Senara reached to her left sleeve and shoved the odd material up to her shoulder, twisting it a little so it would stay there. Meri moved forward and grabbed her hand so she could turn her arm toward the light. Senara squirmed a little at her touch, but tolerated it.
The bracelet was the strangest thing she’d ever seen. It obviously wasn’t modern, but neither did it resemble anything she’d covered in class. Even the metal was weird, nothing she recognized right off. Not that she knew much about metal. It was thick and twisted, almost braided. She poked it. It was warm from the other girl’s body heat. Meri pulled the older girl’s hand to her to get a closer look. Senara made a move as if to pull away, but Meri just pulled back. When the girl finally relaxed, Meri bent over her arm. She tried to twist the bracelet on her arm, but was met with resistance.
“It can’t do that,” Senara said. Her accent still sounded strange. But Meri was getting used to it.
Meri bent back down and used the light on her phone to brighten the area of Senara’s bicep beneath the bracelet. Her stomach flipped, nausea flooding her throat. The bracelet had several small spikes that were embedded into the girl’s flesh, like she’d grown around them since she was small. “Who did this to you?” Meri demanded.
Senara raised an eyebrow but didn’t answer.
“We’re going to the cops.” And she wasn’t taking a no for an answer. And back to thinking Senara had been held in a basement or something for years and was slightly crazy.
“What will we find at the cops?” Senara asked.
Meri blinked a few times, trying to figure out what she meant. “Oh! The cops. You know, police?” Senara didn’t look like she knew. “The ones who put bad guys in cells and help people who can’t help themselves?”
She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I am to believe that your guard can be trusted?”
As in the cops wouldn’t hurt her? “Well there are some dirty cops, but it’s really rare no matter what the movies say.”
She tilted her head, reminding Meri of a puppy trying to figure something out.
“What’s a movie?”
“Wow, you must have been in something deeper than a basement.”
“I just want it off.”
The only thing that betrayed how Senara felt about this was a slight twitch of her eye. How long had she had this thing on? Long enough to not be freaking out about it anymore.
“I totally get you wanting it off. Of course you do. I just don’t know how to go about doing that without some outside help.”
Sen reached under her and pulled something out in one fluid motion. Meri dropped her hand and stepped back, out of range of the brightly winking dagger.
“Use this. Pry the barbs out and try to break them off.”
Meri hesitantly took the dagger from her hand. Did she have any idea how bad this was going to hurt? She had to, but she didn’t seem to care. She was obviously desperate. Who wouldn’t be? Senara extended her arm and Meri took a deep breath, trying to steady her hand.
“You’ve never tried this before?” she asked.
“No. I was always being watched.”
She would get this bracelet off and then they were going to the police. They were going to find whatever sicko had done this. There might be other people there. “You sure?” she asked. “We could have this done at a hospital. It won’t hurt nearly as bad.”
Senara grunted but didn’t answer.
Meri sighed and slid the tip of the blade between the bracelet and Senara’s skin, wiggling it gently to try to loosen its hold. No luck. She dug around for a moment, pushing and prodding. Blood seeped from the area where the barbs connected before she’d nearly had enough.
“This isn’t helping,” Meri grunted as she pried at the bracelet. Tears welled up in her eyes at the pain she must be causing Senara. The only sign of how much it was hurting her was the sheen of sweat on her forehead and the ashen look of her skin. The bracelet was terrible. They had to find some kind of professional to take it off.
“Then give it to me.” Senara grabbed her intricate knife away from Meri. She took a deep breath and before Meri could decide what she was about to do, hacked at her arm.
“No!” Meri shouted. A blast of light fizzled around the knife, growing in intensity. Meri barely got a glance of the knife flying end over end before she had to close her eyes or be blinded. She forced her eyes open after a second and grabbed Senara’s hand, hardly able to see past the spots blinking across her vision. “What’s wrong with you?” she yelled.
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Sandra burst into the room. “What’s going on?”
“It has to come off,” Senara said, voice dazed.
“Not like that!” Meri jerked Senara’s hand over and studied her arm. Nothing. Not even a mark. “What just happened?”
“That’s what I want to know!” Sandra yelled.
“I thought that perhaps the spell would not work here. I was wrong.” Senara wouldn’t look at her. Just stared at the wall. What had driven her to such lengths that she would be willing to cut off her own arm? And what had stopped her? Maybe there was something to this whole magic and spell thing. She checked Senara’s arm again. Nothing at all. No injury. Magic? Like, for real? Because it had totally looked like the knife had touched her arm. Maybe there was just some type of electrical mechanism in the bracelet, like a Taser. Yeah, right. But still a better explanation than magic.
“What did you do?” Sandra asked.
“Nothing,” Senara muttered.
“I told you, we have to take you in to get it off. A doctor will be able to help.”
