Page 41 of Fires of the Forsaken
A bulbous, pulsating…thingemerged next. It looked like a freaking alien egg!
“No, no,nope.”I waved my arms and backed away. “The past few days have been batty enough. If a tentacled creature busts outta that thing…well, buddy, you won’t have to worry about the alien killing ya. I’ll make sure I wring your neck first.”
The man chuckled. “It won’t harm you.”
“Like hell!” The undulating egg was several inches tall and still growing.
I took another step back, letting out a strangled,“shit,”when the egg burst open. No monsters sprang out (halle-freaking-lujah). Instead, short, vibrant purple petals curled toward me. A sweet scent filled the air.
“It’s—that’s—you—that’s a hycinth!” I gasped.
“Hyacinth,” the man corrected.
“Close enough. But—how—you—aw, hell, I should’ve stayed away from the food. And water. Now I’m freaking hallucinating...”
The man carefully extracted the flower and straightened, handing it to me. “Take it,” he laughed. “I assure you, it’s real.”
And it smelledawesome.Sweet and spicy, like expensive-as-shit perfume. I buried my nose into the petals and inhaled.
“You’re not hallucinating,” the man said. A trickle of sweat ran down his cheek. “Although I remember thinking the same thing when I arrived here. This world often seems like a bad dream.”
Ding!The lightbulb went on inside my head. “You’re ahybrid, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I am a Gardner.”
“Holy shit! You guys really have magical powers?”
“I wouldn’t call it magic…”
“That’s so cool!” I stared at the flowers. “You can wave your hand and bring plants to life?”
“Not quite.” He patted his fanny pack. “I must have a seed. And I don’t relish forcing vegetation to grow so quickly—it’s quite traumatic for some of them. Not the hyacinth, though. You needn’t worry. That’s a rather hardy flower.”
“The process looks kinda traumatic for you too,” I muttered as he see-sawed on his feet. “You need to sit?”
“No. I’m alright. And I still need to grow more yarrow and calendula. For the wounded,” he added.
“Ah. Well…give me a shout. Or something. Y’know, if you feel like you’re gonna black out. I can’t do much to help, but I’ll make sure you don’t whack your head on the way down.”
“I know my limitations.” He grinned and held out his hand. “My name’s Cathal—”
“Hey! Wait…Cheriour was talking about you the other day! It’s nice to put a face with the name. I’m Addie, by the way.” I clasped my fingers around his.
Cathal didn’t pass out that day. But the poor guy was puking his guts up fifteen minutes later.
“‘I know my limitations,’”I mimicked him. “Yeah right.” I stroked his back, wincing on his behalf as he heaved and spasmed.
* * *
So hybrids were real.And Cathal wasn’t the only one.
Like, Belanna? She could speak to animals.
On day six of our awful road trip, she trotted back to talk to Cheriour. She mumbled nonsense about how the birds were monitoring the Wraiths, but there was a cluster of sparrows she hadn’t heard from yet and she was concerned.
What a load of crock.
Belanna whipped her head around to flash me a boastful smile. “Ye don’t believe me, eh?”
