Chapter 17 Seventeen
The room around her remained silent as Ash busied himself poking at the serpent mark on her hip. It had already been an hour since he began his inspection, and he still hadn't said a word.
Growing uneasy, Danica locked eyes with Mason, who was looking down at her. As she opened her mouth to speak, he simply shook his head, placing a finger against his lips to indicate she needed to remain silent.
Nodding, Danica closed her eyes and tried to focus on something other than the anxiety that was bubbling within her and threatening to come rushing out.
"I think..." Ash said suddenly, sitting up and smiling from ear to ear. "I should be able to easily unravel this curse."
"You think?" Mason asked with a deadly tone to his voice. "I'm not looking for an I THINK; I'm looking for an I KNOW."
"Calm down, Mason," Danica urged, grabbing his hand.
"What if he messes up? Nigel told us the consequences," Mason insisted, looking alarmed. "You could become a vegetable."
Danica let out a sigh. "I think at this point our best bet is to allow him to try. In the end, if the curse remains, I'm going to go through hell every single full moon. To me, it seems like I truly have nothing to lose at this point."
"You have your life to lose," Mason had locked his eyes with Danica's, and she could see the torture he was feeling over her words.
"Didn't we agree to let the girl make the decision?" Nigel chimed in as Mason opened his mouth to argue more. "Have some faith in Ash; he is the best there is at this."
Ash beamed from Nigel's praise. "Shall I give it my all?"
"Are you sure about this?" Mason, who still sounded torn, asked.
"Might as well; that's why we came here, right?" Danica tried to keep her tone light, but she could feel herself becoming more and more anxious by the minute.
Clapping Ash stood up, headed to Nigel's herb-covered desk, and began rummaging.
Watching curiously, Danica found herself wondering what exactly it was that he was searching for. Was it herbs that would break her curse? Was it truly that simple all along? She didn't think so, but then again, she knew nothing about any of this.
Finding what he was looking for, Ash made his way back over to Danica.
"I'm going to need you to eat this," he said, holding out a sprig of something green and leafy.
"What is this?" Danica asked, eyeing it.
"This is Ashwangandha," Ash explained. "It will help you relax. When I begin, I need you to not fight against me; otherwise, this could go terribly wrong and fast."
"Go wrong?" Danica didn't exactly like the sound of that. "Like how?"
"Soul shredding," Ash responded, as if it were the most simple thing to understand.
No pressure, Danica thought to herself, fighting back the nausea that was beginning to crash into her.
"I've already warned her about that," Nigel pointed out. "She is well aware of all the possibilities."
"Then, shall we get started?" Ash had begun rubbing his hands together in excitement as he waited expectantly for Danica to respond.
"Guess it's now or never," Danica muttered, sucking in a breath.
Closing her eyes, Danica tried to clear her mind fully. She tried to push away all fear, all anxiety, and everything that would cause her to go against what was about to happen.
"You don't have to go through with this," Mason's whispered voice said through the darkness. "We can instead try to find the sorcerer."
Danica gave a rueful smile and said, "I'm willing to give this a try."
She could feel Mason tense beneath her as he took in her words of resolve. Sighing, she tried to steady her breathing as the herb she had ingested began to take effect.
Allowing it to calm her, she listened to the sounds of the room around her. She could hear the crackling of the fire burning in the fireplace; she could make out Mason's breath just above her; everything stood out so much more as she allowed herself to drift while Ash began his work on her curse.
As he advanced, she could feel tingles coming from the spot where the mark was on her hip. At first it was just tiny little tingles, but they soon advanced to stabs of pain before turning into full-on searing fire running through her.
Biting back a scream, she tried to ignore it, knowing that she was not supposed to fight him.
"Bear with me." Ash muttered. "This is more tricky than I anticipated."
Nodding Danica began focusing on her breathing as the pain intensified. She could feel sweat begin to form on her forehead as she tried her best to ignore the fire that was burning through her hip. If her being unable to change while her body tried to change again and again was agonizing, then this pain was downright torture.
"Ash, you're hurting her!" Mason growled as Danica grabbed his hand and began squeezing.
"She has got to bear with it; this is a pretty deep curse." Ash's words came out rough as he exerted more energy on the task at hand. "It is too late to stop now."
"So help me, if anything happens to her, I will kill you with my own hands." Mason warned.
"Let him...." Danica managed to get out. "Continue."
As the piercing fire continued to sear away at her, Danica felt her body beginning to grow numb; the feeling could only be described as floating. The pain was now in one generalized area, while the rest of her couldn't be felt any longer; she had become one giant being of pain.
She could hear the muffled voices of those around her, but she could no longer make out anything they were saying. Her entire world had become nothing but fire and ice. As the fiery pain intensified, the freezing numbness did as well.
Danica had no idea how long this feeling went on before she began to feel her body again. First it was just her toes, then her feet, then her legs, and soon she was discovering her limbs and her being all over again.
The fire in her hip had also subsided into a dull throb of pain.
Opening her eyes, she found Ash hunched over, breathing heavily, and covered in sweat. Nigel stood beside him with a hand on his shoulder, his beady black eyes transfixed on Danica.
"Did it work?" Danica asked weakly, breaking the silence.
Ash lifted his face, revealing a pale complexion with a hue of green to it.
"I failed," he admitted.
"That means...." Danica wasn't able to ask the question that was right on the tip of her tongue.
That meant that her only hope now was to find the sorcerer who placed the curse and have them lift it. But what if they didn't want to lift the curse? Did that mean that she would have to forever live her life suffering? She couldn't even imagine having to go through that again and again every single month for the rest of her life. It was just too much.
Letting out a bubbly giggle, Danica allowed herself to release the tears she had been holding back as everything came crashing down on her.