Page 42 of Inked in Bloom
We wait for something to move aside from her nose wiggling, but it doesn’t.
Her brows bunch.
Nothing happens.
Her lips press into a thin line.
Nothing happens.
Finally, after about six more attempts, she shrinks down into a black bunny with patches of auburn fur. Her ears prick up and she balances on her hind legs. Everyone claps.
I bend down, and she frolics over so I can pat the heart-shaped auburn patch between her ears. “Alright, I’m envious. You better teach me how to do this later, okay?”
Cherri thumps a foot appreciatively. My heart melts a bit as I continue to scratch the spot. How I’ve missed those littlethump,thump,thumps. Memories of Jessica and Sir Thumps-A-Lot zooming around my tiny apartment scampers to the forefront of my mind. Without meaning to, my gaze flicks up to Briar.
The ball of his throat works, those inky vines rippling as he does.
“Time to shift back,” he instructs my roommate. But instead of shifting, Cherri scampers around the room, her furry chest lifted and proud.
Show off.
“Great work, Cherri. Now take a few steps back from the tablus vinnaus and shift,” Briar says. There’s an edge to his voice that I don’t understand. Not until Cherri trips, bouncing into the vines swaying from the table. Briarlunges to get her, but it’s too late. The strands of leaves cradle her, then swallow her up.
Gasps echo through the room.
Shit.
“Where does it go?” Skylar asks.
Worry nips at me as Briar drops to his knees and reaches between the flowing vines. “To the storage supply chute. It tunnels deep underground.” A high-pitched shriek comes from within the table, and Briar turns to Dani. “Go get the dean. I’ll try to get her untangled.”
Without hesitation, Dani sprints out the door.
Grabbing fistfuls of vines and tugging them aside, our professor continues hunting for Cherri. He pulls out pencils, pots, bags of soil, a notebook, and a sunlamp, tossing them to the floor.
“Fuck it,” he mutters. He shrinks down into a chestnut fluff, bounding out from the neckline of his shirt and dashing between two billowing vines.
The shrieks morph into whines. I wince, sick to my stomach. All of us move closer, trying to see what’s happening, but it’s fruitless. The table’s flora sways back and forth, hiding them from view until there’s silence aside from their rustling.
Just as the dean rushes in, there’s another high-pitched squeal. A black bunny with auburn patches is launched from beneath the table, landing sprawled on the ground. Panic riots between my ribs.
I hurry to pick her up, brushing the dirt from her fur.
“Cherri?” She huffs but doesn’t move. “Cherri, wake up.”
But she doesn’t. She’s breathing but limp in my arms.
“Where’s Briar?” the dean asks, voice stern.
“He went in after her, but he hasn’t come back out,” someone says from behind me.
The dean waves in someone dressed in pale-pink scrubs. She comes over and holds out her arms. “Here, let me take a look at her.”
I hand Cherri over. My head is suddenly dizzy and I fight the urge to throw up. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She will. Her body is probably just in shock.”
I inhale deeply, the nausea settling a bit, though I still feel off kilter. My attention snaps to the gasps of relief from behind me.
