Page 45 of Ignited

“At her feet, for now.”

Boomer sat down, took one of her tiger feet in his hands, and began massaging it. Karisma immediately felt herself relaxing.

She wasn’t sure how she felt about this effect Boomer seemed to have on her—it was so intense, so… intimate. All her survival instincts were screaming not to trust it.

But the rest of her was glad he was there.

DB walked to the other end of the circle to stand by her head, with Thing hovering next to him holding an empty crystal jar about the size of a Coke can in mid-air. It was open, but the lid was attached to it with metal bars and hinges, like a canning jar. DB stretched his hands out over Karisma, and started chanting.

Karisma had no idea what he was saying; she wasn’t even sure what language it was. But she could feel the power in the words, power that thrummed in her bones and filled the air around her. It felt deep and mysterious and ancient, like the stones of the room and the earth beneath them were speaking.

Lights began swirling around her, and she felt her eyes drifting closed, but she could still see the colors as though they were swirling behind her eyelids.

Then she felt a pulling, starting at the top of her head and moving slowly down her body. It tingled, and then burned, as if sparklers were moving through her veins.

She tried to open her eyes, tried to move, but she was paralyzed. Panic filled her, and she could hardly breathe.

Then she heard Boomer’s voice, as if from a great distance. “It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s working. Just breathe.”

Faintly, she felt his hands on her back paws, connecting her to him. She focused on her breath, and the panic receded a little. The pulling sensation continued to move down her body, and all the parts of her that it passed through turned human.

The sensation moved past her hips, and she felt her tail recede. Then down her legs to her back paws, and they Changed back to human feet.

She felt light and clean, like she’d been scrubbed from the inside out.

And then suddenly there was a painful burning sensation deep inside her, like a fishhook had pierced her belly button and was pulling at her, ripping her guts out. Karisma screamed, and her whole body seized.

Boomer watched as DB’s spell lit up Karisma’s body from within, her skin growing transparent, her muscles, bones and organs glowing bright white. But in and among them was a kind of red-brown sludgy glow, looking sick and evil.

The magic. How had she carried all that evil magic for so long?

DB spoke a word of command. Slowly, the sludge at the top of Karisma’s head rose up in a thread, weaving like a snake. DB made a pinching motion with his fingers, capturing it, and then brought the end of the thread to the opening of the bottle Ziggy was holding. With startling suddenness, it was sucked inside.

DB moved slowly down Karisma’s body, feeding the thread of sludge into the bottle. It seemed to fight him, and sweat broke out on his face, but he kept going. The mass of sludge began to fill the bottle, packing itself in.

Karisma started to panic, and Boomer calmed her down.

DB’s hand began to shake, but he kept up the steady motion, kept shoving the vile energy into the bottle, making sure not to let go of the thread.

It seemed to take forever, but finally he was at her feet. Boomer moved aside so DB could follow the thread down, crouching, and Boomer realized he didn’t want to pull the end of it out and let it whip around free, maybe to latch onto someone else.

The last of the thread was sucked into the bottle, and DB flipped the attached lid over the opening and anchored it down.

Boomer let out a sigh.

Too soon.

All of a sudden a spot deep within Karisma’s belly began to glow like fire. In its light, Boomer could barely see another thread attached to it, lighting up. This thread reached the wall and continued through, like it was connected to something far away.

Boomer started to say, “What the fuck is that?” but he only got a couple of words out before Karisma screamed.

Her eyes opened, unseeing, and she arched into a seizure and then fell back to the ground limp. Her breathing stopped.

DB dropped to his knees, calling out authoritative words in Draken. Green magic spread from his hands throughout Karisma’s body, surrounding the spot where the alien thread was attached.

He spoke again, but she didn’t move. Boomer grabbed her leg and shook it, feeling like his own heart had stopped. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t. He’d promised her.

“Fuck.” DB took a deep breath, and then put his hands on Karisma’s chest. “Clear,” he said. When Boomer didn’t move, he snapped, “Let go of her. Now!”