“Oh, power within me, cause the unseen things to terrify the blind.” Whatever that meant sounded horrible, but Chloe wasn’t sure it meant anything until she blinked and couldn’t open her eyes. She tried but no matter what she couldn’t pull them apart. Then she felt it. There were tiny little legs moving over her legs and arms, hundreds of them that she couldn’t see. It was horrifying and there was nothing she could do. Her arms were still tied to the chair.
Her shift started, the air around her moving.
“No you don’t, you change and I’ll blow her brains out,” Sarmia said. She couldn’t see her but something in the way she said it told her she certainly wasn’t joking.
So she just had to take it.
“You’re handling that better than I thought you would.”
Chloe felt them start to move over her face and her lips. She really wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. They would go in her mouth. If she could just stand it for a little longer surely Sarmia would get tired.
“Let’s see how you handle this. The unseen things are moving in spades. Now let’s see what they feel like inside of your brain.”
Chloe was able to open her eyes and there weren’t any bugs on her skin, but she still felt them crawling all over her. It wasn’t long before she could feel them in her head. It was painful. It was unimaginable that bugs could be inside her skin. She told herself it was not real, there was simply magic making her think it was, but it didn’t stop and then they started biting. She passed out from the pain and wasn’t sure how long the torture continued.
Finally, when Sarmia grew tired of her game she stopped and Chloe sat with the pain of the bug bites throbbing from the inside of her body.
“Now it’s your turn, Zazie. I’ve got a fun spell for you.”
“Bring it, bitch.” Zazie was so brave, Chloe thought. She was breathing hard from the pain and worried for her.
“Burn burn from within, where the fire touches no eyes have been.”
Zazie moaned and squirmed in her chair. She looked completely normal except for the agonizing look on her face. Her features were twisted and her eyes squeezed shut. “I’m on fire, Chloe, I’m on fire.”
“You’re not, Z, there’s no flames.”
Sarmia cackled loudly in her face. “The flames, like the bugs, are on the inside.” She lifted a hand and waved it slightly. “Let’s turn up the heat.”
“No, too much,” Zazie screamed and her skin started to turn red. Chloe wished she could help her, but she didn’t know what to do. She just hoped Sarmia couldn’t hold onto the magic for long periods of time and would stop soon.
“Zazie, you should be able to handle the heat, it’s just a little pain.” Zazie screamed again and her head dropped to her chest. She’d passed out from
the pain.
“Stop torturing her, Sarmia. We haven’t done anything to you.”
“Do you think I care that you’ve done nothing to me personally? The fact my brother doesn’t like you is enough of a reason for me.”
Zazie woke back up and started screaming again. It was horrible to listen to her torture her and not be able to help. Chloe would peck her eyes out if that gun pointed at Zazie’s head didn’t stop her from shifting.
How were they going to get out of that?
“You can’t just go in there without a plan!” Regina was yelling at Brent because he was trying to go to Layla’s without knowing what he was running into.
“Grandmother, he’s going to kill her, or Z.” His grandmother hadn’t informed him that Zazie had gone with Ash willingly when he told her he knew where Samuel was, but she couldn’t interfere anymore and had to come with him. He wasn’t sure why she hadn’t started with that when he came in, but he didn’t ask questions.
“Okay, but we need to see what we’re up against before going in blind.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“Oh!” she said like a thought occurred to her. “I’ll send my familiar.”
“Your what?”
“Send a familiar, you know, like how the crow spied on you. I’ll send mine. She’s a sweet little field mouse with red eyes.”
“That sounds creepy as hell,” Brent said.