Alaina feels the need to scream, but her throat is tangled in invisible knots.

The only thing she hears other than her accelerating and crescendoing heartbeats are her thundering footsteps, as she rushes to his side. Nothing else is in her sight, nothing else reaches her ears, nothing else bothers her senses.

Nothing else distracts her. Then again, nothing else matters.

Lucky for the both of them, despite the fire separating them from the manticores being gone, the manticores do not return. They are probably long gone, retreated for good after they'd given up. Yet Alaina hasn't the mind to think or wonder exactly how large is the hole.

The wall of fire overhead had disappeared along with the fire they used as a weapon against the manticores, but Alaina doesn't seem to notice or even bother, in her case. Kai is her priority.

She kneels next to him, pulling him close. Gently, she rests his head on her laps as she reaches for his hand, grasping it so tight as if it's her life.

It's the first time she's ever actually touch him. Sure, they've brushed each other briefly during their fall, shook hands and held hands -- though unknowingly -- before, but they're all through a simple pair of gloves; something, Alaina has noticed, he's never taken off.

But she's holding his hand. Without a glove in between.

It burns. Her skin, where it touches Kai's, burns; a sharp, piercing pain. Reluctant, Alaina doesn't let go of his hand. But the pain only increases, and she feels her hand burning up. Finally, she lets go and shakes it off, yet there's nothing there when she inspects her hand. Nothing, just like the pain -- gone, as if it was never there.

With his eyes still closed, Alaina acknowledges the fact that he's still unconscious. She wonders at first if he's the one causing the burning sensation on her hand, but a sudden thought strikes her.

It has happened before.

Back in the cell, Lancaster felt it.

Sorry, it wasn't on purpose. Just don't touch me again.

She touches his forehead lightly, then pulls her hand away. Despite the cold sweat, his temperature is something else. Not even fever high; it's a burning furnace -- if you leave your hand there, it might scorch up.

Alaina regrets to think that he'd done it purposefully, because she finally understands why Kai never fails to emphasise, over and over again, for people not to touch him.

Before, she'd thought he was just afraid of human contact. But in reality, amidst his series of 'don't touch me's, he can't actually touch anyone. He can't simply touch someone without them burning up.

Focus, Alaina reminds herself. Only when she tries her hardest to see in the dark that she finally finds his arm with a scratch. A tiny, innocent looking scratch. Yet the state he's in now tells Alaina that it's more than a simple scratch -- it does more than a simple scratch.

The manticores; their tails inflict poison. She is aware of this, but when she had the intention of warning him earlier, they were shortly interrupted. Just watch out for the tails, she'd said, yet they still end up in their current devastated state.

Some things, Alaina realises then, are just inevitable, no matter how hard you try to avoid them.

She will have to stop the poison before it spreads through his entire body. Thinking fast, she rips the lower hem of her shirt and ties it around his arm tightly, right under the scratch, to prevent the poison from spreading.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Wincing, yet with fierce determination in her eyes, Alaina carefully unfolds the bandages wrapped along his arm. Now that the scratch wound is open for her to view it properly, she takes a deep breath before letting her fingers brush the sides of the scratch.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, biting her lip, "this might hurt slightly." Ignoring the heat increasing drastically on her hands now in contact with Kai's arm, she squeezes the wound, allowing blood to ooze from it in hopes of releasing some -- if not all -- of the poison.

Occasionally, she retreats her hands, shaking off the burning sensation. But she doesn't allow such a trivial matter stop her from trying to save him, however small her efforts may be on each interval. She shall take her chances.

Kai starts to stir, but is unable to keep his consciousness. Struggling to open his eyes, he can only make out the blurry image of Alaina. Feeling her gentle hands on his arm, he immediately attempts to push her away, but his push is too weak, and she only dismisses him.

"You're all right," Alaina reassures him, but she isn't too sure if she's saying it to Kai or to soothe her hysterical mind.

Blinking away the fuzziness, Kai lifts a shaky hand. Alaina expects a weak push from him, yet it never arrives; instead, he stretches his hand up and reaches for her face. He touches her cheek gently, briefly.

"You know, I've been thinking," he says with a voice barely above a whisper and with all the strength he is able to gather, "have we actually met, long before all of this?"

It is obvious Kai is struggling to keep his consciousness. His hand falters then falls, but Alaina doesn't have the chance to ponder on this, as there's a sudden movement nearby, interrupting them. She jerks her head up and examines around them, but without any light in the hole, she isn't too sure if it's what she fears the most at a desperate time like this -- the return of the manticores.

A familiar voice calls out for her, making Alaina jump. A voice so familiar, yet one she hasn't heard in a while. Sagging in relief, she closes her eyes and waits for Rose to show up, any moment now.

Sure enough, she hears footsteps. When she opens her eyes, she finds Rose running towards her, Lancaster and Lloyd close behind.

"What happened?" Rose kneels beside Alaina, watching Kai.

Alaina pulls Rose into a hug. "I'm really glad you're safe," she says, looking over her shoulder to take a quick glimpse at Lancaster and Lloyd. "All of you."

"Same to you, your highness," Lancaster replies, approaching them. However, at the sight of Kai's limp form, he frowns. "And what of him?"

"We need to get out of here," Alaina says quickly, "poison -- I've stopped it from spreading, but I don't think it's completely gone from his system."

Although it's rather difficult to read their expressions under little to no light, she can still tell their reactions by their tiniest movements. And to her surprise, they don't seem the slightest bit alarm. In fact, the look of horror doesn't even cross their faces; instead, they only exchange glances -- looks Alaina is unable to decipher when she lifts her head, squinting her eyes in an attempt to read them.

Rose takes a look at Kai. When he opens his eyes slightly, she asks, "are you feeling brave?"

When he doesn't really answer, Rose takes an Opux and peels one of its petals, and immediately the torn petal disappears. Inside, instead of shiny bluish-purple spots like the one she'd shown Lancaster and Lloyd earlier, this one glows white, with rainbow sprinkling about the centre, just like an opal -- but glowing much more iridescently.

"Are you sure about this?" Lloyd asks suddenly, hesitant.

"What choice do we have?" Rose says, examining the Opux carefully. "If it's what I've read, then it should work... I hope. You've read about this, too, haven't you?"

Lloyd bites his lip and casts his gaze to the ground. Lancaster, who has remained silent the entire time, says, "if that is the only option, I think it would be worth a try."

Gently, Rose places the petal-less side of the flower to the scratch on Kai's arm. Within an instant, the entire flower glows a pale shade of blue, brighter than its usual translucent appearance. The glow spreads from the flower to the scratch, and the glow is so luminous that it casts light in the midst of the darkness they're in, lighting up their faces.

Tiny sparks accompany the glow, floating freely as they escape from within the flower. They defy all laws of physics as they float around in the air, soaring high.

Just like magic.

Beautiful things are always only so brief, unfortunately; lasting only momentarily.

When the glow stops, the sparks gradually disappears altogether.

Nobody speaks for a while. But when Kai shifts slightly, their hearts lighten almost immediately.

Adjusting his vision, Kai opens his eyes slowly, yet surely. He finds Alaina before him, the others hovering close by.

"I can't believe a flower saved my life."

Alaina smiles. "Welcome back from the dead."