Page 72 of Outlaw Witch

I quickly outline the situation to them both. It’s about twenty minutes later when she’s copied down the ingredients and instructions for making the potion.

“Three days, huh?” She bites her lip, looking from the list up to my face and back again. “Some of this stuff is going to be a little tricky to find, but I think I can do it.”

“I’m counting on it.”

I squeeze her in a tight hug. My eyes then scan over her shoulder to the two surly giants currently glaring daggers at each other and I sigh as I head over to rescue them from one another’s company.

Three days and counting to prepare for the ritual.

Let the countdown begin.

21

Fabian

I’m feeling a lot ofthings right now. Alotof things.

I feel like there’s a heavy cloud hanging over us all.

Me.

I’m that cloud.

I suck all the life out of every room I’m in. Eating makes me want to puke most of the time, and I need to count the number of minutes I can be vertical, so I know if I’m pushing myself too hard.

My body is fluctuating between being so cold it feels like my fingers could snap in two, and so hot there’s a pool of sweat wherever I sit.

I can barely look at myself anymore. My veins are now almost entirely black. They’re thicker than they should be, pushing around my tainted blood with difficulty.

And I ache all over. It’s an effort to breathe on some days and I’m still barely sleeping. It’s the painful spasms and gouging pain in my joints that are keeping me up, despite Silver’s sister’s tonic.

Today, though, there’s a new symptom to add to the list. It’s strange, a flutter inside my chest like a butterfly testing its wings before it takes flight.

It might be so unfamiliar I can’t name it, but I’m pretty sure it’s calledhope.And I’m going to cling to that motherfucker like you wouldn’t believe.

After just one night’s sleep, my brain seemed to clear of some of the jungle of increasingly messy thoughts growing there.

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