Avelina: The Cult of Anick: Book One by L. E. Brooks

Author:L. E. Brooks [Brooks, L. E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blueflight Press LLC
Published: 2024-05-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Linorra crumpled to the stone floor, the arrow lodged snugly within her breast. She closed her eyes and let her body relax, knowing she would not be able to overcome her fate this time. If only she had the chance to speak with Syndeth one last time. She would tell him she loved him.

Climbing the fence wasn’t that hard, but I had to wait for my nose to stop bleeding. I was learning the hard way that fragment use comes with a price, even the seemingly innocuous ones like Connection. The link had physically hurt me, and I didn’t know how or why. It was so goddamn frustrating. There was no one to teach me, so I had to blunder around like an idiot.

When we reached the other side of the fence, Ward broke off a twig of jarring weed and gave it to me.

“Keep this under your nose while we walk,” he said. “It will make you feel better.”

He was right. I inhaled the jarring weed for the next hour while we walked through the fields. The scent was soothing and somehow helped me think more clearly, though it exacerbated my drowsiness. The longer I had it in my face, the more I realized that the smell alone had some kind of psychoactive effect. I started to feel like I was on the outside of my life, looking in, calming down to the point of nearly dissociating from my situation. I asked myself deep, philosophical questions that I would later completely forget, and I stumbled a few times, forgetting to pay attention to my body.

In short, the plant got me high. I chuckled when this fact finally occurred to me, and I wondered if I could grow the stuff on Earth if I brought home clippings. I could make a fortune. Evilina, queenpin of the Pacific Northwest. I covered my mouth, trying to suppress my giggle, but looked up when I heard Ward laughing under his breath. He knew exactly what was happening, as always.

As night came on, I found it harder and harder to see where I stepped. The men, with their superior Monashi vision, didn’t have any such problem. Ward took my hand again. He knew that I had stupid, useless Earth eyes and took it upon himself to guide me, which made sense given that it was Ward who’d drugged me to begin with.

Spirit, are you there? I called. I wanted to ask her opinion of my predicament and doing so while high as hell on jarring weed felt like the perfect opportunity.

I’m here, Lina.

I need you to help me figure out what to do. I feel lost. Aaron probably hadn’t meant to hurt me, but it doesn’t change the fact that he did just that. Maybe he doesn’t understand friendship between people of the opposite sex. Maybe, in this world, that isn’t a thing. I shouldn’t just stomp off like a thirteen-year-old. I should give him a chance to apologize, shouldn’t I?

Spirit sighed. He didn’t anticipate what happened to you, but he knew you were hurt.

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