CHAPTER 111

"Beautiful." He smiled, then let out a sigh. Despite being unconscious for so long, he was suddenly tired again. As she stroked his forehead, he slipped away into a dreamless sleep.

Time was meaningless for Mike as he slipped back and forth into consciousness. Though no longer on the edge of death, his limbs were heavy with pain. He would sometimes close his eyes for a second only to open them and see that the occupants of the room had changed.

Yuki was a constant presence, either changing his bandages or fussing over him. He saw Quetzalli only briefly; the dragon looked like she had fallen ill. Abella sometimes watched through the window, and actually came in a couple of times to sit with him. Of Dana and Bigfoot, there was no sign.

And then there was Velvet. She fed him soup when he was awake, encouraging him softly with her words. She was a constant presence, both when he was awake and in the Dreamscape. His weakness chased him even there, and she would hold him on the beach while he rested. Trapped in a state of perpetual exhaustion, he clung to her presence like moss to a rock.

Velvet was helping him eat some beef stew when he heard a loud crash, followed by banging. Yuki left the room with a worried look on her face.

"What is that?" he asked. It occurred to him now that he had heard the same noise numerous times during the day. His mind was finally clear enough to ask about it.

The Arachne sighed and put down the can of soup. "That would be Dana," she explained. "She's going feral. Yuki has been using magic to freeze her in place so that she doesn't break out of the pantry."

There was a loud bang, followed by screams of panic. Something heavy thudded against the wall, and he heard Abella swearing.

"I should go help," he muttered, but even he didn't believe the words. His legs were like jelly. From the brief moments he had seen his own body when the blankets were lifted, he looked slightly emaciated. Much of it was from water loss, his fever had caused him to sweat so much that the sheets had been changed multiple times.

The rest was pure calorie loss. Yuki had stuffed him full of every curative potion that Zel had sent with him. His body had fought to regenerate tissue damaged by the poison, and the process required energy. Though his bond with Tink had given him resistance to poison, it apparently wasn't strong enough to just brush aside the toxin that the Nirumbi used. The wound from the arrow had also managed to nick a lung, which made breathing in deep more than a little painful.

"Abella has it under control," Velvet explained. "She's the only one that can't get scratched or bit."

At least we hope so, Mike thought. The idea of Abella turning into a zombie was a terrifying thought.

The cabin went quiet. Eventually, Yuki came back in, her face twisted into a mask of anguish. When she plopped down next to the bed, she let out a sigh and then leaned forward onto the bed.

"That bad?" he asked.

"Eating the Nirumbi triggered something in her," she stated. "Shortly after the battle, she was mostly herself, but the poison was still doing its thing. She's crazy strong right now, it's almost like feeding on living tissue caused her to bulk up. We think that if we can get her some of her usual food, she may revert, but..." Yuki gestured at him. "You're in absolutely no condition, and likely won't be for days."

He sighed. Maybe his magic could get him up, but he definitely couldn't participate while barely able to move. Sometimes staying awake was too much of a chore for him.

After a bit more soup, he shared what he had learned from Titania with the others. Yuki went pale and left for a while with Bigfoot to check out the perimeter of the barrier. Velvet and Quetzalli took turns giving him food and water as his strength returned. He could finally raise his arms a little, but the effort left him exhausted.

When Yuki and Bigfoot returned, they came and sat down next to Mike. The Sasquatch's face was serious, which was a rather frightening sight.

"How bad are we fucked?" Mike asked.

"We are trapped." Yuki had taken out her tarot cards and was flipping through them. "It's a powerful spell that took quite some time to set up. It could be disrupted from the outside, but we can't get word out."

"Can't we just use my phone?" he asked.

"No." Yuki frowned while fidgeting with her tarot cards. "It was broken when Leeds attacked Abella in the woods. We checked already. And Dana's is missing. We think it was in her pocket when she ran out into the woods."

"Shit." Mike closed his eyes. What options were left to them?

"I feel..." Bigfoot said, breaking the silence. "That I owe a massive apology to everyone here."

"How so?" Mike opened his eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Bigfoot groaned and leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his massive torso. "I did, actually. I am fairly certain that I am the reason that Leeds is here in the first place. He and I have a rather sordid history, and he holds a grudge better than anyone I've ever known."

"What happened?" Mike asked.

"We were very close friends for many, many years. His behavior toward humans was never friendly to begin with, but I was forced to act when I found out that he was tormenting and killing humans in secret. We fought for many days, and I finally crushed him under a large rock. I didn't know it at the time, but he can't be killed. Two days later, he ambushed me in the middle of the night. He almost killed me, but the forest came to my aid by sending a massive buck to tackle him and break his concentration. I snapped Leed's neck, and he was mist once more."