Bellamy couldn’t tell if it was working since the damn thing had been slowly soaking into Vesper’s arm over the last week, leaving it stained a blackish blue up to her elbow. They said it wouldn’t kill her as long as it could get Energy elsewhere. So, juicing up the string became a daily routine, multiple times a day. No one could tell her if Ves felt any of it, or if she would once she woke up.
The door shut after they’d finished their routine, leaving in silence other than the quiet popping of the sparks of Energy on Vesper’s arm. Bellamy sighed and dragged her chair back beside Vesper’s bed, tucking her knees up to her chest and huggingherself—the same position she’d been in basically the whole week.
She took Vesper’s hand—her good hand—and gently stroked the back of it with her thumb, staring at the sun shining through the window behind Ves, instead of the ugly teal wall in front them. Vesper would wake up. She had to. Bellamy just needed to be patient.
“Bel?” Vesper’s voice was weak and scratchy, barely above a whisper. Bellamy shot to her feet, snatching the water on Vesper’s side table then hovering anxiously over her. “Thanks,” Vesper whispered, downing half the bottle almost immediately before laying her head back down on the pillow. “What the fuck happened?”
Bellamy clutched Vesper’s hand in both of hers. “You died.”
“Is that why I feel like I got hit by one of those fucking trucks?” Vesper groaned, trying to stretch out and noticing her immobilized hand. Her brows furrowed as she looked down at the darkened limb. Her fingers twitched against the binds. “What’s this?”
Sparks danced along the string, around her arm, and wove in between her fingers. “They’re calling it a Dampener bubble. When the other Embunuh contracts attacked us, Cypress kind of…” She hesitated. “Not really exploded again, but the magic lashed out to protect her at the same time you did. So, I don’t know, I guess your arm got sucked into it?”
“Is Cypress okay?”
Bellamy huffed. “She’s fine. She fucking killed you though.”
“Yeah but not on purpose. She was just scared.”
“She’s not a fucking kid anymore, Ves. She’s an adult, and you need to treat her like one. Stop just letting her off the hook for everything!”
Vesper raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. Bellamy flushed, immediately regretting her outburst. Ves was right—annoyingly. She just hated that after all this, everyone was still treating Cypress like a helpless kid. Shewasa fucking Dampener and had kept thata secret for nine fucking years. She could’ve killed Ves at any time! And didn’t even warn her!
Bellamy huffed again, her annoyance with the Dampener coming back, and Vesper squeezed her hand, her facial features relaxed.
“I’m okay, Bel,” Vesper said gently, as if she could read Bellamy’s fucking mind. “So, if Cypress is okay… Why didn’t she take this shit back? I can barely feel my hand. It’s weird.”
Bellamy blanched, face scrunching as she looked at the bubble. “Take it back?”
“Yeah, it’s how she woke us up the first time. She, um, said she’d stolen the magic or something. Figured she could reverse it again.”
Bellamy frowned, sitting back down in her chair next to Vesper’s bed and mentally sorting through the events that led to Vesper’s death. It was all a bit of blur. Everything had happened so fast, and Bellamy’s sole focus was Vesper. She remembered Cypress screaming. She’d been dragged away by Cedar.
Then, the only thing she remembered after that was Ari bringing Ves back, and then her first time ever in a truck to get to this weird, underground secret hospital thing. Ves would have loved seeing the tunnels they took under the city.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea to bring her here while you’re healing…” Bellamy started slowly, not looking at Ves. “What if she can’t control it?”
Bellamy looked up in time to see Vesper grimace. Ves could easily wait until the healers cleared her to leave. Which, they would after some testing on her arm. At least, Bellamy thought they would.
“Are you in any pain?” Bellamy asked, changing the subject to something she hoped would be a distraction.
Vesper snorted. “My whole body is on fire, Bel.”
Bellamy frowned again, looking Vesper up and down. Ves had kicked off the blanket covering her lower half and she was in just a black hospital gown that came down to her mid thighs. Bellamyswallowed. She should not let her mind wander to what Ves decidedly wasnotwearing underneath that. Entirely inappropriate.
She cleared her throat, tearing her gaze away from Vesper’s legs. “You need to rest.”
Vesper rolled her eyes, a smirk forming as she watched Bellamy. “I need to get out of here, get this shit out of me, and get this extra Energy worked off. They fucking overloaded me. It feels like my magic is trying to crawl out of my damn skin.”
Vesper tried to sit up as if her other hand wasn’t tied to the bed, and she pulled her good hand away from Bellamy.
“You need to rest,” Bellamy said more forcefully this time, standing up to shove Vesper back down onto the bed. She tried to ignore the sparks dancing along Vesper’s fingers as they wrapped around her wrist, gripping her hard. A mischievous twinkle glinted in Vesper’s eyes, and Bellamy’s breath caught in her throat.
So much for not letting her thoughts go there. With the way Ves was looking at her now, it wasn’t just her. Bellamy darted a glance at the clock over Vesper’s bed. Based on the usual schedule, it would be another hour or so until the healers came back. They had time…
CHAPTER SEVENTY
Vesper
