safe just by virtue of her presence. He turned his head, seeking out Dane instead. Lindsay focused on him,
memorizing his features, letting the familiarity soothe him as the needles slid in.
Things grew vague after that. Cold spread out from the points in Lindsay’s skin, as though his life
were being drained from him. It felt like it had when the guul was taking his magic, only he could feel the icy points where it was seeping away from him.
Izia took his face in her hands and said, “I need you to look at me.” Her hands were incredibly warm.
The cold that was even colder than his skin and the sensation of being drained all over again made
Lindsay feel sick. He stared up at her with wide eyes.
“You’re going to be fine.” Her hands were so warm, warmth that pushed into him and fought the cold
that filled him. “You’re not alone. My life is with yours. Trust me.”
“Step away from him.” Ezqel’s voice was distant and hollow.
There was something beating on Lindsay’s chest, faster and stronger than his heart, and there was a
strange blue light in the air. Lindsay felt lost, with even Izia moving away from him. He tried to turn his head toward Ezqel’s voice, but he couldn’t move. Besides, moving his head might have meant seeing
whatever it was that was so heavy and alive on his chest. Lindsay knew what it was, and he didn’t want to
think about it, about what it was doing there.
Instead of his magic being repressed, or kept from him, now it was being drawn out of him entirely.
Ezqel moved around him, touching him here and there, speaking words that made no sense. The weaker
Lindsay got, the faster the heart beat and the brighter the blue light grew, until it was painful to his eyes. He was so afraid and he couldn’t speak. It was so familiar.
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Finally, there was nothing left. Lindsay was weak and empty and human, his breath rasping in his
throat, his body struggling to survive without an essential element it had known all his life. He had no idea how he was alive. He felt dead, like a drowned man borne up by the untamable water.
Ezqel came to stand at Lindsay’s head, placing both hands on Lindsay’s temples. He spoke in a
strange language, holding Lindsay’s head in place like his hands were a vise. There was a hiss and crackle
and new light, red and gold mingled with the blue of the guul’s heart glowing. Lindsay was burning. The
words he didn’t know were on fire, burning through his skin. He couldn’t move to stop it, couldn’t wipe the fire and ink from his skin, because his body was nothing but a husk. All that was left was his mind, trapped in the prison of his flesh.
Ezqel’s dark eyes were full of power and nothing else; he was filled to overflowing with it. Pure
magic pushed through Lindsay and wetness welled at his throat and wrists. Lindsay’s husk was full of
Ezqel’s power; it seeped into his bones to the marrow.
The broken places in him cried out to be healed and there was the sickening twist of something being
set right. Ezqel let go and stepped back with a final word. All the magic that had been taken from Lindsay
rushed back in, racing joyously through his body.
Lindsay rolled onto his side, curling up, gasping for breath. His cheeks were wet with tears, but he
wasn’t afraid anymore. It was like he’d been filled up with pleasure. His magic was dancing under his skin, waiting to be let out. He wanted to roll around and bask in it. His magic ran the course of his body and
found it whole again. He felt so peaceful.
“Be still.” Ezqel was gently moving him to detach the heart. The needles slid away without pain and
the ugly thing fell harmlessly into Ezqel’s hand. “Izia.”
“I’m right here.” Izia draped Lindsay’s robe over him and gathered him into her arms, helping him sit
up. Lindsay could feel and smell the ink and ichor and sweat thick on his skin.
“Take him to get cleaned.” That was Dane’s voice, so rough and familiar, like stone under Lindsay’s
feet. Dane was right there, like the sun. His expression was tender, but there was pain in his eyes.
Lindsay wanted to tell him not to hurt, life was too wonderful to hurt, but his mouth wouldn’t make
words yet. The things he knew and felt were too big for something as small as speech. He let Izia help him
up, and he pulled the robe around himself. As Izia led him away, he looked over his shoulder again to make
sure Dane would be all right.
“I’m fine.” Dane knew what Lindsay was thinking, just like always. “Go get clean, little bunny.”
Of course Dane would be fine. Lindsay put his head on Izia’s shoulder and let her lead him back the
way they’d come in. Nothing in the world could ever really be wrong again.
The pool in the first room swirled as though it were waiting for Lindsay. The water had been tugging
at his ankles all the way down the passage. Izia pulled his robe away from him.
“Go on,” she said gently. “It’s quite deep, but it’s safe.”
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Lindsay let the water pull him in and the surface closed over him. It was cold, but it was the cold of
life. The currents washed him clean and tumbled him over, moving around him like great snakes. For the
longest time, he didn’t need to breathe. There was so much life in him, he wasn’t even cold, and the water
wanted him to stay. When Lindsay broke the surface at last, Taniel was waiting for him.
“Izia wants me to check your pulse.” Taniel knelt at the edge of the pool. In the lichen glow, he
looked like he was made of amber. Lindsay swam to him and Taniel felt for the beating in his throat.
Serious-faced, Taniel counted silently, his lips moving with it. “Very good.” He pulled his hand away and
smiled at Lindsay. “How do you feel?”
“Perfect.” It was the first word Lindsay could find that came close. “Where did Izia go?” How long
had he been in the water? When he looked over his shoulder at the passage to Ezqel’s laboratory, he could
see blue light rising. “Are they…did they start already?”
Dane. Lindsay scrambled out of the water, searching for his robe. Dane had been there for him when he was afraid, and he should have been there for Dane. “My robe,” he demanded, feeling tears well up
already.
“Here.” Taniel wrapped it around him. It smelled and felt clean, like it had just been washed. Lindsay
didn’t bother to wonder about it, but shoved his arms in the sleeves. Taniel didn’t let go when he tried to pull away. “Lindsay. You need to stay.” Taniel’s voice was soft but stern. “I’m needed, if you’re okay to be left alone.”
“I…” Lindsay’s eyes stung. “I’m fine.” Why hadn’t they waited for him?
“It will be well.” Taniel helped do up the robe and kissed Lindsay’s cheek. “It will be well. I know it.”
With that, he was splashing back up the passage and into the bright light.
Did Dane have something to hide? Lindsay was heartbroken and ashamed at once. He didn’t have any
right to Dane. Dane wasn’t his. He was lucky that Dane shared so much with him. He fiddled with the ties
on his robe, feeling mortal and small and dirty again.
The room was interesting enough. Maybe it was like a waiting room. Maybe not so different. Lindsay
trailed his fingers over the lichen. What did it know? And what did it say about Lindsay that lichen knew things he didn’t?
Lindsay was about to laugh at himself when a noise from the laboratory startled him. It wasn’t just a
noise. It was a cry, and it came again. There was so much pain in it, so much loss, that he was moving
before he could think better of it. Dane.