I’d turned to Sadie.
Spitting on a scrap I’d torn from my ruined shirt, I’d wiped the crusted blood away from her nose, eyes, and mouth as best I could. After she looked better, I’d torn off more strips and wrapped them around a couple of the deepest cuts on her arms and legs.
Then, I’d worked on my leg.
Half my thigh had been cleaved off.
I’d started to wrap my shirt around it, then I’d realized the missing skin would regrow in the material. I’d quickly ripped the fabric away.
Head spinning and vision tunneling, I’d started to pass out, so I’d lain flat on the floor and tried not to think about the wound. It burned horribly and sent stabbing streaks of pain down my leg. Ignoring it was easier said than done.
That was the last of my healing efforts.
Now I lay on the floor between Sadie and Jinx, my leg propped up against the wall with the half-missing part of my thigh out of harm’s way.
“Wake uuuuuup,” I said morosely as I reached my tired arms out and slapped at their sleeping faces.
I knew they needed rest to recover. However, I also knew that we were trapped in a room full of dead bodies, and I was scared.
I had not gone through hell for them to just sleep it off while I suffered.
“Wake up!” I shouted and clapped my hands, going for the surprise effect. Sadie startled, and I turned my head with excitement.
She snored.
A stray eyeball rolled across the floor.
I gagged.
“You’re losing friendship points right now,” I groaned as I closed my eyes and tried to pretend I was on a breezy beach somewhere, drinking and smoking.
The problem was my leg throbbed and I was in agony.
Also, the room reeked.
Sharp rocks bit into my back uncomfortably, and it was oppressively warm.
This beach sucks.
My heart skipped a beat as I realized the worst thing yet—I was missing my pipe.
Patting around the gushy floor with my eyes closed, I desperately searched. Please sun god, I prayed. Since you literally didn’t save me at all, at least save my pipe. It’s the least you can do.
My fingers trailed through something fleshy, and I pretended it was a rock covered in wet sand （I was 100 percent aware that it was someone’s detached spine）。
I couldn’t find my pipe.
Despair settled in my bones that all was lost.
“No,” I whispered dejectedly into the darkness.
There was only so much a woman could take before she broke.
I touched my face—my pipe was still in my mouth.
I breathed in enchanted smoke greedily.
I held both Sadie’s and Jinx’s limp hands in mine, and my chuckle turned into a broken plea. “Please wake up.”
I waited in silence.
It felt like an eternity passed.
Hope was fading.
Sadie suddenly woke up with a scream. She lunged forward and wrapped her hands around my neck. “Who took my bread roll?” she bellowed groggily.
It was too much.
I burst into tears and wrapped my arms around her in an awkward hug as she choked me.
“Aran?” she asked with confusion as he stopped choking me. “What happened?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it as I thought about what exactly had happened.
In all my melancholic despair, I’d forgotten to plan an explanation for how the handle of my sword had slammed into her forehead and knocked her unconscious.
“Wait a second,” she growled, and her fists pummeled against me. “Arabella Alis Egan, how dare you!”
I squealed and protected my fleshy bits.
“It isn’t what you’re thinking,” I yelled in defense.
She stopped punching me. “So you didn’t knock me out because I wasn’t listening to you?”
I pursed my lips. “It’s exactly what you’re thinking.”
She whacked me across the top of the head, but the blow was glancing and filled with love.
“What’s going on?” Jinx asked groggily, and I froze midwrestle.
Sadie gasped, “What’s Jinx doing here?”
Why had I wanted them to wake up?
“You have some explaining to do.” My voice cracked and it felt like I was falling.
The pieces were already clicking together in my mind, but I needed to hear her say it aloud.
Jinx grimaced as she stared at her mangled fingers and nodded curtly. Sadie’s eyes cast a red glow and illuminated the three of us.
We sat in uncomfortable silence.
Jinx coughed, a harsh rattle. Still staring down she said softly, “Twenty-five.”
The room was stuffy with heat and too quiet, as if the dead were holding their breath and listening.