Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(13)

She tried, she really did, but the world was going all swimmy. Whenever she tried to focus her energy, it slid through her fingers like water through a sieve. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Someone shouted. Medic Williams laid her hands on Bryn. Heat surged through her body. A weird vibrating sensation started in her wings. It swept through her core. She felt stretched tight like a rubber band and then snapped back to her human form. Limp, she lay on the ground, unable to blink or speak, or move in any manner. The only thing she felt was the rising tide of panic clawing at her chest.

The medic lifted Bryn’s leg, which was puffed up like a tick full of blood. That wasn’t right.

“You’ve been poisoned. I’m going to burn it out.” Quintessence shot through her veins, and her body convulsed. It felt like she was watching someone else. The heat from the procedure…she should be able to feel it, but she couldn’t, and that was wrong. She willed the sensation of heat or burning or even pain, but there was nothing. Closing her eyes, she reached inside, trying to focus on the rancid smell, but her own Quintessence now felt like tar, unable to flow or move.

There were more voices, and then she felt another pair of hands on her legs and another on her shoulders. A faint warmth, like sunshine through a window, enveloped her body. That was nice. The sensation grew warmer, and warmer.

“This is going to hurt,” someone said next to her ear.

Of course it is.

Warmth flowed and turned into heat, the heat turned into a low burn, the low burn turned into a blowtorch searing her from the inside out, and she couldn’t even scream.

…

Why couldn’t she open her eyes? Bryn inhaled and smelled disinfectant. They must have moved her to the medical clinic. Come on eyelids. Move.

A slit of light came into view. Maybe talking would be easier. She forced her lips apart, and a groaning sound came out.

“Bryn?” She knew that voice.

“Grandmother?” At least that’s what she tried to say. It came out as a muffled mess.

Fingers pried her eyelids open. A beam of light aimed at her pupil sliced through her head. She tried to turn away, managing to move a little.

“She’s coming around. It will take a while.”

Back at school less than a week, and someone had tried to kill her—again. Damn it. So much for a safer school. Then again, if all those guards hadn’t been there, the driver, whoever he was, could have driven off into the woods, killed her, and dumped her body.

That was a freaking cheery thought.

She wanted to blast someone to cinders. At the very least, she wanted answers. Just lying here and not being able to move or talk pissed her off. So, time to concentrate.

She’d start with her eyelids. They’d moved a little before. Lifting them was like trying to lift a boulder. Focus. The slit was bigger this time. Now she could see light again.

“Bryn.” Her grandmother stood over her, studying her. “You can hear me, can’t you?”

“Yes.” It came out like “essss” but at least she was talking.

“Thank God.” Her grandmother sat down next to her on the bed and grabbed her hand. “I’m beginning to think scaring the life out of me is your new hobby.”

Bryn laughed. It was a dry, raspy sound.

Her grandmother’s lips set in a thin line. “I can’t tell you how furious I am that something like this happened again.”

She didn’t love it herself.

“Excuse me.” Medic Williams came to stand on the other side of her bed. “You’re awake enough now. I’m going to channel energy into your body to support you, and I want you to burn out whatever remains of the drug in your bloodstream.”

Why couldn’t Medic Williams do it by herself?

“And yes, I could do it myself, but since you were unable to shift back to human form after the poisoning, we need to jumpstart your system and make sure everything is working properly again.”

Would her Quintessence respond this time? The idea of losing the ability to manipulate her Quintessence and giving up her dream of being a medic made her afraid to try. But that was stupid. Of course she’d be able to do this. She hoped.

Medic Williams placed her hand on Bryn’s shoulder. “Any time you’re ready.”

Bryn focused on gathering her Quintessence. Rather than tar, it was thick like oatmeal, but she could move it. Slowly, she reached into her blood and detected a milk-gone-bad sour odor and little flakes, like ash, floating in her blood. That must be the problem. She focused and torched the flakes wherever she found them, drawing Quintessence from Medic Williams.

As the ashy flakes disappeared, energy returned to her body and transformed into that strange pins and needles feeling she got when she’d slept on her arm wrong, except it was her entire body tingling. Not the best sensation she’d ever had, but it was more annoying than anything.

Twenty minutes later, she couldn’t find any more. “I think it’s all gone.”

The medic channeled a little more energy into Bryn. “We’ll check again tonight.”

Bryn opened her eyes and smiled at her grandmother. “I guess we’ll have to wait on lunch.”

Her grandmother didn’t say anything. She pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. Bryn hugged her back hard.

When her grandmother released her, she sat in a chair by the bed. “Tell me what happened.”