Page 83 of Inked in Bloom
Blinking the world back into focus, I bend my hind legs and prepare to spring across the road.
HONK!
I jump backward, knocking into someone and fumbling over my feet.
My chest pinches, pain radiating upward, all the way through my skull. Cars speed within the intersection, their bright lights whipping past. Wobbling over the lip, I stumble, tumbling into the road. Across the way, a bright-orange bus screeches to a halt at the corner. I stare at it, my body petrified, turning to stone.
A blur of orange.
The smack of impact.
Blinding pain.
Pitch black.
My body quivers, the shift becoming harder and harder to hold on to. I need to get out of here. Shooting back from the ledge, I sprint away from the road. Each thud of my paws against the ground is heavier than the last, but I keep moving. I don’t know how long I wander. The world distorted around me, and eventually the lights disappear, aside from a few neon ones in the distance.
You’re safe, they aren’t close.
Trees crowd overhead. Flickering neon swirls closer. Thunder rolls across the sky and the dizzying darkness swallows me whole…
…
…
… I manage to peel open my eyes. The ground is no longer so close, and I’m completely naked in my harbinger form. I can’t stop shaking. Rain patters against my skin, tiny droplets stinging where they slip through the cracks.
I wrap my arms around myself, shivering yet thankful for the cool drops on this sweltering summer night. That unquenchable thirst returns. I stick out my tongue, catching raindrops and swallowing them down, licking a few off my arms. I hold my hands out toward the sky. The water fills the cracks along my skin, and for a moment, I pretend it’ll fix everything, even as spots pepper my vision.
There’s no buzz beneath my fingers. I can’t shift, can’t run, can’t summon clothes. I’m useless once again. A deep, quivering numb travels through my limbs.
This is it, isn’t it?Seasonal sickness.Is this what it was likefor Briar, trapped in his bunny form, this constant shivering and lethargy?
I curl up into a ball, the wet grass scraping my skin. Lightning cracks and shakes the ground. Dread pools in my gut.
How did I ever think I could trick Fate?
Clearly, I’m an idiot.
And what for? So I can pass out in a random patch of grass, defenseless against the Storms brewing overhead?
A long shadow stretches across my balled form.
I’m not alone.
There’s a rustling as heavy fabric is draped over my shoulders. The world spins, then flips, and my eyes flutter. I fight closing them until I can’t any longer…
The tipsof my fingers brush pebbled leather as I wake. Soft light shines over my bare skin, emitting a tingly warmth where the light hits my chest. I follow the source: a large hand with a blooming rose sprawled across its back.
“What are you doing here?” My voice grates up my throat. I’m still mostly naked, though I now have a cropped tank and a pair of briefs giving me some coverage.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Briar says, holding out his hand where a flask appears. His tone doesn’t carry its usual smoothness, as if it’s been roughed up by gravel. He unscrews the top and holds it to my lips. “Water. You need it.”
He pours a tiny bit, waiting for me to swallow it down, giving me more sips until the rawness in my throat settles abit. It’s still raining, but it doesn’t touch my skin. I lift my gaze skyward, noting the awning overhead.
He raises the flask toward my lips but I hold up a hand, stopping him. “I needed to see them for myself.”
“What difference will that make if you are weak and sick?” He nudges my lip with the flask, its rose gold glinting in the moonlight. “What good do you think that does?”
