—Can you fight, Dragon? Do you have enough in you to fight?—
In me?
To fight what?
—I wish I had more to give. I wish you’d allowed yourself her gifts—
As the statue sighs, one tiny lilac sparkle floats in the air from her exhale.
I watch as it drifts towards me, like a glowing piece of thistledown.
It smells like her. Lilac and rain. Theodora.
It’s mesmerizing, and for some unknown reason, I open my mouth and swallow the glittering atom.
It burns going down—not like fire, but like hope.
Blink.
???
Pain.
My head is on fire. Someone help me. Put out the fire.
I can’t breathe.
No, I can breathe. I gasp in a lungful of air.
“Cos? What the fuck, man, what happened?” A muffled voice is shouting at me. “Talk to me, bro. This is freaking me the fuck out.”
Can I speak? I open my mouth. “I-I-I…” I can’t get any words out.
What the fuck happened? It’s as though I’m at the bottom of a mine shaft, looking up at a tiny window of light.
“Cosmo, come back. It’s OK, you’re safe.”
Suddenly, I’m sitting in the backseat of the Range Rover. Dono is beside me, his hand gripping my shoulder.
“Drive, Wes,” he yells at his brother.
“Where to?”
“Just fucking drive away from that building!”
I blink, the world spinning. “How... how did I get here?”
“You walked out,” Donovan says, his voice shaky. “You walked right past us like a zombie.” He puts his hands on my face, turning me towards him. Over his shoulder, the city speeds by. “You went to see your father, remember?”
Right.
I clear my throat several times, then finally find my voice. “Yes. Father, I saw him.”
Fuck, my head.
It’s impossible to think with this pain. “Can you find a healer clinic?” I croak. What happened? I met with Father, and now everything else is blank.
“Belénus Hills?” Wes asks. “Shall I go there?”
