sharp features relax. She looked like the popular track star from school again. Despite the earrings and the tattoos, she was beautiful. And as I painfully gripped her biceps, she looked at peace. I forced my shara  into her. I thought of nothing but everything, and filled her mind with this nothing everything squeezing her arms until they almost broke. I could feel her mind filling up to its breaking point. I could feel my shara  break against hers. Our combined energy burned the ground around us and I only let go when Sadie stumbled off of me.

She fell against a tree with tears in her eyes. Sadie smiled. A real grateful smile. "Thank you."

I didn't answer. My shara  doubled then tripled, forcing itself out of me faster than what I could pull in. The venom crashed through my veins. My hands dropped cold and numb at my sides. The pins and needles faded into nothing. I stared at the black sky. Right above me I could see a group of stars. Seven of them. They formed the shape of a simple house. The muscles in my cheeks twitched. It was the closest thing to a smile I could get.

Something is holding me, supporting my shoulders. A warm hand brushing the strands of hair I so despised behind my ears. I heard my name over and over again. It sounded like I was being begged. All I could focus on were the stars in the house constellation overhead, and how those green eyes sparkled just as bright.

"Gonna make this place your home..."