Madelynn’s hands trembled and her legs shook as she knelt down, lifting Callum’s head gently as she eased the small, firm pillow under him. “What’s causing this?” she asked, forcing herself to breathe deeply to drive down the panic building in her chest.

Elise didn’t respond, her hands traveling around his body as she searched. She grabbed his hands, flipping them over, then removed his shoes and scanned his feet. “I don’t know,” she said slowly as she rolled his pant legs up and examined his calves. “Help me get his shirt off.”

Madelynn started on the buttons of his shirt, undoing them one at a time. Two buttons down, she decided it wasn’t quick enough, and just ripped the shirt open, the buttons flying in every direction as they pulled free from the stitching.

The stench hit her before she could comprehend what she was seeing.

“Well, that’ll do it,” Elise said humorlessly as her fingers came down to trail a faint circle around the wound.

It was a rune of some sort, with a long line going down the middle, and a slanted line at the very top. A sharp squiggle went through the middle, and another line extended down the right side. At the bottom, two diagonal lines extended down and out. The top half of the rune was contained in a circle. It was all carved into his skin. Or burnt, perhaps.

It looked like it had bled at one point, but now it was dark and oozing, a yellow-green puss bubbling out of each grotesque line. Deep red veins sprouted from it, signalling even to Madelynn that there was an infection. But there was a green tint to the affected side of his abdomen, and when Elise pressed a finger against the skin there, it tore like wet parchment and the flesh stuck to her finger. She gagged and wiped her finger violently on Callum’s pants.

Madelynn turned away and vomited. She couldn’t stand to look at it, and the smell was- she vomited again. The smell was atrocious. It was putrid, like rotting meat and eggs and feces.

“What is that?” Madelynn yelled, her voice guttural as she held back another throatful of vomit.

Elise was just staring at it, her eyes wide with horror. She held the back of her wrist to her mouth as she spoke, her voice muffled and broken. “It’s a rune of death.” Madelynn vomited again. A rune of death? She felt a sob emerge from her throat despite the vomit pouring out of her. She’d seen runes of death before in textbooks, when she was still studying Essence. This was not a rune of death. “This-” Elise continued, motioning to the portion that was encircled- “means slow death. But this-” she motioned to the upside down Y at the bottom of the rune- “is a rune for tracking. But it’s upside down, which means it’s delayed.” She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, her face went pale. “I think it’s a rune that’s meant to kill him, and when it does it will ping the location of his body to whoever marked him.”

Madelynn grimaced in disgust and horror. Had Casimir done this? Was he truly willing to kill Callum just to get to her? Even more than that, had he known they would try to escape together? Why else would he have put a rune of tracking?

“But,” Elise continued on as she lunged for her bag and rummaged through it. “That doesn’t explain the infection or the… necrosis.” She stopped rummaging, and her face went blank. “Necrosis,” she repeated, her eyes darting around the room as she searched for an answer. “Necrosis! He wasn’t hit with a hex of unhealing, it had to have been a necrosis curse!” She pulled a vile of healing potion from her bag and tossed it to Madelynn. She didn’t catch it, and it rolled around by her feet as Elise threw herself back toward Callum.

Madelynn scooped the vile up and briefly wondered what the hell this was going to do when the rune was so horribly infected. Necrosis? Casimir had been the one who informed Callum of the hex of unhealing. If he’d healed him, he would’ve had to have known it was necrosis. Why would he have lied about that? Unless he was the one who’d done it…

Elise rolled Callum onto his back. The shaking had slowed, but tremors still lingered as Elise held him down. “Madelynn!” She snapped her fingers, drawing Madleynn’s attention from her thoughts. “Force him to swallow that potion. Pour it in his mouth and massage his throat until it’s all gone.”

Madelynn nodded, and looked down at Callum’s face. His eyes were closed and his brows were pinched together, his jaw clamped shut tightly. He looked like death incarnate. She could feel tears stinging the backs of her eyes as she gripped his jaw and tilted his head upward. “What good will this do?” she asked, glancing up at Elise as she pulled her bag toward her once again. She fetched a thick black shirt from the bag before discarding it once again.

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“Not much,” she replied distantly as she pulled the shirt until it tore. Then she shot Madelynn a sorry look. “Hope you didn’t care much for that shirt.”

Madelynn didn’t respond, her eyes trailing back down to Callum as she cradled his jaw in her hand. He’d always been the strong one, the grounding force, and now he was weak, fragile. She felt like vomiting again as she pried his mouth open, unstopped the vile, and poured half the cloudy liquid into his mouth. She did as Elise had instructed and massaged his throat, forcing him to swallow. She repeated her actions until the vile was empty.

