Page 113 of Code Bound
“Svetlana!” I scream. “Wake up, Svetlana! Wake up!”
The mood on the deck grows somber as I cry over the praying mantis, as I hold her in my arms. I’d barely found my familiar and I’ve already lost her. Already, I miss her brutal jokes, her arguments with Locke, her angry rants. We were supposed to make it through together. Slowly, her body starts to grow warmer in my hands. It’s only a little at first, a small inkling of heat that doesn’t make sense against my too cold hands before she grows so hot I have to set her on the deck.
“What’s happening? What is this?”
The crewman rolls his eyes. “Dramatic, las, ain’t ya?” At the look on my face, he shakes his head. “I told you it doesn’t matter. Familiars are an extension of you, las. She’ll just return to heal and then you can call her back out.”
I stare at him, stricken, tears still running down my face. “What?”
“You heal her by healing yourself, las,” he continues. “Didn’t anyone tell you how familiars work?”
I furrow my brows and look at Locke who looks equally confused. “Cipher? Is that true?”
“It is true,” he answers. “Once you heal fully, Svetlana will be able to return as before.”
Svetlana’s body starts to glow hot pink and then explodes into dust. I watch, mesmerized as the small pink specks dance around, sparkling. I lift up my hand, twining my fingers through them. They dance around my fingers, grow brighter, and then . . .
They slam into my forearm so suddenly, I scream. White hot fire spreads along my skin, pink light tracing the lines of Svetlana there. The pain from when I first received Svetlana hits me again and I writhe on the deck as I try and grit my teeth against the intense pain. When it finally starts to fade away, I look down to see the tattoo of a praying mantis again, but Svetlana doesn’t start slicing out. The ink stays there.
Once I’m fully healed, she’ll come back.
“Alright,” the crewman says, shaking his head. “Let’s get you two in a room and healing. By the way, this healing service will be three Harrow Coins from each of ya. Can’t be working for free, see? We had to use the door to the captain’s quarters to raise you. Ain’t enough lifeboats on this ship to be savin’ all the players who come along.” He pats me on the head. “Welcome aboard the Titanic, las.”
“I told you they’d both fit on the door,” another man declares.
“You were right, lad,” the one speaking before nods, smiling. “Good job on disproving that theory.”
I’m barely coherent as they drop both of us into a single room. I manage to strip my clothing off once they close the door and slide beneath the covers, but I’m not awake to see Locke do the same. I feel him wrap around me and that’s it.
I dream of killer whales and leopard seals. In my dreams, I don’t survive. In my dreams, they tear me apart with sharp teeth and beady black eyes.
CHAPTER33
VESPER
My eyes are so heavy when I try to crack them open, for a moment, I think Dox put grease on them again. I reach up to weakly wipe at my eyes, but there’s nothing there.
“Dox,” I grumble. “What did you do?”
“Dox is not here,” a heavily accented voice responds.
I force my eyes open as much as I’m able to—which isn’t much—and peer at the large praying mantis standing on my chest. Oh. Right. This is the Harrow. Dox hasn’t made it in yet.
Svetlana died.
My eyes pop the rest of the way open and I get a good look at the familiar currently looking at me like I’m insane. “You’re alive!”
“Of course, I am alive,” she says, her little arms shimmying back and forth. “If you are alive, I am alive.”
I scowl. “You were so dramatic. You told me to remember you!”
She giggles. “Do not be angry with me for seizing an opportunity,Umnitsa,” she chides, but then she reaches up and touches my face. “However, your tears for me are noted.”
She looks at me fondly, and though I can’t really tell if a praying mantis is smiling, I feel like she is. The link between us certainly feels like a smile versus the typical anger and bloodthirsty urges.
I blow out a puff of air. “You scared me. If I wasn’t worried about crushing you, I’d be hugging you right about now.”
She stands taller and skitters down to my lap as I sit up. “I will settle for a blade bump,” she says, offering her razor arm up to me.
