Page 18 of Written In Flesh

Fear lights up his violet eyes when he looks at me. “It’s going to be okay.”

I want to believe him, but it feels like my insides are being ravaged, like sludge is moving through my veins, sparks dance on my fingertips, making more tears leak from my eyes. And then I hear it. A loud crash that echoes before an even louder bang. The earth beneath me shudders and groans in response. Azriel flies backwards from the impact right as everything inside of me settles.

“What the hell,” he murmurs before scrambling back to me. “Skully, are you okay?”

I’m breathing hard, gasping and panting, the residual ghost pains making my limbs twitch. My eyes pop open. The meteor shower is over, and the world around me goes back to normal. My heart slows as Azriel helps me sit up.

“I’m–”

I want to say fine, but one look down at my hands tells a different story. My finger tips are covered in black soot. Dirt and grass are mashed between my fingers from how hard I was holding onto the ground. But it’s the mark on my arm that is cause for worry. Over the scar that was once pale pink from healing is now a shimmery silver with black patterns woven around it, holding it. They look like they’re protecting it.

“We need Loreli,” Azriel mutters, before sliding his hands underneath me and lifting me off the ground. “I’ll bring you home, and then I need to find out what happened. I can hear the chatter going on; it was something big.”

“What about my stuff?” I croak out, my voice sounding like I’ve been sing-screaming all night at my favorite concert.

“I’ll come back and get it,” Azriel promises. He squeezes me tightly as I feel the ground slip away, and the air is sucked from my lungs. My body feels weightless despite the swoop of my stomach, similar to a roller coaster ride. My eyes slam shut to avoid the dizzying effect of the fast motion around us. It lasts a millisecond, yet feels like it goes on and on. Suddenly, we’re standing in my kitchen at the apartment.

“Skully!” Loreli grabs for me, helping Azriel usher me to a chair. My legs still feel weak and heavy at the same time.

“Why aren’t you at work?” I question, watching as she almost rolls her eyes.

“I left after that huge bang. What happened? Did you guys feel it?”

“Oh, we felt it,” Azriel scoffs, his face hardening. “But that was after this one started seeing things I couldn’t, and then flames passed through her body.”

“Flames?” Loreli practically screeches while she starts looking me over. I hold my hands up in front of my face and watch as all the blood drains from her face. “Your fingers.”

“It didn’t look like fire to me,” I reply, my shoulders half-heartedly shrugging.

Loreli tilts her head, her eyes taking me in. “What did it look like?”

“A falling star. It was purple in the sky, then as it got closer, it turned black. There was a white light, then I was on the ground, with this one freaking out over me.” I side-glance at my best friend and give him a teasing smirk.

“This all happened before the boom,” Azriel finishes.

“Is there chatter?” Loreli asks him, and he nods his head. “Skully, how are you feeling?”

My brow furrows. Everything happened so fast, and now that my body and my adrenaline have calmed, I’m starting to feel the effects. “I’m tired. My arm…”

I hold up my arm with the new decoration. Loreli gasps; her fingers feel cold when they touch my skin to look at it. “These marks.”

“She’s definitely part reaper,” Azriel finishes. “They’ll form and bend as her magic continues developing.”

I snort and roll my eyes. “My magic hates me.” Right as the words tumble out, my fingers spark that neon purple I’m used to.

“Skully.” My aunt is watching my hands, her eyes shooting between them and the new mark. “Try a simple spell. One that you usually struggle with.”

“So all of them.” I chuckle, but it’s humorless. They both know I’m embarrassed and hate talking about the way I can’t control what should be mine.

“Just try,” she encourages. “Close your eyes, picture what you want to happen. Feel the magic flow through you.”

So I do. My eyes close, and the same spell that always pops into my mind forms. I take a deep breath, feeling for my magic. This time, there’s a warm, fuzzy feeling that brushes against my mind. Friendly, communicative. I picture the cupboard opening and my favorite mug flying into my hand. “Heluxes.”

A solid object hits my palm, and I barely have time to grip the handle on the mug before it drops and shatters. There’s a collective gasp from all of us. For once, my magic listened. We connected and worked together.

“Do you think…” Loreli turns to Azriel, who’s watching me. I can feel his steady gaze, his mind speculating about what happened.

“I need to go find out.” He nods to her, then meets my eyes. “Will you be alright?”