Page 42 of Lies That Blemish
The picture of her foot in my mind’s eye finally reached perfection, and I sighed in relief as if I’d just worked out the worst mathematical problem Elaine had ever given me.
“What do you mean?” Tetra peered at the way I kept off of my right foot, holding it up slightly to dull the aching.
Crouching down beside her, I could hear the room holding their collective breath. Zara stepped closer, too. The bands of golden light glowing on Tetra’s face now.
“T, if this hurts me, it’s worth it,” I told her. Then I placed my golden-glowing hands on her hot right foot—the image in my mind snapped as an earth-shattering pain splintered in my foot, breaking it into a thousand pieces.
Golden light exploded off of Zara, too, blinding the entire room momentarily. Then Tetra and I both screamed as the pain became too much, and blackness took me.
Chapter 15
Aisling
“Val!”I shook my little sister as panic washed over me. “Tetra!” I reached over and shook her, too.
“They’re dead!” Victory sobbed.
I peered at the rise and fall of their chests. At Zara, who was still alive beside me.
“No one is dead,” I snapped.
That’s when my gaze fell to Tetra’s foot.
“Stars!” I skittered backwards.
In all the years I’d known Tetra, her right foot looked like it had been twisted up in a blender.
But now… it was… like mine.
Valor’s eyes snapped open, and then so did Tetra’s.
I reached down and yanked the sock off of Valor’s right foot, fully afraid that she had somehow magically taken the injury on herself, but when I saw her regular-looking foot with purple, chipped toenail paint, I laughed.
Pure joy ripped through me. Even Elaine was smiling.
“It can’t be,” Elaine said.
Tetra looked over at me, confused, as if coming out of a dream. I peered at Valor, who was staring at Tetra’s foot and then at Zara. She grinned.
“Are you okay? How are you feeling?” I asked Valor.
“I’m totally fine,” she said.
“You passed out, you’re not fine!” I told her.
An ear-splitting sob ripped from Tetra’s throat, and I turned to see her staring at her foot in shock. She wiggled her ankle, then her toes. It was crazy, after so many years of seeing her foot twisted and red, to find the appendage perfect and without flaw.
“Valor…” Tetra managed between sobs and then pulled my sister in for a hug.
I stood back. Then we all watched as Valor slowly helped Tetra stand. It was the moment of truth. Could she walk? Run? Would it hurt? Would she still limp? A thousand thoughts went through my head.
Tetra bent down to Zara and held the creature’s gaze.
“Thank you,” she said. Then Tetra smiled, and I knew Zara must have responded.
Tetra was standing on one foot, waiting to try her “new foot” out, and I braced myself for how heartbreaking it would be if it wasn’t a full healing. Virtue snuggled into Elaine’s side as Tetra put a small amount of weight on the foot. Her eyes flew wide. Then, she took two steps without a limp or a drag.
Again, she wept, breaking down, and I couldn’t bear it anymore. I pulled her into my arms as she cried like a baby.
