Love, It's An Interesting Thing

Chapter 13

After a few minutes of waiting, I hear people shouting my name.

"I'm over here!" I shout. I see Lucy, Ed, and Cas all run over the hill. Their swords are drawn and they are running towards Eustace. I quickly run in front of him and hold my right hand up to stop them.

"Wait! Don't hurt him!" I plead.

"What are you going on about Jess?! Are you crazy?! Get away from that thing!!" Ed shouts.

"Hey! That 'thing' is my brother!" I justify with them.

They all drop their swords. "Wait...what?" Cas asks.

"This dragon is Eustace. I don't know what happened but when he took me, he flew us over the mountains where he spelled "I am Eustace" in fire." I explain.

"He must've been tempted by the treasure." Ed says.

"Anyone knows a dragon's treasure is enchanted." Cas says. Everyone turns to him and gives him a look. "Well, anyone from here." Cas defends himself. I chuckle and this and he comes up and grabs my arms, pulling me close to him. He holds me tight.

"His Majesty went crazy without you, Milady. He was hysterical." Drinian tells me. I look to Cas.

"Oh, really now?" I chuckle at him. "I was not hysterical!" He responds. But everyone, even the crew, disagrees with him and I laugh at him.

"It's good to know you care about me." I tell him. We look at each other. I want to kiss him but that's not smart since we're in front of everyone.

"Oh, we all know you two love each other! Just kiss her!" Rhince calls over and everyone bursts out in laughter.

Cas turns to me and without a second thought, pulls me into a kiss. It wasn't long but it was enough for him to tell me that he was glad I was safe. The crew and everyone cheered, happy that everyone was alive and safe.

After we separated I caught sight of a crew member that had a pair of gloves attached to his waist. I walk over to him after Cas went over to Ed. "Excuse me?" I tap him on the shoulder. He turns and smiles at me. "Do you ever use those gloves?" I ask him. "Umm, not really, I only use them if... well actually I don't think I've ever used them. Why?" He questions. I tell him about my "hand wound" and how I need to "keep pressure on it." He gives me the gloves with a smile and wishes me good luck with my hand.

I thank him and I quickly hide from sight, unwrapping my hand and putting on the gloves. The gold has made its way to the middle of my hand. The gloves fit rather nicely for being made for a man. They won't fall off and that's all that matters to me.

I rejoin the group and Drinian calls for the crew to get back onto the boats while we all discuss things.

Lucy went over to Eustace who was struggling with a golden bracelet on his arm. She pulled it off of him and he groaned in pain. It reminded me of my back wound. I see Lucy pull out her cordial and pour some of it into Eustace's mouth. She pointed out the wounds that he had from his "first attempts at flying."

An idea pops into my head.

I start to groan and hold my back where the dried blood and wound was. I pretended that it hurt a lot more than it did. Cas hears me groaning and he comes over to me, asking me questions with a concerned voice. I simply say, "My back." and he sits me on the ground. He lifts my shirt up and notices the large gash from Eustace's claw between my shoulder blades. I see Eustace turn away in guilt and I feel bad for exaggerating. But then I remind myself that I need the cordial to see if it will stop the gold from spreading.

Cas touches it and I groan in pain. I wasn't faking that though, it did hurt a lot when it had something touching it.

Lucy came over and offered me her cordial. I thanked her and she dropped some in my mouth. I felt all pain disappear and I reached for the cut on my back only to find it not there anymore. I got up and hugged her. But when I tried to wrap my left hand around her shoulder... I couldn't... I could feel that my wrist had been overtaken by gold...