Sandra started to move forward, but Meri waved her off. It wouldn’t be good to make Senara feel crowded right now. While Senara had her head down, Meri gestured toward the knife, stuck deep in the wall. Sandra’s eyes went wide and she took a step back.
“I was a fool to think it could be removed, even here, without the Crafter.” Sen continued staring off into space, speaking in a monotone. “I have to go back.”
“Go back? Are you crazy? Whoever did this to you obviously is. You can’t go back.”
Senara looked at her then, and it was the most intimidating look Meri had ever been on the receiving end of. “I will go back. And they will remove the bracelet. I’ll make them.”
She obviously wasn’t thinking straight. Who would be, after everything she’d been through. “Well I’m going with you.” She’d go, get the coordinates, take pictures, then call 911. There was no way she’d be able to stop Senara if she tried to go back, and no way she was going to break her trust by calling the cops on her.
“Going with her?” Sandra squeaked.
“Ha,” Senara said, looking away again. “Why would you come with me? You wouldn’t last a day.”
She wouldn’t need to. It wouldn’t be a day and she wasn’t going to get caught. If whoever did this was hiding out in the swamp where she’d found Senara, she’d be perfectly fine. She knew all about surviving out there. And if it was something magical… nope. Not going there.
“I’m in, Sen. If you want to leave without me you’ll have to tie me up.” The look that flashed through her eyes was, admittedly, somewhat freaky, like tying her up would be too much work. But she seriously needed help. Sen pushed up off the bed and moved stiffly toward her knife, wiggling it until it slid out of the wall. What was wrong with her? She moved all weird. If she had an injury and ended up dying alone in the swamp, Meri would never forgive herself. “Plus, you’ll never find your way back to where I found you without me.”
Sen paused. Apparently that had caught her attention. “My name is Senara.”
Meri glanced down at her watch. “It’s 7 o’clock. Early on a Saturday. No one will be around. Give me a minute to throw some stuff together. Sen.”
Senara looked like she wanted to say something, but didn’t.
“What is it?” Sandra asked.
“Got any more of those granola bars?”
It took about fifteen minutes to pack her stuff. What did one take on a crazy person stakeout? And was the crazy person Sen, or whoever had done this stuff to her? Or both? Both, probably. Even in a deep sleep during the night, the girl was slightly scary. But she needed help and didn’t trust anyone. The least Meri could do would be to go and get some evidence before going to the cops. They probably wouldn’t believe her right now anyway because they wouldn’t be able to just take Sen’s word that something weird was going on, and Sen probably wouldn’t even speak to them if given the chance.
She double and triple checked her bag. Camera, check. Four batteries, just in case, check. Phone fully charged, extra charger packed, check. Venom kit, flashlight, always packed.
The door behind her creaked open, making her jump a little. She laughed quietly. So nervous in her own room. Sandra shoved the door open a little more and maneuvered through with a tray of food. Meri gestured toward the tiny counter opposite the beds.
“Score, Sandra brought breakfast. Real food, instead of just granola bars.”
Sen sat up on the bed, moving stiffly. Okay, the bed admittedly wasn’t the most comfortable thing ever, but that seemed extreme.
Sandra took one of the plates off the tray and held it out to her. She nodded her thanks and started eating without comment.
“So, you still planning on just going back without calling the cops? Because I still think calling the cops is the best plan. By a lot, like, seriously the best plan,” Sandra said.
No comment from the weird girl sitting on the bed. Okay, no, apparently still no cops. Without warning, Sen started to gag.
“Oh no, no, no, not in our room!” Sandra yelled. She grabbed a plastic bag and dumped the contents, shoving it toward Sen.
Sen grabbed it just in time, vomiting in the bag. She laid her head down on her knees, silent. Okay, so weird seeing someone be this quiet about being sick.
“Are you okay?” Meri moved forward and hesitated, exchanging looks with Sandra and then putting a hand out to rub her back. Sen gave her a slight scowl, but it was nothing compared to some of the other looks she’d gotten from the girl. “What’s wrong? Don’t like to food?”
She dropped her head back down. “It isn’t the food. The food was good.”
Meri and Sandra exchanged a glance, waiting for her to continue. She didn’t.
“So, it’s because…” Meri said.
“Because my essence is no longer connected. I have to go back.”
Another look passed between Sandra and Meri. “What does that mean, Sen? Your essence?”
“It means that the longer I stay here, disconnected, the sicker I will become.” She stood, only wobbling a little, and straightened. “Thank you for your hospitality. It will be remembered.” And then she started for the door.
“Just like that? I said I was going with you!”
“I’m going too,” Sandra said.
Sen’s face tightened, but she gestured toward the door as if to say lead the way.
Right now she was really wishing she had a gun or something. Even Sen’s ornate knife. Going out into the swamp to try to get evidence on a crazy person was in and of itself, crazy. But she had to. She couldn’t leave Sen to face this on her own.