“What now?” She forced herself to look up at Elise again as she continued tearing the shirt into strips.

“I need you over here,” Elise commanded, her usual humorous tone completely gone, replaced by the voice of someone who’d done this countless times before. “Miriam forced me to study books on healing before she’d even started teaching me, so I know how to reverse the current necrotization, but I can’t do anything about the rune right now.”

Madelynn looked down at Callum one last time, letting her fingers trail down his cheek, before she scooted sideways until she was next to Elise. She squinted and forced her gaze to Elise’s hands, avoiding looking at the necrotized flesh.

Elise shoved a folded strip of cloth into Madelynn’s hand and poured a vile of healing potion over it. “When I tell you to, press this into the rune. I’m going to start neutralizing the necrosis, and the potion has to constantly heal the surface or else it’ll just reinfect.” She turned away, and Madelynn stared down at the cloth. When had Elise become so proficient in healing? She’d been nervous to heal Madelynn’s hangover just days ago.

“Now!” Elise commanded. Madelynn didn’t hesitate, pressing the soaked side of the cloth into the wound on Callum’s side. His back arched as a deep, guttural groan escaped his lips.

“Elise!” she screamed, her voice breaking as her eyes darted to her friend. “What’s happening to him?”

“Hold it steady!” Elise barked, her voice unyielding. She had both hands pressed against Callum’s abdomen, her fingers glowing faintly as Essence poured into his ruined skin. “Whatever cursed him isn’t giving up without a fight.”

Madelynn’s breath hitched. She wanted to pull the cloth away, wanted to stop whatever was causing Callum this agony, but Elise’s words pinned her in place. Her fingers dug into the fabric, holding it firm despite the writhing beneath her hands. “This isn’t supposed to happen,” she muttered, more to herself than anyone else. “You can’t die.”

The air seemed to shift, growing heavier with every word Elise chanted. “Sanideratus… Vita Sanguis… Contrabenarium…” Her voice vibrated through the room, the syllables dripping with power that made Madelynn’s skin prickle.

The veins around the wound twitched, their red-black tendrils shrinking back like retreating serpents. Madelynn watched in horrified awe as the infection reversed itself, the lines retracting into the rune like ink being sucked back into a quill.

“Elise, it’s working,” she whispered, a flicker of hope lighting in her chest.

“Not fast enough,” Elise ground out, her voice strained. Sweat dripped from her temple, her breathing growing labored. “This curse is deeper than I thought.”

Callum’s body shuddered again, his head rolling to the side as a pained gasp escaped him. “Madelynn…” The faint sound of her name broke her composure, and tears she hadn’t realized were there spilled freely down her cheeks.

“I’m here,” she said shakily, leaning over him. “I’m right here, Callum. Stay with me. Please.”

Elise pressed harder, her chants becoming sharper, more commanding. The glow from her hands intensified, bathing the room in a soft, golden light that seemed to pulse in rhythm with the chanting. The veins continued to recede, but the strain in Elise’s voice was unmistakable.

“Keep holding him,” Elise muttered. “We’re not done yet.”

Madelynn’s gaze flicked between Elise’s glowing hands and Callum’s pallid face. His breaths were shallow, his lips a sickly blue. The cloth in her hand was soaked through with pus and blood, and the sour, acrid smell of rot clung to the air like a suffocating blanket.

“Elise, if this doesn’t work—” she started, but her voice cracked under the weight of her fear.

“It will,” Elise interrupted, though the strain in her voice betrayed her uncertainty. “It has to.”

The glow from Elise’s hands flared one last time, a sharp burst of light that left spots dancing in Madelynn’s vision. When the light faded, the veins were gone, leaving behind raw, angry flesh that still oozed faintly but no longer carried the stench of death.

Elise sat back with a ragged exhale, wiping her forehead with a trembling hand. “It’s stable for now. We’ll have to figure out the rune later” She trailed off, her eyes meeting Madelynn’s with a grim determination. “For now, need to move him to a bed.”

Madelynn nodded, her legs shaking as she stood. Together, they lifted Callum onto the bed, his weight feeling impossibly heavy in her weakened state. Once he was settled, Elise grabbed her bag and headed for the bathroom without a word.

Madelynn stayed by Callum’s side, her hand brushing against his clammy skin as she swiped a piece of sweat-drenched hair behind his ear. “You’re going to be okay,” she whispered, though the words felt more like a prayer than a promise. “You have to be.”